Basic CLI options¶
Note
Source code of this section: _01_render_settings.py
Basic structure of an Animation¶
For a script to be renderable it must have the following structure:
# Import the manim library
from manim import *
# This is the way to define an Scene
class SCENE_NAME(Scene):
def construct(self):
# Here is all the code for your animation.
pass
Cli options¶
DEFAULTS
=================================================================================
-p PREVIEW Open the scene with your media player
-a RENDER ALL SCENES
IN THE FILE
(DON'T USE IT WITH -p FLAG)
-ql LOW QUALITY 480p 15 fps
-qm MEDIUM QUALITY 720p 30 fps
-qh HIGHT QUALITY 1080p 60 fps
-qp PRODUCTION QUALITY 1440p 60 fps
-qk 4K 2160p 60 fps
-s RENDER PNG OF THE
LAST FRAME
Shorts:
-pql PREVIEW IN LOW QUALITY
-pqm PREVIEW IN MEDIUM QUALITY
-pqh PREVIEW IN HIGHT QUALITY
-pqp PREVIEW IN PRODUCTION QUALITY
-pqk PREVIEW IN 4K QUALITY
-ps RENDER LAST FRAME AS PNG
CUSTOM
=================================================================================
-r H,W RENDER WITH CUSTOM
DIMENSIONS
Example: -r 500,500
-o FILE_NAME
CLICK (Not all properties works fine yet)
-----------------------------------
[CLI]
# my config file
#save_as_gif = True
#background_color = WHITE
-----------------------------------
Use default settings¶
In the first file _01_render_settings.py you will find this code.
from manim import *
class Scene1(Scene):
def construct(self):
t = Text("SCENE 1")
self.play(Write(t))
self.wait()
class Scene2(Scene):
def construct(self):
t = Text("SCENE 2")
self.play(FadeIn(t))
self.wait()
class Scene3(Scene):
def construct(self):
t = Text("SCENE 3")
self.play(GrowFromCenter(t))
self.wait()
Each class that inherits from Scene is a separate animation. You can render the first one at 480p using:
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene1 -p -ql
You will see something like this in the terminal:
Manim Community v0.5.0
[04/23/21 23:44:37] INFO Animation 0 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/480p15/partial_
movie_files/Scene1/3163782
288_3424579518_1323973724.
mp4'}
INFO Animation 1 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/480p15/partial_
movie_files/Scene1/1495979
052_1438405273_696553468.m
p4'}
INFO scene_file_writer.py:579
File ready at /Users/zavde
n/Downloads/ManimCE/media/
videos/_01_render_settings
/480p15/Scene1.mp4
INFO Rendered Scene1 scene.py:190
Played 2 animations
INFO Previewed File at: /Users/zavden/Dow file_ops.py:99
nloads/ManimCE/media/videos/_01_rend
er_settings/480p15/Scene1.mp4
If you have installed Manim correctly, the animation will have automatically opened with your default player. In the highlighted lines you will see the full location of the file in mp4.
In general, to render any scene the command structure is
manim <scrip.py> <SCENE-NAME> <FLAGS>
In our case, we can join the -p and -ql flags to have the same result,
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene1 -pql
Render all scenes¶
To render all scenes in a script use -a.
In our case, if we want all the scenes to be rendered at low resolution we would use -aql:
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py -aql
Warning
Don’t use -paql because if you have a lot of scenes they will open automatically when they finish rendering.
If we wanted them to be rendered at medium resolution we would use -aqm.
You can see all the predefined settings above.
Custom resolution¶
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene1 -pql -r 900,600
Where 900 is the pixel height and 600 is the pixel width.
It doesn’t matter if you use -ql, -qm, -qh, or another resolution flag, the -r will overwrite the dimensions, if you change the resolution flags you would only change the fps.
Save as gif¶
Render animation as GIF using low resolution.
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene1 -ql -i
Render animation as GIF using 900x600 resolution at 30 fps with preview:
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene1 -pqm -r 900,600 -i
Render last frame¶
Render last frame at 1080p with preview:
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene1 -ps
Start animation from¶
Copy this animation in your file:
class Scene4(Scene):
def construct(self):
t = Text("Hello world")
square = Square()
circle = Circle()
triangle = Triangle()
print("Start animations -------------")
print("Add text")
self.add(t)
print("Wait 1 second")
self.wait()
print("Create square")
self.play(Create(square))
print("Wait 2 seconds")
self.wait(2)
print("Create circle")
self.play(Create(circle))
print("Wait 1.5 seconds")
self.wait(1.5)
print("Create triangle")
self.play(Create(triangle))
print("Last wait")
self.wait()
If we render this video with:
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene4 -pqm
You will see this output:
Manim Community v0.5.0
Start animations -------------
Add text
Wait 1 second
[04/24/21 00:40:26] INFO Animation 0 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/720p30/partial_
movie_files/Scene4/6552404
68_1438405273_192487528.mp
4'}
Create square
INFO Animation 1 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/720p30/partial_
movie_files/Scene4/1201832
484_1768192346_2074958280.
