Creating a Spinning Pinwheel Animation with SpatialStudio

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of pinwheel using SpatialStudio. The script creates colorful pinwheels that spin, flutter, and cast shadows 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 4 pinwheels, each with:
- Rotating colorful blades with alternating patterns
- A central hub with metallic shine
- A thin supporting stick
- Dynamic motion blur effects
Animates them spinning at different speeds for 8 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file pinwheel.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).
Pinwheel blades Each pinwheel has triangular blades that rotate around a central point with alternating bright colors.
Central hub A small metallic sphere at the center holds all the blades together and adds realistic shine.
Support stick A thin vertical rod extends downward from each pinwheel hub for structural realism.
Motion effects Fast-spinning blades create subtle blur effects and the rotation speed varies per pinwheel.
Animation loop A normalized time variable t cycles from 0 → 2π, ensuring the spinning 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 pinwheel.py and run:

python pinwheel.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/pinwheel.splv"

# Pinwheel settings
PINWHEEL_COUNT = 4
BLADE_LENGTH = 12
BLADE_COUNT = 6
HUB_RADIUS = 2
STICK_HEIGHT = 20

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_pinwheel_blade(volume, cx, cy, cz, angle, blade_index, color, t):
    # Calculate blade rotation
    blade_angle = angle + (blade_index * 2 * np.pi / BLADE_COUNT)
    
    # Create triangular blade shape
    for r in range(1, BLADE_LENGTH):
        for w in range(-r//3, r//3 + 1):
            # Rotate point around center
            x_offset = int(r * np.cos(blade_angle) + w * np.sin(blade_angle))
            z_offset = int(r * np.sin(blade_angle) - w * np.cos(blade_angle))
            
            # Add some flutter effect
            y_offset = int(np.sin(t * 8 + r * 0.3) * 0.5)
            
            # Vary color intensity based on position
            intensity = 1.0 - (r / BLADE_LENGTH) * 0.3
            final_color = tuple(int(c * intensity) for c in color)
            
            add_voxel(volume, cx + x_offset, cy + y_offset, cz + z_offset, final_color)

def generate_pinwheel_hub(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    hub_color = (192, 192, 192)  # Silver
    shine_color = (255, 255, 255)  # White highlight
    
    # Create central hub
    for dx in range(-HUB_RADIUS, HUB_RADIUS + 1):
        for dy in range(-HUB_RADIUS, HUB_RADIUS + 1):
            for dz in range(-HUB_RADIUS, HUB_RADIUS + 1):
                if dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz <= HUB_RADIUS*HUB_RADIUS:
                    # Add shine effect that rotates
                    if dx == -1 and dy >= 0 and dz == 0:
                        add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, shine_color)
                    else:
                        add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, hub_color)

def generate_support_stick(volume, cx, cy, cz):
    stick_color = (101, 67, 33)  # Brown wood
    
    # Create vertical support stick
    for i in range(STICK_HEIGHT):
        y_pos = cy + HUB_RADIUS + i
        # Add slight thickness variation
        thickness = 1 if i < STICK_HEIGHT // 2 else 0
        
        for dx in range(-thickness, thickness + 1):
            for dz in range(-thickness, thickness + 1):
                add_voxel(volume, cx + dx, y_pos, cz + dz, stick_color)

def generate_single_pinwheel(volume, cx, cy, cz, pinwheel_id, t):
    # Different rotation speeds for each pinwheel
    speed_multiplier = 1.0 + pinwheel_id * 0.5
    rotation_angle = t * speed_multiplier * 4
    
    # Alternating blade colors
    blade_colors = [
        (255, 0, 0),    # Red
        (0, 255, 0),    # Green  
        (0, 0, 255),    # Blue
        (255, 255, 0),  # Yellow
        (255, 0, 255),  # Magenta
        (0, 255, 255),  # Cyan
    ]
    
    # Generate blades
    for blade_idx in range(BLADE_COUNT):
        color = blade_colors[blade_idx % len(blade_colors)]
        generate_pinwheel_blade(volume, cx, cy, cz, rotation_angle, blade_idx, color, t)
    
