manimgl-best-practices

name: manimgl-best-practices description: | Trigger when: (1) User mentions "manimgl" or "ManimGL" or "3b1b manim", (2) Code contains from manimlib import *, (3) User runs manimgl CLI commands, (4) Working with InteractiveScene, self.frame, self.embed(), ShowCreation(), or ManimGL-specific patterns.

Best practices for ManimGL (Grant Sanderson's 3Blue1Brown version) - OpenGL-based animation engine with interactive development. Covers InteractiveScene, Tex with t2c, camera frame control, interactive mode (-se flag), 3D rendering, and checkpoint_paste() workflow.

NOT for Manim Community Edition (which uses manim imports and manim CLI).

How to use

Read individual rule files for detailed explanations and code examples:

Core Concepts

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

Creation & Transformation

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

Text & Math

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

Styling & Appearance

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

3D & Camera

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

Interactive Development

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

Configuration & CLI

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

Working Examples

Complete, tested example files demonstrating common patterns:

• examples/basic_animations.py - Basic shapes, text, and animations
• examples/math_visualization.py - LaTeX equations and mathematical content
• examples/graph_plotting.py - Axes, functions, and graphing
• examples/3d_visualization.py - 3D scenes with camera control and surfaces
• examples/updater_patterns.py - Dynamic animations with updaters

Scene Templates

Copy and modify these templates to start new projects:

• templates/basic_scene.py - Standard 2D scene template
• templates/interactive_scene.py - InteractiveScene with self.embed()
• templates/3d_scene.py - 3D scene with frame.reorient()
• templates/math_scene.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. fix_in_frame() - 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 for full details.