Solar System Educational - 3D Voxel Animation

This guide walks you through how to generate a looping 3D voxel animation of a solar system using SpatialStudio. The script creates a realistic solar system with planets orbiting around the sun, complete with moons, asteroid belts, and glowing effects 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 8 planets orbiting a central sun, each with:
- Realistic colors and sizes based on our solar system
- Elliptical orbital paths at different speeds
- Some planets have orbiting moons
- Glowing effects for the sun and gas giants
Adds an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
Animates a complete orbital cycle for 12 seconds at 30 FPS
Outputs the file solar_system_educational.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 large, bright yellow-orange sphere with pulsing glow effects to simulate solar activity.
Planetary orbits Each planet follows an elliptical path with realistic relative speeds and distances from the sun.
Planet rendering Planets are drawn as textured spheres with colors matching real planetary appearances.
Moons and rings Earth gets its moon, and Saturn gets visible rings for educational accuracy.
Asteroid belt Small rocky fragments orbit between Mars and Jupiter in a scattered belt formation.
Animation loop A normalized time variable t cycles through 0 → 2π, ensuring smooth orbital motion that loops perfectly.
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_educational.py and run:

python solar_system_educational.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_educational.splv"

# Solar system settings
SUN_RADIUS = 4
ASTEROID_COUNT = 150

# Planet data: [name, radius, orbit_distance, orbit_speed, color]
PLANETS = [
    ("Mercury", 1, 12, 4.0, (169, 169, 169)),    # Gray
    ("Venus", 2, 16, 3.5, (255, 198, 73)),       # Yellow-orange
    ("Earth", 2, 20, 3.0, (100, 149, 237)),      # Blue
    ("Mars", 1, 24, 2.4, (205, 92, 92)),         # Red
    ("Jupiter", 4, 35, 1.3, (255, 140, 0)),      # Orange
    ("Saturn", 3, 42, 1.0, (250, 230, 143)),     # Pale yellow
    ("Uranus", 2, 48, 0.7, (79, 208, 231)),      # Cyan
    ("Neptune", 2, 54, 0.5, (72, 61, 139))       # Dark blue
]

def add_voxel(volume, x, y, z, color, alpha=255):
    if 0 <= x < SIZE and 0 <= y < SIZE and 0 <= z < SIZE:
        volume[x, y, z, :3] = color
        volume[x, y, z, 3] = alpha

def generate_sphere(volume, cx, cy, cz, radius, color, glow=False, t=0):
    for dx in range(-radius-2, radius+3):
        for dy in range(-radius-2, radius+3):
            for dz in range(-radius-2, radius+3):
                distance = np.sqrt(dx*dx + dy*dy + dz*dz)
                
                if distance <= radius:
                    # Main sphere body
                    if glow:
                        # Add pulsing effect for sun
                        pulse = 1.0 + 0.3 * np.sin(t * 3.0)
                        brightness = min(1.5, pulse)
                        final_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * brightness)) for c in color)
                    else:
                        # Add surface texture variation
                        texture = 1.0 + 0.2 * np.sin(dx*0.5 + dy*0.3 + dz*0.4)
                        final_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * texture)) for c in color)
                    
                    add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, final_color)
                
                elif glow and distance <= radius + 2:
                    # Glow effect for sun
                    glow_intensity = max(0, (radius + 2 - distance) / 2.0)
                    alpha = int(100 * glow_intensity)
                    if alpha > 0:
                        glow_color = tuple(min(255, int(c * 0.8)) for c in color)
                        add_voxel(volume, cx+dx, cy+dy, cz+dz, glow_color, alpha)

def generate_sun(volume, t):
    # Animated sun with solar flares
    base_radius = SUN_RADIUS
    flare_radius = int(base_radius + 2 * np.sin(t * 2.5))
    sun_color = (255, 200, 50)  # Bright yellow-orange
    
    generate_sphere(volume, CENTER_X, CENTER_Y, CENTER_Z, flare_radius, sun_color, glow=True, t=t)

def generate_planets(volume, t):
    for i, (name, radius, orbit_dist, speed, color) in enumerate(PLANETS):
        # Calculate orbital position
        angle = t * speed + (i * 0.3)  # Stagger initial positions
        
