Need Assistance: objects (sheets of paper) covering a sphere …

[Jim Scott]

One way would be to clone the papers on to a sphere. Set the Cloner to “Object” mode with a Distribution of “Surface,” and set the pitch transform of the Cloner to 90 degrees so that the papers are parallel to the surface. Add a Random effector to the cloner with only the rotation parameter selected and adjust the Heading setting to taste. Add a Push Apart effector (Push Apart mode) to get separation between the papers. You will need to adjust the Radius and Iterations as necessary to prevent the papers from intersecting.

This tutorial should help: https://www.cineversity.com/vidplaytut/eliminate_overlapping_clones_with_the_push_apart_effector

Edit: My paper is a plane in the +Y orientation. If yours is different you may need to use different settings (instead of pitch and heading).