Crystallization Animation Tutorial

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of crystallization using SpatialStudio. The script creates growing crystal formations that emerge, shimmer, and evolve 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 6 crystal clusters, each with:
- A geometric crystal structure with faceted surfaces
- Growing formations that emerge over time
- Translucent surfaces with internal light refraction
Animates the crystallization process for 10 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file crystallization.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).
Crystal geometry Crystals are built using mathematical functions to create angular, faceted structures that grow outward from seed points.
Growth animation Each crystal starts small and expands over time, with different growth rates for realistic formation.
Surface effects Translucent surfaces with varying opacity create depth, while bright highlights simulate light refraction.
Animation loop A normalized time variable t cycles from 0 → 2π, with crystals growing and shrinking in a smooth loop.
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 crystallization.py and run:

python crystallization.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/crystallization.splv"

# Crystal settings
CRYSTAL_COUNT = 6
MAX_CRYSTAL_SIZE = 18
GROWTH_SPEED = 1.5

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 crystal_shape(x, y, z, size):
    # Create angular crystal shape using diamond/octahedron geometry
    distance = (abs(x) + abs(y) + abs(z)) / 1.5
    facet_distance = max(abs(x), abs(y), abs(z))
    return distance <= size and facet_distance <= size * 0.8

def generate_crystal_core(volume, cx, cy, cz, color, size, t):
    # Generate the main crystal body with faceted surfaces
    for dx in range(-int(size), int(size)+1):
        for dy in range(-int(size), int(size)+1):
            for dz in range(-int(size), int(size)+1):
                if crystal_shape(dx, dy, dz, size):
                    # Add surface variation based on facets
                    facet_intensity = abs(dx) + abs(dy) + abs(dz)
                    brightness = 0.7 + 0.3 * np.sin(facet_intensity * 0.5 + t)
                    
                    final_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * brightness)) for c in color)
                    
                    # Make edges more translucent
                    edge_distance = min(abs(dx), abs(dy), abs(dz))
                    alpha = int(120 + 135 * (edge_distance / size))
                    
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, final_color, alpha)

def generate_crystal_spikes(volume, cx, cy, cz, color, size, t):
    # Generate smaller crystal spikes growing from the main body
    directions = [(1,0,0), (-1,0,0), (0,1,0), (0,-1,0), (0,0,1), (0,0,-1)]
    
    for i, (dx, dy, dz) in enumerate(directions):
        spike_length = int(size * 0.6 * (1 + 0.3 * np.sin(t + i)))
        spike_thickness = max(1, int(size * 0.2))
        
        for length in range(int(size * 0.7), int(size * 0.7) + spike_length):
            for thickness in range(-spike_thickness, spike_thickness + 1):
                for thickness2 in range(-spike_thickness, thickness_thickness + 1):
                    if thickness*thickness + thickness2*thickness2 <= spike_thickness*spike_thickness:
                        spike_x = cx + dx * length + (dy if dx == 0 else 0) * thickness + (dz if dx == 0 and dy == 0 else 0) * thickness2
                        spike_y = cy + dy * length + (dx if dy == 0 else 0) * thickness + (dz if dy == 0 and dx == 0 else 0) * thickness2
                        spike_z = cz + dz * length + (dx if dz == 0 else 0) * thickness + (dy if dz == 0 and dx == 0 else 0) * thickness2
                        
                        brightness = 0.8 + 0.2 * (length / (size + spike_length))
                        final_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * brightness)) for c in color)
                        add_voxel(volume, spike_x, spike_y, spike_z, final_color, 180)

def generate_crystal_highlights(volume, cx, cy, cz, size, t):
    # Add bright highlights to simulate internal light refraction
    highlight_count = 8
    for i in range(highlight_count):
        angle1 = (i / highlight_count) * 2 * np.pi + t * 0.5
        angle2 = np.sin(t * 0.7 + i) * 0.5
        
        highlight_radius = size * 0.4
        hx = cx + int(highlight_radius * np.cos(angle1) * np.cos(angle2))
        hy = cy + int(highlight_radius * np.sin(angle2))
        hz = cz + int(highlight_radius * np.sin(angle1) * np.cos(angle2))
        
        # Create small bright spots
        for dx in range(-1, 2):
            for dy in range(-1, 2):
                for dz in range(-1, 2):
                    if dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz <= 1:
                        brightness = int(200 + 55 * np.sin(t * 2 + i))
                        add_voxel(volume, hx+dx, hy+dy, hz+dz, (brightness, brightness, 255), 200)

def generate_crystal_cluster(volume, t):
    # Crystal colors - cool tones like real minerals
    colors = [
        (100, 200, 255),  # Ice blue
        (150, 255, 200),  # Mint green
        (200, 150, 255),  # Lavender
        (255, 200, 150),  # Warm amber
        (150, 255, 255),  # Cyan
        (255, 180, 200),  # Rose quartz
    ]
    
    positions = [
        (0.3, 0.7, 0.4), (0.7, 0.3, 0.6), (0.5, 0.5, 0.2),
        (0.2, 0.4, 0.8), (0.8, 0.6, 0.3), (0.6, 0.8, 0.7)
    ]
    
    for i in range(CRYSTAL_COUNT):
        # Position crystals around the scene
        px, py, pz = positions[i]
        cx = int(SIZE * px)
        cy = int(SIZE * py) 
        cz = int(SIZE * pz)
        
        # Animate crystal growth with different phases
        growth_phase = (t + i * np.pi / 3) % (2 * np.pi)
        growth_factor = (np.sin(growth_phase * GROWTH_SPEED) + 1) / 2  # 0 to 1
        size = MAX_CRYSTAL_SIZE * (0.3 + 0.7 * growth_factor)
        
        color = colors[i % len(colors)]
        
        # Generate crystal components
        if size > 3:  # Only draw if crystal is big enough
            generate_crystal_core(volume, cx, cy, cz, color, size, t)
            if size > 8:
                generate_crystal_spikes(volume, cx, cy, cz, color, size, t)
            generate_crystal_highlights(volume, cx, cy, cz, size, t)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    # Add subtle background particles for atmosphere
    particle_count = 20
    for i in range(particle_count):
        px = int((SIZE * 0.1) + (SIZE * 0.8 * ((i * 47) % 100) / 100))
        py = int((SIZE * 0.1) + (SIZE * 0.8 * ((i * 73) % 100) / 100))
        pz = int((SIZE * 0.1) + (SIZE * 0.8 * ((i * 97) % 100) / 100))
        
        brightness = int(30 + 25 * np.sin(t * 0.5 + i * 0.3))
        add_voxel(volume, px, py, pz, (brightness, brightness, brightness + 20), 60)
    
    generate_crystal_cluster(volume, t)

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

for frame in tqdm(range(FRAMES), desc="Growing crystals"):
    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

Adjust CRYSTAL_COUNT to create more or fewer crystal formations.
Modify colors to experiment with different mineral types.
Change GROWTH_SPEED to make crystals form faster or slower.
Add + int(t*2) to Y positions to make crystals rise while growing.
Experiment with different crystal shapes by modifying the crystal_shape() function.

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