Cosmic Formation - 3D Voxel Animation Guide

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of cosmic formation using SpatialStudio. The script creates a mesmerizing galaxy birth scene with swirling stardust, forming stars, and cosmic gas clouds 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
Spawns a cosmic formation with:
- Swirling stardust particles in spiral arms
- Glowing star cores that pulse and grow
- Nebula gas clouds with color gradients
- Central gravitational core with intense brightness
Animates the cosmic birth process for 10 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file cosmic_formation.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).
Spiral arms Stardust particles follow mathematical spiral patterns, rotating around a central core.
Star formation Individual stars grow from tiny points into glowing spheres with pulsing brightness.
Nebula clouds Colorful gas clouds use Perlin noise for organic, flowing shapes with purple, blue, and pink gradients.
Central core A bright gravitational center that influences particle motion and emits intense light.
Animation loop A normalized time variable t cycles from 0 → 2π, ensuring the cosmic dance loops smoothly.
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 cosmic_formation.py and run:

python cosmic_formation.py

Full Script

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

# Scene setup
SIZE, FPS, SECONDS = 128, 30, 10
FRAMES = FPS * SECONDS
CENTER_X = CENTER_Y = CENTER_Z = SIZE // 2
OUT_PATH = "../outputs/cosmic_formation.splv"

# Cosmic settings
SPIRAL_ARMS = 3
STAR_COUNT = 150
DUST_PARTICLES = 800
CORE_RADIUS = 12

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

def noise3d(x, y, z, scale=0.1):
    """Simple 3D noise function for nebula effects"""
    return (np.sin(x * scale) * np.cos(y * scale) * np.sin(z * scale) + 
            np.sin(x * scale * 2.3) * np.cos(z * scale * 1.7)) * 0.5 + 0.5

def generate_central_core(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    """Generate the bright gravitational core"""
    core_pulse = 1.0 + 0.3 * np.sin(t * 3.0)
    core_color = (255, 200, 100)
    
    for dx in range(-CORE_RADIUS, CORE_RADIUS+1):
        for dy in range(-CORE_RADIUS, CORE_RADIUS+1):
            for dz in range(-CORE_RADIUS, CORE_RADIUS+1):
                dist = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz)
                if dist <= CORE_RADIUS:
                    intensity = (1.0 - dist/CORE_RADIUS) * core_pulse
                    color = tuple(int(c * intensity) for c in core_color)
                    alpha = min(255, int(intensity * 255))
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, color, alpha)

def generate_spiral_arms(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    """Generate rotating spiral arms with stardust"""
    for arm in range(SPIRAL_ARMS):
        arm_offset = (arm / SPIRAL_ARMS) * 2 * np.pi
        
        for i in range(200):
            # Spiral mathematics
            radius = 5 + i * 0.3
            angle = arm_offset + (i * 0.15) + (t * 0.5)
            height_var = np.sin(i * 0.1 + t) * 8
            
            # 3D spiral position
            x = cx + int(radius * np.cos(angle))
            y = cy + int(height_var)
            z = cz + int(radius * np.sin(angle))
            
            # Stardust color based on distance from core
            distance_factor = min(1.0, radius / 40.0)
            dust_colors = [
                (100, 50, 200),   # Purple (inner)
                (50, 100, 255),   # Blue (middle)
                (200, 100, 255),  # Pink (outer)
            ]
            color_idx = int(distance_factor * (len(dust_colors) - 1))
            color = dust_colors[color_idx]
            
            # Add some randomness for natural look
            if (i + int(t*10)) % 3 == 0:
                add_voxel(volume, x, y, z, color, 180)

def generate_forming_stars(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    """Generate individual stars in formation"""
    np.random.seed(42)  # Consistent star positions
    
    for star_id in range(STAR_COUNT):
        # Random position around the galaxy
        angle = np.random.random() * 2 * np.pi
        radius = 15 + np.random.random() * 35
        height = (np.random.random() - 0.5) * 20
        
        # Star position
        star_x = cx + int(radius * np.cos(angle + t * 0.2))
        star_y = cy + int(height + np.sin(t * 1.5 + star_id) * 3)
        star_z = cz + int(radius * np.sin(angle + t * 0.2))
        
        # Star formation progress (some stars form faster)
        formation_speed = 1.0 + (star_id % 3) * 0.5
        star_age = (t * formation_speed + star_id) % (2 * np.pi)
        star_size = max(1, int(3 * (np.sin(star_age) * 0.5 + 0.5)))
        
        # Star colors based on type
        star_types = [
            (255, 255, 200),  # Yellow dwarf
            (200, 200, 255),  # Blue giant
            (255, 150, 100),  # Red giant
            (255, 255, 255),  # White dwarf
        ]
        star_color = star_types[star_id % len(star_types)]
        
        # Generate star as small sphere
        for dx in range(-star_size, star_size+1):
            for dy in range(-star_size, star_size+1):
                for dz in range(-star_size, star_size+1):
                    if dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz <= star_size*star_size:
                        brightness = 0.7 + 0.3 * np.sin(t * 2 + star_id)
                        color = tuple(int(c * brightness) for c in star_color)
                        add_voxel(volume, star_x+dx, star_y+dy, star_z+dz, color)

def generate_nebula_clouds(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    """Generate colorful nebula gas clouds"""
    cloud_colors = [
        (80, 20, 120),   # Deep purple
        (40, 80, 160),   # Deep blue
        (120, 40, 100),  # Magenta
    ]
    
    # Sample points throughout the space
    for x in range(cx-50, cx+50, 3):
        for y in range(cy-25, cy+25, 3):
            for z in range(cz-50, cz+50, 3):
                if 0 <= x < SIZE and 0 <= y < SIZE and 0 <= z < SIZE:
                    # Use 3D noise for organic cloud shapes
                    noise_val = noise3d(x + t*5, y, z + t*3, 0.05)
                    
                    # Only draw where noise creates cloud density
                    if noise_val > 0.6:
                        intensity = (noise_val - 0.6) * 2.5
                        distance_from_center = np.sqrt((x-cx)**2 + (y-cy)**2 + (z-cz)**2)
                        
                        # Clouds fade with distance
                        if distance_from_center < 60:
                            color_factor = distance_from_center / 60.0
                            color_idx = int(color_factor * (len(cloud_colors) - 1))
                            base_color = cloud_colors[color_idx]
                            
                            color = tuple(int(c * intensity) for c in base_color)
                            alpha = min(255, int(intensity * 100))
                            add_voxel(volume, x, y, z, color, alpha)

def generate_cosmic_scene(volume, t):
    """Generate the complete cosmic formation scene"""
    generate_nebula_clouds(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    generate_spiral_arms(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    generate_forming_stars(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    generate_central_core(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)

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

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

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

Next steps

Increase STAR_COUNT to create a denser galaxy
Modify SPIRAL_ARMS to change the galaxy structure (try 2 for a binary system)
Experiment with cloud_colors for different nebula types
Add + int(t*2) to star positions to make the galaxy expand over time
Adjust SECONDS for longer cosmic evolution sequences

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