The basics¶

With manimgx, you write a short Python program, and manimgx makes a video of it. This page shows how.

A program makes a video¶

Here is a manimgx program:

hello.py

import manimgx as m


class Hello(m.Scene):
    def construct(self) -> None:
        circle = m.Circle()
        self.play(m.Create(circle))
        self.wait()

Save it in a file named hello.py. Then, in a terminal, in the same folder, run this command (with uv, start it with uv run, as the Quickstart says):

manimgx render hello.py

manimgx makes this video, Hello.mp4, next to the file:

That is how you work with manimgx: you write a program, and manimgx makes a video of it.

The program, line by line¶

import manimgx as m: gives you all of manimgx under a short name, m: m.Scene, m.Circle, m.Create.
class Hello(m.Scene):: makes a scene. A scene is one video. Its name is the name of the video: the scene Hello makes Hello.mp4.
def construct(self) -> None:: tells what happens in the video. manimgx runs construct from top to bottom, and each line adds to the video in that order.
circle = m.Circle(): makes a circle. A circle is a mobject: anything that you can show in a video is a mobject. Shapes, lines, text, formulas and graphs are mobjects. But making a mobject doesn't show it: at this line, the video is still empty.
self.play(m.Create(circle)): plays an animation: m.Create(circle) draws the circle, in one second. After that, the circle is in the video, and it stays there.
self.wait(): keeps the picture still for one second. So the video is two seconds long.

One step after another¶

Each self.play starts when the one before it ends. Time passes only in play and in wait:

import manimgx as m


class Steps(m.Scene):
    def construct(self) -> None:
        circle = m.Circle()
        words = m.Text("Hello!")
        self.play(m.Create(circle))  # from 0 to 1 second
        self.play(m.FadeOut(circle))  # from 1 to 2 seconds
        self.play(m.Write(words))  # from 2 to 3 seconds
        self.wait(2)  # from 3 to 5 seconds

These animations show and hide mobjects. You will use them most:

m.Create(...) draws a shape.
m.Write(...) writes a text or a formula.
m.FadeIn(...) fades a mobject in. m.FadeOut(...) fades it out, and removes it.

self.wait(2) waits 2 seconds. Without a number, it waits 1 second.

Show a mobject at once¶

To show a mobject with no animation, add it: self.add(circle). The circle is in the video from that moment. self.remove(circle) removes it at once.

Several scenes in one file¶

A file can have several scenes, and each one is a video. To make one of them, give its name after the file:

manimgx render hello.py Steps

Next¶

So far, every mobject appears in the middle of the video. Positions shows how to put each one where you want it.