tikz add tag
Anonymous 1123
Let be sphere with radius `R` and a cone  inscribed the sphere with high is `h`, radius `r = sqrt(2*h*R - h*h)`. 

![ScreenHunter 799.png](/image?hash=10a8c932cbe70acf677e4216eef9b3f7dfba19b8e16fe918283460772e9b105e)
![ScreenHunter 800.png](/image?hash=3d0dddb23727fae57dd430a0ff79c3cd659fc4ce7042a243a7b888390dd4474e)

I tried 
```
\documentclass[border=2mm,tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,backgrounds}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
	%polar coordinates of visibility
	\pgfmathsetmacro\th{65}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\az{110}
	\tdplotsetmaincoords{\th}{\az}
	%parameters of the cone
	\pgfmathsetmacro\r{3} %radius of sphere
	\pgfmathsetmacro\R{(2 * sqrt(2) * \r) / 3} %radius of base
	\pgfmathsetmacro\v{(4 * \r) / 3} %hight of cone
	\begin{tikzpicture} [scale=1, tdplot_main_coords, axis/.style={blue,thick}]
	\path
	coordinate (O) at (0,0,0)
	coordinate (I) at (0,0,{sqrt(\r*\r - \R*\R)})
	coordinate (B) at (0,\R,0)
	coordinate (A) at (60:\R)
	coordinate (S) at (0,0,\v)
	coordinate (C) at  ($(O)-(A)$)
	coordinate (M) at ($(A)!.5!(B)$)
	coordinate (H) at ($(M)!1/2!(S)$)
	;
	
	\foreach \v/\position in { O/left,A/below,S/right,I/left} {\draw[draw =black, fill=black] (\v) circle (1pt) node [\position=0.2mm] {$\v$};
	}
	
		\draw[dashed] (S)--(O)  --(A)-- cycle (I) -- (A);
	\pgfmathsetmacro\cott{{cot(\th)}}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\fraction{\R*\cott/\v}
	
	\pgfmathsetmacro\fraction{\fraction<1 ? \fraction : 1}
	
	\pgfmathsetmacro\angle{{acos(\fraction)}}
	
	% % angles for transformed lines
	\pgfmathsetmacro\PhiOne{180+(\az-90)+\angle}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\PhiTwo{180+(\az-90)-\angle}
	
	% % coordinates for transformed surface lines
	\pgfmathsetmacro\sinPhiOne{{sin(\PhiOne)}}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\cosPhiOne{{cos(\PhiOne)}}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\sinPhiTwo{{sin(\PhiTwo)}}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\cosPhiTwo{{cos(\PhiTwo)}}
	
	% % angles for original surface lines
	\pgfmathsetmacro\sinazp{{sin(\az-90)}}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\cosazp{{cos(\az-90)}}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\sinazm{{sin(90-\az)}}
	\pgfmathsetmacro\cosazm{{cos(90-\az)}}
	
	\draw[dashed] (0,0,\v) -- (\R*\cosPhiOne,\R*\sinPhiOne,0);
	\draw[dashed] (0,0,\v) -- (\R*\cosPhiTwo,\R*\sinPhiTwo,0);
	
\begin{scope}[canvas is xy plane at z=0]
\draw[dashed] (\tdplotmainphi:\R) arc(\tdplotmainphi:\tdplotmainphi+180:\R);

\draw[thick] (\tdplotmainphi:\R) coordinate(BR) arc(\tdplotmainphi:\tdplotmainphi-180:\R) coordinate(BL);
\end{scope}
	
	
\begin{scope}[tdplot_screen_coords, on background layer] 
\draw[thick] (I) circle (\r); 
%\fill[ball color=orange,opacity=1] (T) circle (\myr); 
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
```

![ScreenHunter 801.png](/image?hash=26ccf69eb58cdcb4d6e4e027ab00381198142678b772f69e147ac2d3ada4f166)

My code does not true every cases. How can I get a general case?

Top Answer
user 3.14159
I hope that I interpret the question correctly. In the plane that contains the base of the cone, there are two critical angles.
1. `\alphacrit` is the angle at which the boundary lines that connect the base with the tip attach to the base circle.
2. `\betacrit` is the angle of visibility of the base circle because the rest gets covered by the sphere.