    # Generate hub and support
    generate_pinwheel_hub(volume, cx, cy, cz, t)
    generate_support_stick(volume, cx, cy, cz)

def generate_pinwheel_cluster(volume, t):
    positions = [
        (CENTER_X - 25, CENTER_Y - 10, CENTER_Z - 25),
        (CENTER_X + 25, CENTER_Y - 5, CENTER_Z - 25), 
        (CENTER_X - 25, CENTER_Y + 5, CENTER_Z + 25),
        (CENTER_X + 25, CENTER_Y + 10, CENTER_Z + 25),
    ]
    
    for i, (px, py, pz) in enumerate(positions):
        # Add gentle swaying motion
        sway_x = int(np.sin(t * 1.2 + i * 0.8) * 3)
        sway_z = int(np.cos(t * 0.8 + i * 0.5) * 2)
        
        generate_single_pinwheel(volume, px + sway_x, py, pz + sway_z, i, t)

def generate_ground_plane(volume):
    ground_color = (34, 139, 34)  # Forest green
    ground_y = CENTER_Y + 35
    
    # Simple ground plane
    if ground_y < SIZE:
        for x in range(SIZE):
            for z in range(SIZE):
                add_voxel(volume, x, ground_y, z, ground_color)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    generate_ground_plane(volume)
    generate_pinwheel_cluster(volume, t)

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

# Generate animation frames
for frame in tqdm(range(FRAMES), desc="Generating pinwheel"):
    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 PINWHEEL_COUNT and BLADE_COUNT to create different configurations
Edit blade_colors array to customize the color palette
Adjust rotation speeds by modifying speed_multiplier values
Add wind effects by increasing the sway motion parameters
Experiment with BLADE_LENGTH to create larger or smaller pinwheels
Try adding more complex ground textures or background elements

examples

Snake 3D

Creating Yoyo Animation

Creating Wooden Planks Animation

Creating Windstorm Animation

Creating Windmill Animation

Creating Whale Animation

Creating Waterfall Animation

Creating Volcano Animation

Creating Vaporwave Animation

Creating Tree Animation

Creating Tornado Animation

Creating Sun Animation

Creating Stone Wall Animation

Creating Spring Animation

Creating Spider Animation

Creating Spaceship Animation

Creating Solar System Educational Animation

Creating Solar System Animation

Creating Snowglobe Animation

Creating Snake Animation

Creating Sailboat Animation

Creating Robot Animation

Creating River Rapids Animation

Creating Rainbow Animation

Creating Prism Animation

Creating Pinwheel Animation

Creating Pine Tree Animation

Creating Phoenix Animation

Creating Pendulum Animation

Creating Octopus Animation

Creating Mushroom Animation

Creating Metronome Animation

Creating Meteor Animation

Creating Metal Plates Animation

Creating Lissajous Animation

Creating Lightning Animation

Creating Lighthouse Animation

Creating Lava Lamp Animation

Creating Lantern Animation

Creating Kite Animation

Creating Kaleidoscope Animation

Creating Jellyfish Animation

Creating Inner Planets Orbit Animation

Creating Hourglass Animation

Creating Hive Animation

Creating Grass Animation

Creating Geyser Animation

Creating Gear Animation

Creating Fountain Animation

Creating Flower Animation

Creating Fish Animation

Creating Fireworks Animation

Creating Fern Animation

Creating Earth Orbit Animation

Creating Dragon Animation

Creating Disco Ball Animation

Creating Demon Animation

Creating Crystallization Animation

Creating Crystal Animation

Creating Cosmic Formation Animation

Creating Coral Reef Animation

Creating Compass Animation

Creating Cloud Animation

Creating Clock Animation

Creating Castle Animation

Creating Carousel Animation

Creating Candle Animation

Creating Campfire Animation

Creating Cactus Animation

Creating Butterfly Animation

Creating Bush Animation

Creating Brick Wall Animation

Creating Blackhole Animation

Creating Beehive Animation

Creating Aurora Animation

🎈 Floating Balloons

Creating a Spinning Pinwheel Animation with SpatialStudio

What this script does

How it works (simplified)