manimgl-best-practices

How to use

Read individual rule files for detailed explanations and code examples:

Core Concepts

• [rules/scenes.md](rules/scenes.md) - InteractiveScene, Scene types, and construct method
• [rules/mobjects.md](rules/mobjects.md) - Mobject types, VMobject, Groups, and positioning
• [rules/animations.md](rules/animations.md) - Animation classes, playing animations, and timing

Creation & Transformation

• [rules/creation-animations.md](rules/creation-animations.md) - ShowCreation, Write, FadeIn, DrawBorderThenFill
• [rules/transform-animations.md](rules/transform-animations.md) - Transform, ReplacementTransform, TransformMatchingTex
• [rules/animation-groups.md](rules/animation-groups.md) - LaggedStart, Succession, AnimationGroup

Text & Math

• [rules/tex.md](rules/tex.md) - Tex class, raw strings R"...", and LaTeX rendering
• [rules/text.md](rules/text.md) - Text mobjects, fonts, and styling
• [rules/t2c.md](rules/t2c.md) - textocolor_map (t2c) for coloring math expressions

Styling & Appearance

• [rules/colors.md](rules/colors.md) - Color constants, gradients, RGB, hex, GLSL coloring
• [rules/styling.md](rules/styling.md) - Fill, stroke, opacity, backstroke, gloss, shadow

3D & Camera

• [rules/3d.md](rules/3d.md) - 3D objects, surfaces, Sphere, Torus, parametric surfaces, lighting
• [rules/camera.md](rules/camera.md) - frame.reorient(), Euler angles, fixinframe(), camera animations

Interactive Development

• [rules/interactive.md](rules/interactive.md) - Interactive mode with -se flag, checkpoint_paste()
• [rules/frame.md](rules/frame.md) - self.frame, camera control, reorient, and zooming
• [rules/embedding.md](rules/embedding.md) - self.embed() for IPython debugging, touch() mode

Configuration & CLI

• [rules/cli.md](rules/cli.md) - manimgl command, flags (-w, -o, -se, -l, -h), rendering options
• [rules/config.md](rules/config.md) - custom_config.yml, directories, camera settings, quality presets

Working Examples

Complete, tested example files demonstrating common patterns:

• [examples/basicanimations.py](examples/basicanimations.py) - Basic shapes, text, and animations
• [examples/mathvisualization.py](examples/mathvisualization.py) - LaTeX equations and mathematical content
• [examples/graphplotting.py](examples/graphplotting.py) - Axes, functions, and graphing
• [examples/3dvisualization.py](examples/3dvisualization.py) - 3D scenes with camera control and surfaces
• [examples/updaterpatterns.py](examples/updaterpatterns.py) - Dynamic animations with updaters

Scene Templates

Copy and modify these templates to start new projects:

• [templates/basicscene.py](templates/basicscene.py) - Standard 2D scene template
• [templates/interactivescene.py](templates/interactivescene.py) - InteractiveScene with self.embed()
• [templates/3dscene.py](templates/3dscene.py) - 3D scene with frame.reorient()
• [templates/mathscene.py](templates/mathscene.py) - Mathematical derivations and equations

Quick Reference

Basic Scene Structure

from manimlib import *

class MyScene(InteractiveScene):
    def construct(self):
        # Create mobjects
        circle = Circle()

        # Add to scene (static)
        self.add(circle)

        # Or animate
        self.play(ShowCreation(circle))  # Note: ShowCreation, not Create

        # Wait
        self.wait(1)

Render Command

# Render and preview
manimgl scene.py MyScene

# Interactive mode - drop into shell at line 15
manimgl scene.py MyScene -se 15

# Write to file
manimgl scene.py MyScene -w

# Low quality for testing
manimgl scene.py MyScene -l

Key Differences from ManimCE

Interactive Development Workflow

ManimGL's killer feature is interactive development:

# Start at line 20 with state preserved
manimgl scene.py MyScene -se 20

In interactive mode:

# Copy code to clipboard, then run:
checkpoint_paste()           # Run with animations
checkpoint_paste(skip=True)  # Run instantly (no animations)
checkpoint_paste(record=True) # Record while running

Camera Control (self.frame)

# Get the camera frame
frame = self.frame

# Reorient in 3D (phi, theta, gamma, center, height)
frame.reorient(45, -30, 0, ORIGIN, 8)

# Animate camera movement
self.play(frame.animate.reorient(60, -45, 0))

# Fix mobjects to stay in screen space during 3D movement
title.fix_in_frame()

LaTeX with Tex class

# Use raw strings with capital R
formula = Tex(R"\int_0^1 x^2 \, dx = \frac{1}{3}")

# Color mapping with t2c
equation = Tex(
    R"E = mc^2",
    t2c={"E": BLUE, "m": GREEN, "c": YELLOW}
)

# Isolate substrings for animation
formula = Tex(R"\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^2} = \frac{\pi^2}{6}")
formula.set_color_by_tex("n", BLUE)

Common Patterns

Embedding for debugging

def construct(self):
    circle = Circle()
    self.play(ShowCreation(circle))
    self.embed()  # Drops into IPython shell here

Set floor plane for 3D

self.set_floor_plane("xz")  # Makes xy the viewing plane

Backstroke for text readability

text = Text("Label")
text.set_backstroke(BLACK, 5)  # Black outline behind text

Installation

# Install ManimGL
pip install manimgl

# Check installation
manimgl --version

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Version confusion - Ensure you're using manimgl, not manim (community version)
2. ShowCreation vs Create - ManimGL uses ShowCreation, not Create
3. Tex vs MathTex - ManimGL uses Tex with capital R raw strings
4. self.frame vs self.camera.frame - ManimGL uses self.frame directly
5. fixinframe() - Call on the mobject, not the scene
6. Interactive mode - Use -se flag for interactive development

License & Attribution

This skill contains example code adapted from 3Blue1Brown's video repository by Grant Sanderson.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

• Attribution required - Credit both 3Blue1Brown and the adapter
• NonCommercial - Not for commercial use
• ShareAlike - Derivatives must use the same license

See [LICENSE.txt](LICENSE.txt) for full details.