As far as I could see, you only compute `\alphacrit`. I also used the opportunity to shorten the code a bit. For instance, `tikz-3dplot` stores the view angles in `\tdplotmainphi` and `\tdplotmaintheta`, so we do not need to introduce additional macros. I also stored the parameters in functions, which I named according to the description at the beginning of your question.


```
\documentclass[border=3mm,tikz,fleqn]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds}
\begin{document}
\tdplotsetmaincoords{65}{110}
\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_main_coords, axis/.style={blue,thick},
		declare function={%R=3;h=5;r=sqrt(2*h*R-h*h);
		R=4;r=R*0.8;h=R+sqrt(R*R-r*r);}]
	\path (0,0,0) coordinate (O)
	 (0,0,h-R) coordinate (I)
	 ({r*cos(60)},{r*sin(60)},0) coordinate (A)
	 (0,0,h) coordinate (S)
	;
	\foreach \v/\position in { O/left,A/below,S/right,I/left} {\draw[draw =black, fill=black] (\v) circle (1pt) node [\position=0.2mm] {$\v$};
	}
	\draw[dashed] (S)--(O)  --(A)-- cycle (I) -- (A);
	%
	\pgfmathsetmacro{\alphacrit}{acos(min(1,max(r*cot(\tdplotmaintheta)/h,-1)))}
	\pgfmathsetmacro{\rdisc}{(R-h)/r*cot(\tdplotmaintheta)}
	\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\itest}{\rdisc<-1?2:(\rdisc>1?1:0)}
  	\pgfmathsetmacro{\betacrit}{asin(min(1,max(\rdisc,-1)))}
	\typeout{\alphacrit,\betacrit,\itest}
	\begin{scope}[canvas is xy plane at z=0]
 	  \draw[dashed] (90+\tdplotmainphi-\alphacrit:r) -- (S)
	   -- (90+\tdplotmainphi+\alphacrit:r);
	  \ifcase\itest 
		\draw[dashed]  (\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit:r) 
	  	  arc[start angle=\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit,
		  end angle=\tdplotmainphi+\betacrit,radius=r];
		\draw[thick]  (\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit:r) 
	  	  arc[start angle=\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit,
		  end angle=\tdplotmainphi+\betacrit+360,radius=r];
	  \or
	     \draw[thick] (O) circle[radius=r];
	  \or
	     \draw[dashed] (O) circle[radius=r];
	  \fi	
	\end{scope}
	\begin{scope}[tdplot_screen_coords, on background layer] 
	  \draw[thick] (I) circle[radius=R]; 
    \end{scope}
	\path (current bounding box.north)
	node[draw,above=1em,text width={2.2*R*1cm}]{%
	 In order to determine $\beta_\mathrm{crit}$, we project a latitude circle
	 \[\gamma_\mathrm{lat}(\beta)=\bigl(r\,\cos(\beta),r\,sin(\beta),v\bigr)\]
	 on the normal to the screen,
	 \[n_\mathrm{screen} 
	 = \bigl(\sin(\theta)\,\sin(\phi), -\sin(\theta)\,\cos(\phi),
	 	\cos(\theta)\bigr)\;.
     \]
	 We can absorb $\phi$ in a redefinition of $\beta$. The solutions of
	 $n_\mathrm{screen}\cdot\gamma_\mathrm{lat}=0$ are then
	 \[ \beta=\beta_\mathrm{crit}=\arcsin\left(\frac{v \cot
   		(\theta )}{r}\right)\]
	 and $\beta=180-\beta_\mathrm{crit}$.};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
```

![Screen Shot 2020-08-17 at 8.47.50 PM.png](/image?hash=a4e6484dc58040e4f1686ddea409d137c57e657a5c07aeb23d8154c7b04ae14a)

The role of `\betacrit` (and the cases distinguished by `\itest`) is to draw the base circle only on the forefront of the sphere. The following animation is supposed to illustrate this.

```
\documentclass[border=3mm,tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz-3dplot}
\usetikzlibrary{backgrounds}
\begin{document}
\tdplotsetmaincoords{65}{110}
\foreach \Lat in {-85,-75,...,85,75,65,...,-75}
{\begin{tikzpicture}[tdplot_main_coords, axis/.style={blue,thick},
		declare function={%R=3;h=5;r=sqrt(2*h*R-h*h);
		R=4;r=R*abs(cos(\Lat));h=R+sin(\Lat)*R;}]
	\path[tdplot_screen_coords]	(-R-1,h-2*R-1) rectangle (R+1,h+1);
	\path (0,0,0) coordinate (O)
	 (0,0,h-R) coordinate (I)
	 ({r*cos(60)},{r*sin(60)},0) coordinate (A)
	 (0,0,h) coordinate (S)
	;
	\foreach \v/\position in { O/left,A/below,S/right,I/left} {\draw[draw =black, fill=black] (\v) circle (1pt) node [\position=0.2mm] {$\v$};
	}	
	\draw[dashed] (S)--(O)  --(A)-- cycle (I) -- (A);
	\pgfmathsetmacro\alphacrit{acos(min(1,max(r*cot(\tdplotmaintheta)/h,-1)))}
	\pgfmathsetmacro{\rdisc}{(R-h)/r*cot(\tdplotmaintheta)}
	\pgfmathtruncatemacro{\itest}{\rdisc<-1?2:(\rdisc>1?1:0)}
  	\pgfmathsetmacro{\betacrit}{asin(min(1,max(\rdisc,-1)))}
	\typeout{\alphacrit,\betacrit,\itest}
	\begin{scope}[canvas is xy plane at z=0]
 	  \draw[dashed] (90+\tdplotmainphi-\alphacrit:r) -- (S)
	   -- (90+\tdplotmainphi+\alphacrit:r);
	  \ifcase\itest 
		\draw[dashed]  (\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit:r) 
	  	  arc[start angle=\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit,
		  end angle=\tdplotmainphi+\betacrit,radius=r];
		\draw[thick]  (\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit:r) 
	  	  arc[start angle=\tdplotmainphi+180-\betacrit,
		  end angle=\tdplotmainphi+\betacrit+360,radius=r];
	  \or
	     \draw[thick] (O) circle[radius=r];
	  \or
	     \draw[dashed] (O) circle[radius=r];
	  \fi	
	\end{scope}
	\begin{scope}[tdplot_screen_coords, on background layer] 
	  \draw[thick] (I) circle[radius=R]; 
    \end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}}
\end{document}
```
![ani.gif](/image?hash=246b8e725d73882dd5ead506334d81a15db17b9576d51baf5895326dd9a3d4be)

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