3D Voxel Clock Animation Tutorial

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of a working clock using SpatialStudio. The script creates an animated clock with moving hands, numbered face, and ticking motion inside a cubic 3D space, then saves the animation to a .splv file.

What this script does

Creates a 3D scene of size 128×128×128
Builds a functional clock with:
- A circular clock face with hour markers
- Numeric digits around the perimeter
- Moving hour, minute, and second hands
- A central pivot point
Animates realistic time progression for 8 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file clock.splv that you can play in your viewer

How it works (simplified)

Voxel volume Each frame is a 3D grid filled with RGBA values (SIZE × SIZE × SIZE × 4).
Clock face A circular base is drawn with hour markers positioned at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions.
Digital numbers Simple voxel-based numbers are rendered around the clock face perimeter.
Clock hands Three hands of different lengths rotate at realistic speeds:
- Second hand: completes one rotation per loop
- Minute hand: moves slowly based on seconds
- Hour hand: moves very slowly based on minutes
Animation loop Time t drives the rotation angles, with each hand moving at appropriate speeds for realistic timekeeping.
Encoding Frames are passed into splv.Encoder, which writes them into the .splv video file.

Try it yourself

Install requirements first:

pip install spatialstudio numpy tqdm

Then copy this script into clock.py and run:

python clock.py

Full Script

import numpy as np
from spatialstudio import splv
from tqdm import tqdm

# Scene setup
SIZE, FPS, SECONDS = 128, 30, 8
FRAMES = FPS * SECONDS
CENTER_X = CENTER_Y = CENTER_Z = SIZE // 2
OUT_PATH = "../outputs/clock.splv"

# Clock settings
CLOCK_RADIUS = 35
HOUR_HAND_LENGTH = 20
MINUTE_HAND_LENGTH = 28
SECOND_HAND_LENGTH = 32

def add_voxel(volume, x, y, z, color):
    if 0 <= x < SIZE and 0 <= y < SIZE and 0 <= z < SIZE:
        volume[x, y, z, :3] = color
        volume[x, y, z, 3] = 255

def draw_circle(volume, cx, cy, cz, radius, color, thickness=2):
    for angle in np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, int(radius*6)):
        for t in range(thickness):
            x = cx + int((radius-t) * np.cos(angle))
            y = cy + int((radius-t) * np.sin(angle))
            add_voxel(volume, x, y, z+cz-CENTER_Z, color)

def draw_line(volume, x1, y1, z1, x2, y2, z2, color, thickness=1):
    distance = max(abs(x2-x1), abs(y2-y1), abs(z2-z1))
    if distance == 0:
        return
    
    for i in range(int(distance)+1):
        t = i / distance
        x = int(x1 + (x2-x1) * t)
        y = int(y1 + (y2-y1) * t)
        z = int(z1 + (z2-z1) * t)
        
        for dx in range(-thickness//2, thickness//2+1):
            for dy in range(-thickness//2, thickness//2+1):
                add_voxel(volume, x+dx, y+dy, z, color)

def draw_number(volume, cx, cy, cz, number, color):
    # Simple 3x5 pixel numbers
    patterns = {
        1: [(1,0), (1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (1,4)],
        2: [(0,0), (1,0), (2,0), (2,1), (1,2), (0,2), (0,3), (1,4), (2,4)],
        3: [(0,0), (1,0), (2,0), (2,1), (1,2), (2,2), (2,3), (1,4), (0,4)],
        4: [(0,0), (0,1), (0,2), (1,2), (2,0), (2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (2,4)],
        5: [(2,0), (1,0), (0,0), (0,1), (1,2), (2,2), (2,3), (1,4), (0,4)],
        6: [(2,0), (1,0), (0,0), (0,1), (0,2), (1,2), (2,2), (2,3), (1,4), (0,4), (0,3)],
        7: [(0,0), (1,0), (2,0), (2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (2,4)],
        8: [(1,0), (0,1), (2,1), (1,2), (0,3), (2,3), (1,4), (0,0), (2,0), (0,4), (2,4)],
        9: [(1,0), (2,1), (2,2), (1,2), (0,1), (0,0), (2,0), (2,3), (1,4), (0,4)],
        12: [(0,0), (0,1), (0,2), (0,3), (0,4), (3,0), (4,0), (5,0), (5,1), (4,2), (3,2), (3,3), (4,4), (5,4)],
        11: [(0,0), (0,1), (0,2), (0,3), (0,4), (2,0), (2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (2,4)]
    }
    
