Manim Personal Style

Combine scene composition (narrative-first planning) with ManimCE implementation best practices.

Workflow

Phase 0: Understand the request

• Ask targeted questions to capture audience, scope, length, style, assets, math depth, visual metaphors, narration, delivery format (mp4/gif), resolution/quality, and constraints (timeline, render limits).
• If the topic is specialized or likely outdated, do quick research before planning.
• Confirm any required brand or color palette.

Phase 1: Draft scenes.md (required before code)

• Always create scenes.md first (use templates/scenes-template.md).
• Break the video into clear scenes with purpose, visuals, narration notes, and technical notes.
• Include transitions, recurring motifs, and a color palette.
• If the user wants to skip planning, still provide a minimal scenes.md and ask for approval.
• After generating scenes.md, provide a concise overall summary plus per-scene highlights so the user can adjust.

Phase 1.5: Draft scene_with_position.md (required before code)

• After scenes.md, create scene_with_position.md (use templates/scene-with-position-template.md).
• For every scene, enumerate all objects, their sizes and positions in frame coordinates.
• Perform a layout validation: confirm every object stays within the frame bounds and does not overlap others unless explicitly intended.
• If bounds or overlaps fail, adjust positions/sizes and document the changes.
• Ask for approval on the layout plan before coding.

Phase 2: Review and lock the plan

• Ask the user to approve or edit the plan.
• Validate the plan against user requirements (length, style, audience, delivery format, constraints) and explicitly confirm fit or list mismatches for correction.
• Only proceed to code after explicit approval or clear confirmation to continue.

Phase 3: Implement with ManimCE best practices

• Translate each scene into ManimCE code using from manim import *.
• Prefer one Python file per scene or grouped logically; keep scene names aligned to the plan.
• Use templates in templates/ to start each scene.
• Follow the rules in rules/ for animations, timing, text/LaTeX, camera, and styling.
• Reuse and transform mobjects for continuity; avoid abrupt replacements.
• If rendering produces multiple video segments, merge them into a single final video without asking.

scenes.md Requirements

• Must be generated before any code.
• Must include: overview, narrative arc, scene list with durations, visual elements, narration notes, technical notes, transitions, palette, math content, and implementation order.
• Save at scenes.md in the working directory unless the user specifies another path.

scene_with_position.md Requirements

• Must be generated after scenes.md and before any code.
• Must include for each scene: object list, sizes, positions, anchors, z-order (if relevant), and layout checks.
• Must include explicit boundary checks (frame width/height or safe margins) and overlap checks.
• If any conflicts exist, record the adjustments made to resolve them.
• Save at scene_with_position.md in the working directory unless the user specifies another path.

References (use as needed)

Composition (3b1b-style planning)

• references/narrative-patterns.md - Narrative arcs and hooks
• references/visual-techniques.md - Visualization techniques
• references/scene-examples.md - Example scenes.md fragments
• templates/scenes-template.md - scenes.md template
• templates/scene-with-position-template.md - scene_with_position.md template

ManimCE Best Practices

• rules/scenes.md, rules/animations.md, rules/mobjects.md - core usage
• rules/text.md, rules/latex.md, rules/text-animations.md - typography/math
• rules/positioning.md, rules/grouping.md - layout
• rules/axes.md, rules/graphing.md, rules/3d.md - plotting and 3D
• rules/camera.md, rules/timing.md, rules/updaters.md - motion control
• rules/styling.md, rules/colors.md, rules/shapes.md, rules/lines.md - look & feel
• rules/cli.md, rules/config.md - rendering & config

Examples & Templates

• examples/ - working ManimCE examples
• templates/basic_scene.py - standard scene
• templates/camera_scene.py - MovingCameraScene
• templates/threed_scene.py - ThreeDScene

Output Expectations

• Start with scenes.md and request approval.
• After scenes.md, create scene_with_position.md and request approval.
• After approval, provide ManimCE implementation with clear scene mapping.
• After scenes.md, include a short summary + scene-by-scene detail, and invite adjustments.
• Validate the total video plan and each scene against user requirements (e.g., duration, style, assets) before coding.
• If output is split across multiple video files, merge into one final video for delivery.
• Keep code modular and readable; prefer constants for colors and timing.