Kaleidoscope 3D Voxel Animation Tutorial

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of a kaleidoscope using SpatialStudio. The script creates mesmerizing geometric patterns that rotate, shift, and shimmer 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
Generates 6 symmetrical segments, each with:
- Colorful geometric patterns
- Rotating triangular and diamond shapes
- Reflective symmetry like a real kaleidoscope
Animates smooth rotation and color transitions for 8 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file kaleidoscope.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).
Symmetrical segments The kaleidoscope is divided into 6 triangular segments, each mirrored to create perfect symmetry.
Geometric patterns Various shapes (triangles, diamonds, lines) are drawn with mathematical functions and rotated over time.
Color cycling HSV color space is used to create smooth rainbow transitions that shift throughout the animation.
3D rotation The entire pattern rotates around multiple axes, creating a hypnotic 3D kaleidoscope effect.
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 kaleidoscope.py and run:

python kaleidoscope.py

Full Script

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

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

# Kaleidoscope settings
SEGMENTS = 6
PATTERN_LAYERS = 4
MAX_RADIUS = SIZE // 3

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 hsv_to_rgb(h, s, v):
    r, g, b = colorsys.hsv_to_rgb(h, s, v)
    return (int(r * 255), int(g * 255), int(b * 255))

def rotate_point_3d(x, y, z, rx, ry, rz):
    # Rotate around X axis
    cos_rx, sin_rx = np.cos(rx), np.sin(rx)
    y, z = y * cos_rx - z * sin_rx, y * sin_rx + z * cos_rx
    
    # Rotate around Y axis
    cos_ry, sin_ry = np.cos(ry), np.sin(ry)
    x, z = x * cos_ry + z * sin_ry, -x * sin_ry + z * cos_ry
    
    # Rotate around Z axis
    cos_rz, sin_rz = np.cos(rz), np.sin(rz)
    x, y = x * cos_rz - y * sin_rz, x * sin_rz + y * cos_rz
    
    return x, y, z

def generate_triangle_pattern(volume, cx, cy, cz, t, layer):
    for segment in range(SEGMENTS):
        segment_angle = (segment / SEGMENTS) * 2 * np.pi
        
        # Create triangular patterns
        for i in range(8):
            radius = (i + 1) * 4 + layer * 3
            if radius > MAX_RADIUS:
                continue
                
            angle_offset = t * (0.5 + layer * 0.2) + segment_angle
            
            for tri_point in range(3):
                tri_angle = angle_offset + (tri_point / 3) * 2 * np.pi
                
                x = radius * np.cos(tri_angle)
                y = radius * np.sin(tri_angle)
                z = np.sin(t * 2 + radius * 0.1 + layer) * 10
                
                # 3D rotation
                x, y, z = rotate_point_3d(x, y, z, t * 0.3, t * 0.2, t * 0.1)
                
                final_x = int(cx + x)
                final_y = int(cy + y)
                final_z = int(cz + z)
                
                # Color based on position and time
                hue = (t * 0.1 + radius * 0.01 + segment * 0.15 + layer * 0.1) % 1.0
                saturation = 0.8 + 0.2 * np.sin(t * 1.5 + radius * 0.05)
                value = 0.7 + 0.3 * np.cos(t * 0.8 + layer * 0.3)
                
                color = hsv_to_rgb(hue, saturation, value)
                add_voxel(volume, final_x, final_y, final_z, color)

def generate_diamond_pattern(volume, cx, cy, cz, t, layer):
    for segment in range(SEGMENTS):
        segment_angle = (segment / SEGMENTS) * 2 * np.pi + t * 0.3
        
        # Create diamond shapes
        for diamond in range(4):
            base_radius = 10 + diamond * 8 + layer * 2
            if base_radius > MAX_RADIUS:
                continue
                
            diamond_rotation = t * (0.8 - layer * 0.1) + segment_angle
            
            # Diamond vertices
            vertices = [
                (base_radius, 0, 0),
                (0, base_radius * 0.7, 0),
                (-base_radius, 0, 0),
                (0, -base_radius * 0.7, 0)
            ]
            
            for i in range(len(vertices)):
                vx, vy, vz = vertices[i]
                
                # Rotate diamond
                cos_rot, sin_rot = np.cos(diamond_rotation), np.sin(diamond_rotation)
                vx, vy = vx * cos_rot - vy * sin_rot, vx * sin_rot + vy * cos_rot
                
                # Add Z oscillation
                vz += np.sin(t * 1.2 + diamond * 0.8 + segment * 0.5) * 8
                
                # 3D rotation
                vx, vy, vz = rotate_point_3d(vx, vy, vz, t * 0.2, t * 0.4, t * 0.15)
                
                final_x = int(cx + vx)
                final_y = int(cy + vy)
                final_z = int(cz + vz)
                
                # Vibrant color cycling
                hue = (t * 0.15 + diamond * 0.25 + segment * 0.1 + layer * 0.2) % 1.0
                saturation = 0.9
                value = 0.8 + 0.2 * np.sin(t * 2 + diamond + segment)
                
                color = hsv_to_rgb(hue, saturation, value)
                
                # Draw small cluster around vertex
                for dx in range(-2, 3):
                    for dy in range(-2, 3):
                        for dz in range(-2, 3):
                            if dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz <= 4:
                                add_voxel(volume, final_x+dx, final_y+dy, final_z+dz, color)

def generate_radial_lines(volume, cx, cy, cz, t, layer):
    for segment in range(SEGMENTS * 2):
        line_angle = (segment / (SEGMENTS * 2)) * 2 * np.pi + t * 0.5
        
        for radius in range(5, MAX_RADIUS, 3):
            x = radius * np.cos(line_angle)
            y = radius * np.sin(line_angle)
            z = np.sin(t * 1.8 + radius * 0.05 + segment * 0.2) * 15
            
            # 3D rotation
            x, y, z = rotate_point_3d(x, y, z, t * 0.25, t * 0.35, t * 0.1)
            
            final_x = int(cx + x)
            final_y = int(cy + y)
            final_z = int(cz + z)
            
            # Color based on angle and radius
            hue = (line_angle / (2 * np.pi) + t * 0.2 + radius * 0.005) % 1.0
            saturation = 0.7 + 0.3 * np.sin(t + segment)
            value = 0.6 + 0.4 * np.cos(t * 1.3 + radius * 0.02)
            
            color = hsv_to_rgb(hue, saturation, value)
            add_voxel(volume, final_x, final_y, final_z, color)

def generate_kaleidoscope_scene(volume, t):
    for layer in range(PATTERN_LAYERS):
        generate_triangle_pattern(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t, layer)
        generate_diamond_pattern(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t, layer)
        generate_radial_lines(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t, layer)

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

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

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

Next steps

Change SEGMENTS to create more or fewer symmetrical sections.
Adjust PATTERN_LAYERS for more complex overlapping patterns.
Modify rotation speeds by changing the multipliers in the time calculations.
Experiment with MAX_RADIUS to make patterns larger or smaller.
Try different HSV color ranges for unique color palettes.

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