manim-fundamentals

Manim Fundamentals

Core concepts for Manim Community Edition v0.20.1.

Scene Lifecycle

Scene Structure

class MyScene(Scene):
    def setup(self):
        """Called once before construct()
        - Initialize instance variables
        - Create shared objects
        - Set up tracking systems
        """
        self.tracked_objects = []

    def construct(self):
        """Main scene logic
        - Create mobjects
        - Define animations
        - Control timing
        """
        circle = Circle()
        self.play(Create(circle))

    def tear_down(self):
        """Called after construct()
        - Cleanup (rarely needed)
        """
        pass

Scene Types

Scene Type	Use Case	Camera
Scene	Standard 2D animations	Static
MovingCameraScene	2D with zoom/pan	Movable 2D
ThreeDScene	3D animations	3D rotation
ZoomedScene	Picture-in-picture zoom	Zoom inset

Mobject Hierarchy

Base Classes

Mobject (base)
├── VMobject (vector)
│   ├── VGroup
│   ├── Text, Tex, MathTex
│   ├── Circle, Square, Rectangle
│   ├── Line, Arrow, DashedLine
│   ├── Axes, NumberPlane
│   └── Graph, BarChart
├── ImageMobject
├── Group
└── ValueTracker

VGroup - Container for VMobjects

# Create VGroup
group = VGroup(circle, square, triangle)

# Access elements
group[0]  # first element
group[-1]  # last element

# Add/remove
group.add(new_element)
group.remove(element)

# Arrange
group.arrange(DOWN, buff=0.5)
group.arrange_in_grid(rows=2, cols=3)

Common Mobject Methods

# Positioning
obj.move_to(point)           # Absolute position
obj.next_to(other, RIGHT)    # Relative to object
obj.to_edge(UP, buff=0.5)    # Screen edge
obj.to_corner(UL)            # Screen corner
obj.shift(UP * 2)            # Relative shift
obj.align_to(other, LEFT)    # Align edges

# Transformations
obj.scale(0.5)               # Scale uniformly
obj.stretch(2, dim=0)        # Stretch in x
obj.rotate(PI/4)             # Rotate radians
obj.flip()                   # Mirror

# Appearance
obj.set_color(RED)
obj.set_fill(BLUE, opacity=0.5)
obj.set_stroke(WHITE, width=2)

# Information
obj.get_center()
obj.get_width()
obj.get_height()
obj.get_corner(UR)