CLI flags and configuration

Command Line Interface

To run manim, you need to enter the directory at the same level as manimlib/ and enter the command in the following format into terminal:

manimgl <code>.py <Scene> <flags>
# or
manim-render <code>.py <Scene> <flags>

• <code>.py : The python file you wrote. Needs to be at the same level as manimlib/, otherwise you need to use an absolute path or a relative path.

• <Scene> : The scene you want to render here. If it is not written or written incorrectly, it will list all for you to choose. And if there is only one Scene in the file, this class will be rendered directly.

• <flags> : CLI flags.

Some useful flags

• -w to write the scene to a file.

• -o to write the scene to a file and open the result.

• -s to skip to the end and just show the final frame.

  • -so will save the final frame to an image and show it.

• -n <number> to skip ahead to the n’th animation of a scene.

• -f to make the playback window fullscreen.

All supported flags

flag	abbr	function
--help	-h	Show the help message and exit
--version	-v	Display the version of manimgl
--write_file	-w	Render the scene as a movie file
--skip_animations	-s	Skip to the last frame
--low_quality	-l	Render at a low quality (for faster rendering)
--medium_quality	-m	Render at a medium quality
--hd		Render at a 1080p quality
--uhd		Render at a 4k quality
--full_screen	-f	Show window in full screen
--presenter_mode	-p	Scene will stay paused during wait calls until space bar or right arrow is hit, like a slide show
--save_pngs	-g	Save each frame as a png
--gif	-i	Save the video as gif
--transparent	-t	Render to a movie file with an alpha channel
--quiet	-q
--write_all	-a	Write all the scenes from a file
--open	-o	Automatically open the saved file once its done
--finder		Show the output file in finder
--config		Guide for automatic configuration
--file_name FILE_NAME		Name for the movie or image file
--start_at_animation_number START_AT_ANIMATION_NUMBER	-n	Start rendering not from the first animation, but from another, specified by its index. If you passing two comma separated values, e.g. “3,6”, it will end the rendering at the second value.
--embed [EMBED]	-e	Creates a new file where the line self.embed is inserted into the Scenes construct method. If a string is passed in, the line will be inserted below the last line of code including that string.
--resolution RESOLUTION	-r	Resolution, passed as “WxH”, e.g. “1920x1080”
--fps FPS		Frame rate, as an integer
--color COLOR	-c	Background color
--leave_progress_bars		Leave progress bars displayed in terminal
--video_dir VIDEO_DIR		Directory to write video
--config_file CONFIG_FILE		Path to the custom configuration file
--log-level LOG_LEVEL		Level of messages to Display, can be DEBUG / INFO / WARNING / ERROR / CRITICAL

custom_config

In order to perform more configuration (about directories, etc.) and permanently change the default value (you don’t have to add flags to the command every time), you can modify custom_config.yml. The meaning of each option is in page custom_config.

You can also use different custom_config.yml for different directories, such as following the directory structure:

manim/
├── manimlib/
│   ├── animation/
│   ├── ...
│   ├── default_config.yml
│   └── window.py
├── project/
│   ├── code.py
│   └── custom_config.yml
└── custom_config.yml

When you enter the project/ folder and run manimgl code.py <Scene>, it will overwrite manim/default_config.yml with custom_config.yml in the project folder.

Alternatively, you can use --config_file flag in CLI to specify configuration file manually.

manimgl project/code.py --config_file /path/to/custom_config.yml