Solar System - 3D Voxel Animation Tutorial

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of a solar system using SpatialStudio. The script creates a miniature solar system with planets orbiting around a glowing sun 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 a central sun with a glowing effect
Creates 6 planets of different sizes, each with:
- Unique orbital paths and speeds
- Realistic colors and textures
- Some planets have small moons
Animates orbital motion for 12 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file solar_system.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).
Central sun A bright yellow-orange sphere at the center with animated glow effects and surface detail.
Planetary orbits Each planet follows circular orbital paths at different distances and speeds using trigonometric functions.
Planet rendering Planets are drawn as spheres with color variations and surface textures using noise functions.
Moons Some planets have smaller orbiting bodies that follow sub-orbital paths.
Animation loop A normalized time variable t cycles from 0 → 2π, ensuring all orbital motions loop 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 solar_system.py and run:

python solar_system.py

Full Script

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

# Scene setup
SIZE, FPS, SECONDS = 128, 30, 12
FRAMES = FPS * SECONDS
CENTER_X = CENTER_Y = CENTER_Z = SIZE // 2
OUT_PATH = "../outputs/solar_system.splv"

# Solar system settings
SUN_RADIUS = 8
PLANET_COUNT = 6

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_sun(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    sun_color = (255, 200, 50)
    glow_color = (255, 150, 0)
    
    # Main sun body with animated surface
    for dx in range(-SUN_RADIUS, SUN_RADIUS+1):
        for dy in range(-SUN_RADIUS, SUN_RADIUS+1):
            for dz in range(-SUN_RADIUS, SUN_RADIUS+1):
                dist = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz)
                if dist <= SUN_RADIUS:
                    # Animated surface detail
                    surface_noise = np.sin(dx*0.4 + t*2) + np.cos(dy*0.3 + t*1.5) + np.sin(dz*0.5 + t*2.5)
                    brightness = 1.0 + surface_noise * 0.15
                    final_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * brightness)) for c in sun_color)
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, final_color)
    
    # Glow effect
    glow_radius = SUN_RADIUS + 3
    for dx in range(-glow_radius, glow_radius+1):
        for dy in range(-glow_radius, glow_radius+1):
            for dz in range(-glow_radius, glow_radius+1):
                dist = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz)
                if SUN_RADIUS < dist <= glow_radius:
                    glow_intensity = 1.0 - (dist - SUN_RADIUS) / 3.0
                    if np.random.random() < glow_intensity * 0.3:
                        add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, glow_color)

def generate_planet(volume, cx, cy, cz, radius, color, t, planet_id):
    for dx in range(-radius, radius+1):
        for dy in range(-radius, radius+1):
            for dz in range(-radius, radius+1):
                dist = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz)
                if dist <= radius:
                    # Planet surface texture
                    texture = np.sin(dx*0.5 + planet_id) + np.cos(dy*0.4 + planet_id*2) + np.sin(dz*0.6 + t*0.5)
                    brightness = 1.0 + texture * 0.2
                    final_color = tuple(min(255, max(50, int(c * brightness))) for c in color)
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, final_color)

def generate_moon(volume, cx, cy, cz, t, planet_angle, moon_orbit_radius):
    moon_radius = 2
    moon_color = (180, 180, 180)
    
    # Moon orbits around planet position
    moon_angle = t * 4.0  # Moons orbit faster
    moon_x = cx + int(moon_orbit_radius * np.cos(moon_angle))
    moon_z = cz + int(moon_orbit_radius * np.sin(moon_angle))
    
    for dx in range(-moon_radius, moon_radius+1):
        for dy in range(-moon_radius, moon_radius+1):
            for dz in range(-moon_radius, moon_radius+1):
                if dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz <= moon_radius*moon_radius:
                    add_voxel(volume, moon_x+dx, cy+dy, moon_z+dz, moon_color)

def generate_planets(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    # Planet data: (orbit_radius, planet_radius, color, orbital_speed, has_moon, moon_orbit_radius)
    planets = [
        (20, 3, (255, 100, 100), 1.2, False, 0),      # Mercury-like (red)
        (28, 4, (255, 200, 100), 1.0, False, 0),      # Venus-like (yellow)
        (36, 4, (100, 150, 255), 0.8, True, 8),       # Earth-like (blue) with moon
        (45, 3, (255, 100, 50), 0.6, True, 6),        # Mars-like (red-orange) with moon
        (55, 6, (200, 150, 100), 0.4, True, 12),      # Jupiter-like (brown) with moon
        (65, 5, (150, 150, 200), 0.3, False, 0),      # Saturn-like (pale blue)
    ]
    
    for i, (orbit_radius, planet_radius, color, speed, has_moon, moon_orbit_radius) in enumerate(planets):
        # Calculate planet position
        angle = t * speed + i * np.pi / 3  # Offset each planet's starting position
        px = cx + int(orbit_radius * np.cos(angle))
        pz = cz + int(orbit_radius * np.sin(angle))
        py = cy + int(3 * np.sin(t * 0.5 + i))  # Slight vertical oscillation
        
        # Generate planet
        generate_planet(volume, px, py, pz, planet_radius, color, t, i)
        
        # Generate moon if planet has one
        if has_moon:
            generate_moon(volume, px, py, pz, t, angle, moon_orbit_radius)

def generate_orbital_trails(volume, cx, cy, cz, t):
    # Optional: Add faint orbital trail particles
    trail_color = (50, 50, 80)
    orbit_radii = [20, 28, 36, 45, 55, 65]
    
    for radius in orbit_radii:
        for angle_step in range(0, 360, 15):
            angle = np.radians(angle_step)
            tx = cx + int(radius * np.cos(angle))
            tz = cz + int(radius * np.sin(angle))
            if np.random.random() < 0.1:  # Sparse trail effect
                add_voxel(volume, tx, cy, tz, trail_color)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    # Generate sun at center
    generate_sun(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    
    # Generate orbiting planets
    generate_planets(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, t)
    
    # Generate orbital trails (optional visual effect)
    generate_orbital_trails(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 solar system"):
    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

Modify the planets array to add more celestial bodies or change their properties
Adjust orbital speeds to create different animation rhythms
Add asteroid belts by generating small particles between planet orbits
Experiment with different planet colors and textures
Create elliptical orbits by modifying the trigonometric calculations
Add Saturn-like rings around larger planets

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