Sparse Voxels Toolkit

Documentation: https://hectorpiteau.github.io/sparse-voxels/

Sparse voxel octree library with a C++20/CUDA core, pybind11 Python bindings, NumPy CPU APIs, CUDA traversal/rendering, and optional PyTorch CUDA autograd integration.

Contents

• Project status
• What the project does
• Quickstart
• Documentation
• Examples
• Development
• Contributing
• Packaging and CI
• References
• License

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Project status

The project is a working pre-alpha implementation. The CPU reference path, CUDA traversal/rendering kernels, Python package build, and CI workflows exist. The API is still allowed to change before 1.0.0, but changes should now be classified as patch/minor/major according to API compatibility.

Current capabilities:

• C++20 core with GLM math types.
• pybind11 Python extension built with CMake and scikit-build-core.
• CPU octree construction from voxel coordinates.
• CPU and CUDA point query, camera ray generation, raycast, trilinear interpolation, and forward volume rendering.
• CUDA/PyTorch tensor interop for query, raycast, payload gathering, interpolation, and differentiable volume rendering.
• svo.VolumeRenderer, a small torch.nn.Module wrapper around the CUDA renderer.
• Tree-level branching modes: classic 8-way octree and experimental 4x4x4 wide nodes with local DDA raycast/render traversal.
• Experimental CUDA compact-interval rendering via render_strategy="intervals" for direct-vs-interval profiling and Torch backward traversal reuse.
• Plain versioned .svo scene serialization for topology plus float32 payload arrays.
• CPU-first runtime-only Python wheels, source distributions, package smoke tests, and GitHub Actions CI.

Still in progress:

• Public CUDA wheels.
• Further production rendering acceleration and benchmark-driven strategy selection.
• Advanced sparse layouts such as brick leaves and VDB-style hierarchy.

What the project does

This library provides a sparse spatial index over occupied voxel coordinates. The tree stores topology and leaf-to-payload indirection; application data lives in external arrays or tensors. That keeps the same octree useful for labels, density/color fields, learned features, TSDF values, semantic IDs, or application-specific payloads.

Typical use cases:

• Build an octree from sparse occupied voxels.
• Query which leaf or payload index contains a point.
• Raycast through sparse voxel topology.
• Render density/color payloads from camera rays.
• Use CUDA-resident tensors without avoidable CPU-GPU transfers.
• Optimize density/color payload tensors with PyTorch autograd.

The design is inspired by Laine and Karras' sparse voxel octree work, especially the separation between topology, traversal, and attributes, adapted for a modern C++/CUDA + Python + PyTorch workflow.

Quickstart

Set up the local development environment:

uv sync --extra test

Build a tree and query it from Python:

import numpy as np
import svo

coords = np.array([[0, 0, 0], [1, 2, 3], [4, 4, 4]], dtype=np.int32)
tree = svo.Octree.from_voxels(coords, max_depth=4, branching="octree8")

points = np.array([[0.1, 0.1, 0.1], [0.9, 0.9, 0.9]], dtype=np.float32)
leaf_ids = tree.query(points)

Use branching="wide4" for the experimental 4x4x4 topology. Wide trees require an even max_depth; see Data layout for the descriptor format and tradeoffs.

Run package diagnostics:

uv run python -m svo.info

Documentation

The README is intentionally a short entry point. The full documentation is available online at https://hectorpiteau.github.io/sparse-voxels/ and as Markdown sources under docs/.

Topic	Document
Documentation map	docs/index.md
Installation, CUDA source builds, compatibility matrix	docs/installation.md
First Python workflow	docs/quickstart.md
Python API	docs/python-api.md
C++ API	docs/cpp-api.md
PyTorch rendering and autograd	docs/pytorch-rendering.md
Architecture and contributor guidance	docs/architecture.md
Octree and wide-node data layout	docs/data-layout.md
Differentiability scope	docs/differentiability.md
Testing and numerical checks	docs/testing.md
Packaging, versioning, CI, release flow	docs/packaging.md
Troubleshooting	docs/troubleshooting.md
Examples	docs/examples.md
Documentation workflow and Docsify preview	docs/documentation.md

Regenerate the Docsify shell after adding, removing, or renaming pages:

./.venv/bin/python scripts/generate_docsify.py

Preview the documentation site locally:

npx docsify-cli serve docs

Examples

Render a sparse sphere with sinusoidal color payloads:

./.venv/bin/python examples/python/forward_render.py --device auto --output docs/assets/forward_render.png

Open the lightweight real-time viewer:

UV_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/uv-cache uv sync --extra viewer
./.venv/bin/python examples/python/realtime_viewer.py --device auto
./.venv/bin/python examples/python/realtime_viewer.py --device cuda --branching wide4
./.venv/bin/python examples/python/realtime_viewer.py --device cuda --scene outputs/nerf_octree/model.svo

The viewer orbits around (0, 0, 0) with left-click drag, zooms with the mouse wheel, resets with R, and exits with Q or Esc. FPS and frame time are displayed in the window.

More examples are listed in docs/examples.md.

Development

Run the common local checks:

UV_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/uv-cache uv run --extra lint ruff check .
UV_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/uv-cache uv run --extra test pytest tests/python -q
cmake --build build-cpu -j2
ctest --test-dir build-cpu --output-on-failure

Build and validate the Python package:

UV_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/uv-cache uv build
./.venv/bin/python scripts/check_package.py

See docs/testing.md for CPU/CUDA test policy and docs/architecture.md for contributor-facing design rules.

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. It covers project design constraints, test and documentation expectations, and the information every PR should provide so reviewers can understand why the change matters.

Packaging and CI

The project is CPU-wheel-first. Wheels are runtime-only and should contain the Python package plus native extension, not C++ headers, GLM headers, CMake package files, or the static library. C++ users should build from source with CMake.

CI runs Linux CPU lint, Python tests, CMake tests, and package checks. Optional CUDA validation is handled by a self-hosted GPU workflow. Publishing uses Trusted Publishing with vX.Y.Z tags generated after an explicit patch/minor/ major API compatibility decision.

See docs/packaging.md for release details.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Before copying code from any external repository, verify license compatibility.

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References

• Samuli Laine and Tero Karras, Efficient Sparse Voxel Octrees – Analysis, Extensions, and Implementation, NVIDIA Technical Report NVR-2010-001, 2010.
• Amanatides and Woo, A Fast Voxel Traversal Algorithm for Ray Tracing, 1987.
• PyTorch C++/CUDA extension documentation.
• uv documentation.
• scikit-build-core documentation.