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Comment by mrdonbrown | Hacker News Reader

Great timing! I've been looking for something like this to generate code walkthroughs (among other things).

After a bit of playing around, here is a simple video (with linked source) of using Manim (the community edition) to generate a quick walkthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-pvpQsZD_I

Most of this could also be created via an editor like DaVinci Resolve, but the programmer in me likes the consistency and flexibility of a code-driven video.

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Cool demo. I tried using manim a while ago but struggled setting it up and creating anything worthwhile. This looks like a solid and simple starting point to expand from, thanks!

Nice! Is there a steep learning curve with Manim? How long did it take to create that video?

Sadly, it took me a few hours, but only because I went down a rabbit hole of trying to render a colorized code snippet without knowing the Code class existed. I got to the point of a custom Tex template that used listings, only to find out Manim strips any color, so I attempted to parse the SVG and reinsert color using Manim APIs... only to find out Code did everything I wanted and more :)

Once I found out about Code, I'd say probably 15 minutes to land on the opacity strategy and a few minutes to learn how to control the camera, so in the end, not bad. The limiting factor is now figuring out what I want it to do in the first place.

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