        # Elliptical orbit (slight eccentricity)
        ecc = 0.1
        orbit_x = orbit_dist * (1 + ecc * np.cos(angle)) * np.cos(angle)
        orbit_z = orbit_dist * (1 + ecc * np.cos(angle)) * np.sin(angle) * 0.8
        orbit_y = np.sin(angle * 0.1) * 2  # Slight inclination
        
        px = CENTER_X + int(orbit_x)
        py = CENTER_Y + int(orbit_y)
        pz = CENTER_Z + int(orbit_z)
        
        # Generate planet
        is_gas_giant = radius > 3
        generate_sphere(volume, px, py, pz, radius, color, glow=is_gas_giant, t=t)
        
        # Add Earth's moon
        if name == "Earth":
            moon_angle = t * 12.0  # Moon orbits faster
            moon_dist = 6
            moon_x = px + int(moon_dist * np.cos(moon_angle))
            moon_z = pz + int(moon_dist * np.sin(moon_angle))
            add_voxel(volume, moon_x, py, moon_z, (192, 192, 192))
            add_voxel(volume, moon_x+1, py, moon_z, (192, 192, 192))
        
        # Add Saturn's rings
        if name == "Saturn":
            generate_rings(volume, px, py, pz, radius + 2, radius + 4, t)

def generate_rings(volume, cx, cy, cz, inner_radius, outer_radius, t):
    ring_color = (200, 200, 150)
    rotation = t * 0.5
    
    for angle in np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, 64):
        for r in range(inner_radius, outer_radius + 1):
            if np.random.random() > 0.3:  # Sparse rings
                x = cx + int(r * np.cos(angle + rotation))
                z = cz + int(r * np.sin(angle + rotation))
                add_voxel(volume, x, cy, z, ring_color, alpha=150)

def generate_asteroid_belt(volume, t):
    asteroid_color = (139, 128, 116)  # Rocky gray-brown
    np.random.seed(42)  # Consistent asteroid positions
    
    for i in range(ASTEROID_COUNT):
        # Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter (orbit distance 28-32)
        belt_radius = 28 + 4 * np.random.random()
        angle = np.random.random() * 2 * np.pi
        height_variation = (np.random.random() - 0.5) * 6
        
        # Slow orbital motion
        current_angle = angle + t * 0.8
        
        ax = CENTER_X + int(belt_radius * np.cos(current_angle))
        ay = CENTER_Y + int(height_variation)
        az = CENTER_Z + int(belt_radius * np.sin(current_angle))
        
        # Small, irregular asteroids
        if np.random.random() > 0.7:  # Only show some asteroids each frame
            add_voxel(volume, ax, ay, az, asteroid_color)
            if np.random.random() > 0.8:  # Some larger asteroids
                add_voxel(volume, ax+1, ay, az, asteroid_color)

def generate_orbital_trails(volume, t):
    # Faint orbital trails for educational purposes
    trail_color = (100, 100, 100)
    
    for _, radius, orbit_dist, _, _ in PLANETS:
        for angle in np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, 48):
            x = CENTER_X + int(orbit_dist * np.cos(angle))
            z = CENTER_Z + int(orbit_dist * np.sin(angle))
            
            # Very faint trail
            if np.random.random() > 0.9:
                add_voxel(volume, x, CENTER_Y, z, trail_color, alpha=50)

def generate_scene(volume, t):
    # Generate orbital trails first (background)
    generate_orbital_trails(volume, t)
    
    # Generate asteroid belt
    generate_asteroid_belt(volume, t)
    
    # Generate planets
    generate_planets(volume, t)
    
    # Generate sun last (foreground)
    generate_sun(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 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}")

Educational Features

This animation includes several educational elements:

Realistic orbital speeds - Inner planets orbit faster than outer planets
Size relationships - Jupiter is the largest planet, Mercury is the smallest
Asteroid belt - Shows the rocky debris between Mars and Jupiter
Saturn's rings - Distinctive ring system for easy identification
Earth's moon - Our natural satellite in realistic orbital motion
Solar activity - Pulsing sun with glow effects
Orbital trails - Faint paths showing planetary orbits

Next steps

Modify SECONDS to create longer orbital periods
Adjust planet orbit_speed values to change relative motion
Add more moons to other planets (Jupiter has 4 major moons!)
Experiment with different colors for artistic interpretation
Increase ASTEROID_COUNT for a denser asteroid belt
Add comet trails by modifying the asteroid generation code

This solar system animation is perfect for educational presentations, astronomy lessons, or just exploring our cosmic neighborhood in 3D!

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