A method for producing powders that consist of substantially spherical particles from a material such as glass, ceramics or plastic that produces a highly viscous melt that solidifies at a glass transition temperature Tg or at a solidification temperature Ts. The inventive method comprises the following steps: (a) producing a melt of a viscosity η in the range of from 0.1 to 100 Ns/m2; (b) atomizing the melt using a first gas, the first gas having a temperature TA≧Tg or ≧0.5Ts at the outlet of the nozzle and (c) cooling off the particles produced by atomization in a cooling section downstream of the nozzle using a coolant, the temperature of the coolant being smaller than Ts or Tg.