title: Making a 3d Earth, made up of particles with Three.js
body: <p>I am trying to replicate this effect: <a href="http://www.hys-inc.jp/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hys-inc.jp/</a> The only difference is that I want the particles to be positioned in such a way, that they resemble the Earth - a 'textured face' if you will.</p>
  
  <p>Browsing through their code, this is what they use to set up the particles group:</p>
  
  <pre><code>var map = THREE.ImageUtils.loadTexture('/admin/wp-content/themes/hys/assets/img/particle.png');
  
      var m = new THREE.ParticleSystemMaterial({
        color: 0x000000,
        size: 1.5,
        map: map,
        //blending: THREE.AdditiveBlending,
        depthTest: false,
        transparent: true
      });
  
      var p = new THREE.ParticleSystem(g, m);
      scene.add(p);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is all great, but how do I position them along a sphere to resemble the planet? I know how to do it in 2d rendering context, using a picture and pixels scanning to get the right coordinates for the particles' position, but I am clueless how to do it in 3d...</p>
  
  <p>Any help is more then welcome</p>