By coincidence, a friend of mine that had prior experience with Maple dropped by, and this helped too: http://www.mapleprimes.com/forum/need-help-plotting-in-spherical-coords This was the final solution, for future reference: > r := theta; > x := r*sin(phi)*cos(theta); > y := r*sin(phi)*cos(theta); > z := r*cos(phi); > plot3d([r, -theta, phi], theta = 0 .. -4*Pi, phi = 0 .. (1/2)*Pi, coords = spherical); That got just what I wanted!