3D Voxel Animation: Flying Kites

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of kites using SpatialStudio. The script creates colorful kites that fly, dance, and sway in the wind 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 kites, each with:
- A diamond-shaped voxel body with colorful patterns
- A long flowing tail with ribbons
- Dynamic wind movement and rotation
Animates them soaring through the sky for 8 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file kites.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).
Kite body Kites are drawn as diamond shapes with geometric patterns and bright colors.
Tail ribbons Each kite gets a long, wavy tail made of colorful segments that flutter in the wind.
Wind simulation Sine and cosine functions create natural swaying, dipping, and rising motions.
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 kites.py and run:

python kites.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/kites.splv"

# Kite settings
KITE_COUNT = 6
KITE_SIZE = 12
TAIL_LENGTH = 35

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_kite_body(volume, cx, cy, cz, color, size, t, kite_id):
    # Create diamond shape
    for dx in range(-size, size+1):
        for dy in range(-size, size+1):
            for dz in range(-3, 4):
                # Diamond pattern
                if abs(dx) + abs(dy) <= size and abs(dz) <= 2:
                    # Add pattern based on position
                    pattern_x = dx + size
                    pattern_y = dy + size
                    
                    # Create geometric patterns
                    if (pattern_x + pattern_y) % 4 < 2:
                        brightness = 1.2
                    else:
                        brightness = 0.8
                    
                    # Add some animation to the pattern
                    wave = np.sin(t * 2.0 + kite_id * 0.5) * 0.1
                    brightness += wave
                    
                    final_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * brightness)) for c in color)
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, final_color)
    
    # Add kite frame (darker lines)
    frame_color = tuple(int(c * 0.3) for c in color)
    # Vertical line
    for dy in range(-size, size+1):
        add_voxel(volume, cx, cy+dy, cz, frame_color)
    # Horizontal line
    for dx in range(-size, size+1):
        add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy, cz, frame_color)

def generate_kite_tail(volume, cx, cy, cz, t, kite_id):
    tail_colors = [
        (255, 100, 100), (100, 255, 100), (100, 100, 255),
        (255, 255, 100), (255, 100, 255), (100, 255, 255)
    ]
    
    for i in range(TAIL_LENGTH):
        segment = i / TAIL_LENGTH
        
        # Tail follows behind the kite with wave motion
        wave_x = np.sin(t * 3.0 + i * 0.3 + kite_id) * (3 + segment * 2)
        wave_z = np.cos(t * 2.5 + i * 0.2 + kite_id) * (2 + segment * 1.5)
        wave_y = np.sin(t * 1.8 + i * 0.4 + kite_id) * segment * 3
        
        tx = cx + int(wave_x)
        ty = cy - int(segment * 15) + int(wave_y)  # Tail hangs down
        tz = cz + int(wave_z)
        
        # Alternate colors along the tail
        color_idx = (i // 3) % len(tail_colors)
        color = tail_colors[color_idx]
        
        # Make tail segments slightly larger
        for dx in range(-1, 2):
            for dy in range(-1, 2):
                if dx*dx + dy*dy <= 1:
                    add_voxel(volume, tx+dx, ty+dy, tz, color)

def generate_kite_swarm(volume, t):
    kite_colors = [
        (255, 0, 0),     # Red
        (0, 255, 0),     # Green
        (0, 0, 255),     # Blue
        (255, 165, 0),   # Orange
        (255, 0, 255),   # Magenta
        (255, 255, 0),   # Yellow
    ]
    
    for i in range(KITE_COUNT):
        # Each kite follows a different flight path
        angle = (i / KITE_COUNT) * 2 * np.pi
        
        # Create circular motion with some randomness
        radius = 25 + 10 * np.sin(i * 1.3)
        height_offset = 15 * np.sin(t * 0.8 + i * 0.7)
        
        # Wind effects
        wind_x = np.sin(t * 1.2 + i * 0.5) * 8
        wind_y = np.cos(t * 0.9 + i * 0.3) * 6
        wind_z = np.sin(t * 1.5 + i * 0.8) * 10
        
        kx = CENTER_X + int(radius * np.cos(angle + t * 0.4) + wind_x)
        ky = CENTER_Y + int(height_offset + wind_y)
        kz = CENTER_Z + int(radius * np.sin(angle + t * 0.3) + wind_z)
        
        color = kite_colors[i % len(kite_colors)]
        
        # Generate kite and its tail
        generate_kite_body(volume, kx, ky, kz, color, KITE_SIZE, t, i)
        generate_kite_tail(volume, kx, ky, kz, t, i)

def add_wind_particles(volume, t):
    # Add some wind effect particles
    particle_color = (200, 200, 255)
    
    for i in range(50):
        # Create moving particles to show wind
        px = int((i * 17 + t * 20) % SIZE)
        py = int((i * 23 + t * 15) % SIZE)
        pz = int((i * 31 + t * 25) % SIZE)
        
        # Make particles fade in and out
        alpha = int(128 * (0.5 + 0.5 * np.sin(t * 4 + i * 0.1)))
        if alpha > 50:  # Only show visible particles
            add_voxel(volume, px, py, pz, particle_color)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    generate_kite_swarm(volume, t)
    add_wind_particles(volume, t)

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

for frame in tqdm(range(FRAMES), desc="Generating flying kites"):
    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

Change KITE_COUNT to add more kites to the sky
Modify kite_colors to use your favorite color palette
Adjust TAIL_LENGTH to make shorter or longer kite tails
Experiment with wind strength by changing the wave amplitudes
Add ground elements by drawing voxels at low Y coordinates
Create different kite shapes by modifying the diamond pattern logic

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