mp4'}
Wait 2 seconds
[04/24/21 00:40:27] INFO Animation 2 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/720p30/partial_
movie_files/Scene4/1201832
484_2616472470_324434285.m
p4'}
Create circle
INFO Animation 3 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/720p30/partial_
movie_files/Scene4/1201832
484_355446327_3071649543.m
p4'}
Wait 1.5 seconds
INFO Animation 4 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/720p30/partial_
movie_files/Scene4/1201832
484_2941483014_474227006.m
p4'}
Create triangle
[04/24/21 00:40:28] INFO Animation 5 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/720p30/partial_
movie_files/Scene4/1201832
484_3040797843_2557678564.
mp4'}
Last wait
INFO Animation 6 : Partial scene_file_writer.py:395
movie file written in {'/U
sers/zavden/Downloads/Mani
mCE/media/videos/_01_rende
r_settings/720p30/partial_
movie_files/Scene4/1201832
484_1438405273_4180111533.
mp4'}
INFO scene_file_writer.py:579
File ready at /Users/zavde
n/Downloads/ManimCE/media/
videos/_01_render_settings
/720p30/Scene4.mp4
INFO Rendered Scene4 scene.py:190
Played 7 animations
INFO Previewed File at: /Users/zavden/Dow file_ops.py:99
nloads/ManimCE/media/videos/_01_rend
er_settings/720p30/Scene4.mp4
If we render this animation this time the output will be different:
Manim Community v0.5.0
Start animations -------------
Add text
Wait 1 second
[04/24/21 00:41:42] INFO Animation 0 : Using cached cairo_renderer.py:99
data (hash : 655240468_1438405
273_192487528)
Create square
INFO Animation 1 : Using cached cairo_renderer.py:99
data (hash : 1201832484_176819
2346_2074958280)
Wait 2 seconds
INFO Animation 2 : Using cached cairo_renderer.py:99
data (hash : 1201832484_261647
2470_324434285)
Create circle
INFO Animation 3 : Using cached cairo_renderer.py:99
data (hash : 1201832484_355446
327_3071649543)
Wait 1.5 seconds
INFO Animation 4 : Using cached cairo_renderer.py:99
data (hash : 1201832484_294148
3014_474227006)
Create triangle
INFO Animation 5 : Using cached cairo_renderer.py:99
data (hash : 1201832484_304079
7843_2557678564)
Last wait
INFO Animation 6 : Using cached cairo_renderer.py:99
data (hash : 1201832484_143840
5273_4180111533)
INFO scene_file_writer.py:579
File ready at /Users/zavde
n/Downloads/ManimCE/media/
videos/_01_render_settings
/720p30/Scene4.mp4
INFO Rendered Scene4 scene.py:190
Played 7 animations
INFO Previewed File at: /Users/zavden/Dow file_ops.py:99
nloads/ManimCE/media/videos/_01_rend
er_settings/720p30/Scene4.mp4
Explanation: Manim renders each animation (each self.play) separately, and in the end it concatenates all the videos into one.
If the animations are simple, the compiler saves a hash that identifies each animation of a script, and if it does not detect changes, then it will not render it, it will simply copy it, so the rendering will be faster.
Note
If the animations are relatively complex, this won’t work (at least, for now).
In the highlighted lines you will see the number of each animation, in this example there are 7 animations (counting from 0).
This is because pauses are also considered animations, that is, Scene.wait and Scene.play are interpreted as animations. If you don’t understand why Scene.wait is considered an animation we will explain it in the updaters section with dt.
If we wanted to start the animation from the creation of the circle we would use:
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene4 -pqm -n 3
If we wanted to start the animation from the creation of the square and ending in the creation of the circle we would use:
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene4 -pqm -n 1,3
Change name¶
The animations will be rendered with the name of the class you defined, that is, if we render Scene1 the mp4 file will be called the same, if we want it to be called in another way we simply use -o Other_name.
manim tutorial/_01_render_settings.py Scene1 -pqm -o First_scene