Dragon - 3D Voxel Animation Learning Example

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of a dragon using SpatialStudio. The script creates a majestic dragon with animated wings, glowing fire breath, and flowing movement 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 1 animated dragon, featuring:
- A segmented body with head, neck, and tail
- Flapping wings with realistic motion
- Glowing fire breath particles
- Scales with depth and texture
Animates the dragon flying in a circular pattern for 10 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file dragon.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).
Dragon body The dragon is constructed from multiple segments: head, neck, body sections, and a tapering tail, each positioned using sine waves for natural movement.
Wing animation Wings are drawn as curved surfaces that flap up and down using time-based trigonometric functions.
Fire breath Particle-like fire effects emanate from the dragon's mouth, with colors transitioning from yellow to red to create realistic flames.
Scale details The dragon's surface uses noise functions to create a scaly texture with depth variations.
Animation loop A normalized time variable t cycles from 0 → 2π, making the dragon's flight path and wing beats loop 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 dragon.py and run:

python dragon.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/dragon.splv"

# Dragon settings
BODY_SEGMENTS = 12
WING_SPAN = 25
DRAGON_LENGTH = 40
FIRE_PARTICLES = 15

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 generate_dragon_segment(volume, cx, cy, cz, radius, color, t, segment_id):
    # Add scale texture using noise
    for dx in range(-radius, radius+1):
        for dy in range(-radius, radius+1):
            for dz in range(-radius, radius+1):
                distance = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz)
                if distance <= radius:
                    # Scale texture
                    scale_pattern = int(np.sin(dx*0.4 + dy*0.3 + dz*0.5 + t + segment_id) * 3)
                    brightness = 0.8 + scale_pattern * 0.1
                    final_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * brightness)) for c in color)
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, final_color)

def generate_dragon_body(volume, start_x, start_y, start_z, t):
    dragon_colors = [
        (60, 80, 120),   # Dark blue-gray for body
        (80, 100, 140),  # Lighter blue-gray
        (100, 120, 160), # Even lighter for highlights
    ]
    
    for i in range(BODY_SEGMENTS):
        progress = i / (BODY_SEGMENTS - 1)
        
        # Dragon follows a sinuous path
        x = start_x + int(progress * DRAGON_LENGTH + 10*np.sin(t*0.8 + progress*3))
        y = start_y + int(8*np.sin(t*1.2 + progress*2))
        z = start_z + int(6*np.cos(t*0.6 + progress*4))
        
        # Radius tapers from head to tail
        if i == 0:  # Head
            radius = 8
            color = (90, 110, 150)
        elif i < 3:  # Neck
            radius = 6
            color = dragon_colors[1]
        elif i < 8:  # Body
            radius = 7
            color = dragon_colors[0]
        else:  # Tail
            radius = max(2, 7 - (i-7))
            color = dragon_colors[2]
        
        generate_dragon_segment(volume, x, y, z, radius, color, t, i)

def generate_wings(volume, dragon_x, dragon_y, dragon_z, t):
    wing_color = (70, 90, 130)
    wing_beat = np.sin(t * 6) * 0.5  # Fast wing flapping
    
    # Left wing
    for i in range(WING_SPAN):
        for j in range(15):
            wing_curve = np.sin(i * 0.2) * 8
            x = dragon_x + i - WING_SPAN//2
            y = dragon_y + int(wing_curve + wing_beat * j)
            z = dragon_z - 12 + j
            
            if j < 8:  # Wing membrane
                add_voxel(volume, x, y, z, wing_color)
    
    # Right wing
    for i in range(WING_SPAN):
        for j in range(15):
            wing_curve = np.sin(i * 0.2) * 8
            x = dragon_x + i - WING_SPAN//2
            y = dragon_y + int(wing_curve + wing_beat * j)
            z = dragon_z + 12 - j
            
            if j < 8:  # Wing membrane
                add_voxel(volume, x, y, z, wing_color)

def generate_fire_breath(volume, dragon_x, dragon_y, dragon_z, t):
    fire_colors = [
        (255, 255, 100),  # Bright yellow
        (255, 200, 50),   # Orange-yellow
        (255, 100, 0),    # Orange
        (255, 50, 0),     # Red-orange
        (200, 0, 0),      # Dark red
    ]
    
    # Fire emanates from dragon's head
    head_x = dragon_x + int(DRAGON_LENGTH + 10*np.sin(t*0.8))
    head_y = dragon_y + int(8*np.sin(t*1.2))
    head_z = dragon_z + int(6*np.cos(t*0.6))
    
    for i in range(FIRE_PARTICLES):
        # Fire particles spread out and rise
        spread = i * 2
        fire_x = head_x + spread + int(np.random.random() * 6 - 3)
        fire_y = head_y + int(np.random.random() * 8 - 4 + i * 0.5)
        fire_z = head_z + int(np.random.random() * 6 - 3)
        
        # Color transitions from yellow to red
        color_index = min(len(fire_colors)-1, i // 3)
        fire_color = fire_colors[color_index]
        
        # Flickering effect
        if np.sin(t*10 + i) > -0.3:
            add_voxel(volume, fire_x, fire_y, fire_z, fire_color)

def generate_dragon_eyes(volume, dragon_x, dragon_y, dragon_z, t):
    # Glowing red eyes
    eye_color = (255, 50, 50)
    
    head_x = dragon_x + int(DRAGON_LENGTH + 10*np.sin(t*0.8))
    head_y = dragon_y + int(8*np.sin(t*1.2))
    head_z = dragon_z + int(6*np.cos(t*0.6))
    
    # Left eye
    add_voxel(volume, head_x+2, head_y+3, head_z-2, eye_color)
    # Right eye
    add_voxel(volume, head_x+2, head_y+3, head_z+2, eye_color)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    # Dragon flies in a large circle
    orbit_radius = 15
    dragon_x = CENTER_X + int(orbit_radius * np.cos(t * 0.5))
    dragon_y = CENTER_Y
    dragon_z = CENTER_Z + int(orbit_radius * np.sin(t * 0.5))
    
    generate_dragon_body(volume, dragon_x, dragon_y, dragon_z, t)
    generate_wings(volume, dragon_x, dragon_y, dragon_z, t)
    generate_fire_breath(volume, dragon_x, dragon_y, dragon_z, t)
    generate_dragon_eyes(volume, dragon_x, dragon_y, dragon_z, t)

# Set random seed for consistent fire effects
np.random.seed(42)

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

for frame in tqdm(range(FRAMES), desc="Generating dragon"):
    volume = np.zeros((SIZE, SIZE, SIZE, 4), dtype=np.uint8)
    t = (frame / FRAMES) * 2*np.pi
    # Set seed for each frame to get consistent but animated fire
    np.random.seed(42 + frame//3)
    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 BODY_SEGMENTS to make the dragon longer or shorter.
Change WING_SPAN to create larger or smaller wings.
Modify dragon_colors to create different colored dragons (red, green, gold).
Increase FIRE_PARTICLES for more intense flame effects.
Add multiple dragons by calling generate_scene multiple times with different positions.
Experiment with the flight pattern by changing the orbit calculations in generate_scene.

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