--- name: manim-skill description: Render Manim scenes to still frames and review them to diagnose animation\/layout issues. Use when debugging scenes, verifying visual correctness, or inspecting frame-by-frame output. --- # Manim Frame Review Render a Manim scene to PNG frames, inspect them visually, and iterate quickly. ## Workflow ### 1. Render frames Use the helper script to clear stale frames and re-render in one step: ```bash python3 scripts\/refresh_frames.py [--fps FPS] [--contact-sheet] ``` - `--fps FPS`: Frames per second (default: 2). Increase for fast-paced animations. - `--contact-sheet`: Generate a contact sheet (4x4 grid with evenly sampled frames) after rendering. Or render manually: ```bash manim -ql --fps 2 --format=png --silent .py | tail -n 5 ``` Frames are written to `media\/images\/\/`. ### 2. Inspect frames For a quick overview, use `--contact-sheet` when rendering, producing `\/media\/images\/\/_sheet.png`. **Always read the contact sheet first** to get an overview of the animation progression. Then **read at least one full-size frame** (e.g., the first, middle, or a frame showing a key transition) to verify details at full resolution. To regenerate a contact sheet without re-rendering: ```bash python3 scripts\/make_contact_sheet.py --scene-name ``` Alternatively, read frame images directly for visual inspection. Check early, middle, and late frames plus key transitions to catch overlaps, cropping, or timing issues. For fast-paced and detailed animations, it may be necessary to increase `--fps` to capture more frames, for example `--fps 4` or `--fps 8`. For example, if you were previously inspecting frames 0005 and 0006 at fps 2 and need to know what happens in-between, at fps 4 you would inspect frames 0010 and 0012 instead and have a new frame 0011 in between. ### 3. Iterate Fix issues in the scene code, then repeat steps 1-2 until correct. ### 4. Render video When the user wants the full video: ```bash manim -ql .py ``` Key render options: - `-q [l|m|h|p|k]`: Quality (l: 854x480@15fps, m: 1280x720@30fps, h: 1920x1080@60fps) - `--format [png|gif|mp4|webm|mov]`: Output format (default: mp4) - `-r W,H`: Custom resolution - `--enable_gui`: Enable GUI interaction (use when explicitly requested) ## References Search `references\/manim-docs\/` recursively for Manim documentation (tutorials, guides, reference, FAQ).