# LivingWorld: Interactive 4D World Generation with Environmental Dynamics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.01641 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.01641/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 40 of its 49 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 2 Apr 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 40)

- [Segment Anything](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02643/) (2023)
- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [Wan: Open and Advanced Large-Scale Video Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20314/) (2025)
- [CogVideoX: Text-to-Video Diffusion Models with An Expert Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06072/) (2024)
- [VBench: Comprehensive Benchmark Suite for Video Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.17982/) (2023)
- [4D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Dynamic Scene Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08528/) (2023)
- [Spacetime Gaussian Feature Splatting for Real-Time Dynamic View Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.16812/) (2023)
- [MoGe-2: Accurate Monocular Geometry with Metric Scale and Sharp Details](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.02546/) (2025)
- [Text2Room: Extracting Textured 3D Meshes from 2D Text-to-Image Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11989/) (2023)
- [Infinite Nature: Perpetual View Generation of Natural Scenes from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.09855/) (2020)
- [LucidDreamer: Domain-free Generation of 3D Gaussian Splatting Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.13384/) (2023)
- [Video models are zero-shot learners and reasoners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.20328/) (2025)
- [Motion-I2V: Consistent and Controllable Image-to-Video Generation with Explicit Motion Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15977/) (2024)
- [Text-To-4D Dynamic Scene Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.11280/) (2023)
- [WonderWorld: Interactive 3D Scene Generation from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09394/) (2024)
- [4D-fy: Text-to-4D Generation Using Hybrid Score Distillation Sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.17984/) (2023)
- [Tora: Trajectory-oriented Diffusion Transformer for Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21705/) (2024)
- [CAT4D: Create Anything in 4D with Multi-View Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.18613/) (2024)
- [WonderJourney: Going from Anywhere to Everywhere](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03884/) (2023)
- [Per-Gaussian Embedding-Based Deformation for Deformable 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03613/) (2024)
- [BlockFusion: Expandable 3D Scene Generation using Latent Tri-plane Extrapolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.17053/) (2024)
- [A Unified Approach for Text- and Image-guided 4D Scene Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.16854/) (2023)
- [TC4D: Trajectory-Conditioned Text-to-4D Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17920/) (2024)
- [PhysGen3D: Crafting a Miniature Interactive World from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.20746/) (2025)
- [Animating Pictures with Eulerian Motion Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.15128/) (2020)
- [MotionCanvas: Cinematic Shot Design with Controllable Image-to-Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.04299/) (2025)
- [WonderPlay: Dynamic 3D Scene Generation from a Single Image and Actions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18151/) (2025)
- [Text2Immersion: Generative Immersive Scene with 3D Gaussians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.09242/) (2023)
- [Imagen 3](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.07009/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We introduce LivingWorld, an interactive framework for generating 4D worlds with environmental dynamics from a single image. While recent advances in 3D scene generation enable large-scale environment creation, most approaches focus primarily on reconstructing static geometry, leaving scene-scale environmental dynamics such as clouds, water, or smoke largely unexplored. Modeling such dynamics is challenging because motion must remain coherent across an expanding scene while supporting low-latency user feedback. LivingWorld addresses this challenge by progressively constructing a globally coherent motion field as the scene expands. To maintain global consistency during expansion, we introduce a geometry-aware alignment module that resolves directional and scale ambiguities across views. We further represent motion using a compact hash-based motion field, enabling efficient querying and stable propagation of dynamics throughout the scene. This representation also supports bidirectional motion propagation during rendering, producing long and temporally coherent 4D sequences without relying on expensive video-based refinement. On a single RTX 5090 GPU, generating each new scene expansion step requires 9 seconds, followed by 3 seconds for motion alignment and motion field updates, enabling interactive 4D world generation with globally coherent environmental dynamics. Video demonstrations are available at paper.pnu-cvsp.com/LivingWorld.