3D Voxel Animation: Fountain

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of a fountain using SpatialStudio. The script creates a beautiful water fountain with flowing water, particle spray, and dynamic lighting 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 stone fountain base with textured voxels
Generates flowing water streams that arc and fall naturally
Adds water particle spray for realistic mist effects
Creates ripple animations in the fountain pool
Animates water flow for 8 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file fountain.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).
Fountain base The stone base is drawn as a cylindrical structure with rough texture variations using noise functions.
Water streams Multiple water jets follow parabolic arcs, simulating realistic water physics with gravity.
Particle system Small water droplets are scattered around the main streams to create spray effects.
Pool ripples Concentric wave patterns emanate from where water hits the pool surface.
Animation loop A normalized time variable t cycles from 0 → 2π, ensuring the motion 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 fountain.py and run:

python fountain.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/fountain.splv"

# Fountain settings
FOUNTAIN_RADIUS = 20
FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT = 15
WATER_JETS = 6
JET_HEIGHT = 25
PARTICLE_COUNT = 150

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_fountain_base(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    stone_color = (120, 120, 120)
    for dx in range(-FOUNTAIN_RADIUS, FOUNTAIN_RADIUS+1):
        for dz in range(-FOUNTAIN_RADIUS, FOUNTAIN_RADIUS+1):
            dist = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dz*dz)
            if dist <= FOUNTAIN_RADIUS:
                for dy in range(-FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT//2, FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT//2):
                    # Add stone texture variation
                    noise = int(np.sin(dx*0.3) * np.cos(dz*0.2) * 20)
                    texture_color = tuple(max(80, min(160, c + noise)) for c in stone_color)
                    
                    # Create hollow interior for water pool
                    if dist > FOUNTAIN_RADIUS - 3 or abs(dy) > FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT//2 - 2:
                        add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, texture_color)

def generate_water_jets(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    water_color = (64, 164, 223)
    bright_water = (128, 200, 255)
    
    for jet in range(WATER_JETS):
        angle = (jet / WATER_JETS) * 2*np.pi
        jet_offset_x = int(6 * np.cos(angle))
        jet_offset_z = int(6 * np.sin(angle))
        
        # Generate water stream particles
        for height in range(JET_HEIGHT):
            # Parabolic arc calculation
            progress = height / JET_HEIGHT
            arc_x = jet_offset_x + int(progress * 8 * np.cos(angle + t*0.5))
            arc_z = jet_offset_z + int(progress * 8 * np.sin(angle + t*0.5))
            arc_y = int(height - (progress * progress) * 15)  # Gravity effect
            
            # Add some randomness to water flow
            flow_variation = int(np.sin(t*3 + height*0.2 + jet*0.5) * 2)
            
            x = cx + arc_x + flow_variation
            y = cy + FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT//2 + arc_y
            z = cz + arc_z
            
            # Vary water color for depth effect
            color = bright_water if height > JET_HEIGHT * 0.7 else water_color
            add_voxel(volume, x, y, z, color)

def generate_water_particles(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    spray_color = (150, 210, 255)
    
    for i in range(PARTICLE_COUNT):
        # Create pseudo-random but deterministic particle positions
        seed = i * 0.1 + t
        angle = (seed * 2.7) % (2*np.pi)
        radius = 5 + (seed * 1.3) % 15
        height = int((np.sin(seed * 1.7) * 0.5 + 0.5) * 20)
        
        px = cx + int(radius * np.cos(angle) + np.sin(t*2 + i*0.1) * 3)
        py = cy + FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT//2 + height + int(np.cos(t*1.5 + i*0.05) * 8)
        pz = cz + int(radius * np.sin(angle) + np.cos(t*2.5 + i*0.08) * 3)
        
        add_voxel(volume, px, py, pz, spray_color)

def generate_pool_ripples(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    pool_water = (32, 100, 150)
    ripple_water = (64, 140, 200)
    
    pool_y = cy - FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT//2 + 1
    
    for dx in range(-FOUNTAIN_RADIUS+3, FOUNTAIN_RADIUS-2):
        for dz in range(-FOUNTAIN_RADIUS+3, FOUNTAIN_RADIUS-2):
            dist = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dz*dz)
            if dist < FOUNTAIN_RADIUS - 3:
                # Create ripple effect
                ripple = np.sin(dist*0.5 - t*4) * 2
                wave_height = int(ripple)
                
                # Choose color based on ripple intensity
                color = ripple_water if abs(ripple) > 1 else pool_water
                
                for wave_y in range(max(0, wave_height), 3):
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, pool_y + wave_y, cz+dz, color)

def generate_fountain_spray(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    mist_color = (200, 230, 255)
    
    # Add fine mist around the fountain
    for i in range(50):
        mist_angle = (i / 50) * 2*np.pi + t*0.3
        mist_radius = 12 + np.sin(t*2 + i*0.2) * 5
        mist_height = 8 + np.cos(t*1.8 + i*0.15) * 6
        
        mx = cx + int(mist_radius * np.cos(mist_angle))
        my = cy + FOUNTAIN_HEIGHT//2 + int(mist_height)
        mz = cz + int(mist_radius * np.sin(mist_angle))
        
        # Make mist semi-transparent by random placement
        if (i + int(t*10)) % 3 == 0:
            add_voxel(volume, mx, my, mz, mist_color)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    generate_fountain_base(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    generate_pool_ripples(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    generate_water_jets(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    generate_water_particles(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    generate_fountain_spray(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 fountain"):
    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

Increase WATER_JETS for a more complex fountain pattern
Modify JET_HEIGHT to make water shoot higher or lower
Change the stone color in generate_fountain_base() for different materials
Add colored lighting by tinting water particles with RGB variations
Experiment with PARTICLE_COUNT for more or less water spray density
Try different ripple patterns by modifying the wave equations in generate_pool_ripples()

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3D Voxel Animation: Fountain

What this script does

How it works (simplified)