Snake - 3D Voxel Animation Learning Example

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of a snake using SpatialStudio. The script creates a slithering snake that moves through a cubic 3D space with realistic body motion, then saves the animation to a .splv file.

What this script does

Creates a 3D scene of size 128×128×128
Spawns 1 animated snake with:
- A segmented body that follows a curved path
- Realistic slithering motion with sine-wave undulation
- Gradient coloring from head to tail
- Smooth body segments that follow the head
Animates the snake moving in a figure-8 pattern for 8 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file snake.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).
Snake body segments The snake consists of multiple spherical segments that follow a calculated path, each slightly smaller than the previous.
Path calculation The snake follows a parametric figure-8 curve in 3D space, with additional vertical undulation for realistic motion.
Body following Each segment follows the position of the segment in front of it with a time delay, creating natural snake-like movement.
Color gradient The snake uses a green-to-yellow gradient from head to tail, making it easy to see the direction of movement.
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 snake.py and run:

python snake.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/snake.splv"

# Snake settings
SNAKE_LENGTH = 25
SEGMENT_SIZE = 3
SEGMENT_SPACING = 2.5
PATH_RADIUS = 30

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 calculate_snake_position(t, segment_index):
    # Figure-8 path with time delay for each segment
    delayed_t = t - (segment_index * 0.1)
    
    # Figure-8 parametric equations
    x = PATH_RADIUS * np.sin(delayed_t)
    z = PATH_RADIUS * np.sin(delayed_t) * np.cos(delayed_t)
    
    # Vertical undulation for 3D movement
    y = 10 * np.sin(delayed_t * 2.0 + segment_index * 0.3)
    
    return CENTER_X + int(x), CENTER_Y + int(y), CENTER_Z + int(z)

def get_segment_color(segment_index):
    # Gradient from bright green (head) to yellow (tail)
    progress = segment_index / SNAKE_LENGTH
    red = int(255 * progress)
    green = 255
    blue = int(50 * (1 - progress))
    return (red, green, blue)

def generate_snake_segment(volume, cx, cy, cz, color, size):
    for dx in range(-size, size+1):
        for dy in range(-size, size+1):
            for dz in range(-size, size+1):
                distance = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz)
                if distance <= size:
                    # Add some texture variation
                    brightness = 1.0 - (distance / size) * 0.3
                    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_snake_head(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    # Head is slightly larger and has eyes
    head_color = (0, 255, 0)  # Bright green
    head_size = SEGMENT_SIZE + 1
    
    # Generate head body
    generate_snake_segment(volume, cx, cy, cz, head_color, head_size)
    
    # Add eyes
    eye_color = (255, 255, 255)  # White eyes
    eye_offset = 2
    add_voxel(volume, cx-eye_offset, cy+eye_offset, cz+eye_offset, eye_color)
    add_voxel(volume, cx+eye_offset, cy+eye_offset, cz+eye_offset, eye_color)
    
    # Add pupils
    pupil_color = (0, 0, 0)  # Black pupils
    add_voxel(volume, cx-eye_offset, cy+eye_offset, cz+eye_offset+1, pupil_color)
    add_voxel(volume, cx+eye_offset, cy+eye_offset, cz+eye_offset+1, pupil_color)

def generate_snake(volume, t):
    snake_positions = []
    
    # Calculate all segment positions
    for i in range(SNAKE_LENGTH):
        x, y, z = calculate_snake_position(t, i)
        snake_positions.append((x, y, z))
    
    # Draw snake segments from tail to head
    for i in range(SNAKE_LENGTH-1, -1, -1):
        x, y, z = snake_positions[i]
        
        if i == 0:  # Head
            generate_snake_head(volume, x, y, z, t)
        else:  # Body segments
            color = get_segment_color(i)
            # Segments get slightly smaller towards the tail
            size = max(1, SEGMENT_SIZE - int(i * 0.05))
            generate_snake_segment(volume, x, y, z, color, size)

def add_ground_texture(volume):
    # Add some ground voxels for reference
    ground_color = (101, 67, 33)  # Brown ground
    for x in range(0, SIZE, 8):
        for z in range(0, SIZE, 8):
            if np.random.random() > 0.7:  # Sparse ground texture
                add_voxel(volume, x, 5, z, ground_color)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    add_ground_texture(volume)
    generate_snake(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 snake"):
    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 SNAKE_LENGTH to make the snake longer or shorter.
Modify PATH_RADIUS to make the snake's movement path larger or smaller.
Edit the get_segment_color() function for different color schemes.
Adjust SEGMENT_SPACING to make the snake more or less compressed.
Try different path equations in calculate_snake_position() for unique movement patterns (spiral, sine wave, etc.).
Add obstacles or terrain for the snake to navigate around.

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