    if number in patterns:
        for dx, dy in patterns[number]:
            add_voxel(volume, cx+dx-1, cy+dy-2, cz, color)

def generate_clock_face(volume, cx, cy, cz):
    # Main clock circle
    draw_circle(volume, cx, cy, cz, CLOCK_RADIUS, (139, 69, 19), 3)
    
    # Hour markers
    for hour in range(12):
        angle = (hour - 3) * np.pi / 6  # Start from 12 o'clock
        marker_start = CLOCK_RADIUS - 5
        marker_end = CLOCK_RADIUS - 2
        
        x1 = cx + int(marker_start * np.cos(angle))
        y1 = cy + int(marker_start * np.sin(angle))
        x2 = cx + int(marker_end * np.cos(angle))
        y2 = cy + int(marker_end * np.sin(angle))
        
        draw_line(volume, x1, y1, cz, x2, y2, cz, (255, 255, 255), 2)
    
    # Numbers at key positions
    number_positions = [(0, 12), (3, 3), (6, 6), (9, 9)]
    for hour, display_num in number_positions:
        angle = (hour - 3) * np.pi / 6
        num_radius = CLOCK_RADIUS - 12
        nx = cx + int(num_radius * np.cos(angle))
        ny = cy + int(num_radius * np.sin(angle))
        draw_number(volume, nx, ny, cz, display_num, (255, 255, 255))
    
    # Center pivot
    for dx in range(-2, 3):
        for dy in range(-2, 3):
            if dx*dx + dy*dy <= 4:
                add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz, (255, 215, 0))

def generate_clock_hands(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    # Calculate angles (t goes from 0 to 2π over the animation)
    second_angle = t  # Full rotation per loop
    minute_angle = t / 60  # Much slower
    hour_angle = t / 720  # Even slower
    
    # Adjust angles to start at 12 o'clock
    second_angle -= np.pi/2
    minute_angle -= np.pi/2
    hour_angle -= np.pi/2
    
    # Hour hand (thick, gold)
    hx = cx + int(HOUR_HAND_LENGTH * np.cos(hour_angle))
    hy = cy + int(HOUR_HAND_LENGTH * np.sin(hour_angle))
    draw_line(volume, cx, cy, cz+1, hx, hy, cz+1, (255, 215, 0), 3)
    
    # Minute hand (medium, silver)
    mx = cx + int(MINUTE_HAND_LENGTH * np.cos(minute_angle))
    my = cy + int(MINUTE_HAND_LENGTH * np.sin(minute_angle))
    draw_line(volume, cx, cy, cz+2, mx, my, cz+2, (192, 192, 192), 2)
    
    # Second hand (thin, red)
    sx = cx + int(SECOND_HAND_LENGTH * np.cos(second_angle))
    sy = cy + int(SECOND_HAND_LENGTH * np.sin(second_angle))
    draw_line(volume, cx, cy, cz+3, sx, sy, cz+3, (255, 0, 0), 1)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    generate_clock_face(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z)
    generate_clock_hands(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)

enc = splv.Encoder(SIZE, SIZE, SIZE, framerate=FPS, outputPath=OUT_PATH, motionVectors="off")

for frame in tqdm(range(FRAMES), desc="Generating clock"):
    volume = np.zeros((SIZE, SIZE, SIZE, 4), dtype=np.uint8)
    t = (frame / FRAMES) * 2*np.pi
    generate_scene(volume, t)
    enc.encode(splv.Frame(volume, lrAxis="x", udAxis="y", fbAxis="z"))

enc.finish()
print(f"Created {OUT_PATH}")

Next steps

Change SECONDS to create longer time sequences.
Modify hand speeds by adjusting the division factors (60, 720).
Add Roman numerals by creating new patterns in the draw_number function.
Create a pendulum by adding a swinging weight below the clock.
Add chimes or sound markers by changing colors at specific times.

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