manim-telegram-delivery

name	manim-telegram-delivery
description	Generate a Manim animation, extract a short preview, concatenate full‑resolution fragments, and deliver the MP4 directly via Telegram. Handles common rendering pitfalls (partial movie files, missing renderer options) and provides a workflow for producing both low‑res preview and high‑res final video.
version	1.0.0

Overview

This skill guides you through creating a Manim animation for educational purposes and sending the resulting video to the user on Telegram as a native file. It covers:

1. Writing a simple Manim script.
2. Rendering a preview (low‑resolution, quick) and locating the generated MP4.
3. Rendering the full‑resolution version (1080p) — Manim auto‑combines partial files into a single MP4 in newer versions; ffmpeg concat is a fallback.
4. Sending the final MP4 (or a short preview) using the MEDIA: syntax.

The process is robust against common errors such as missing renderer flags or empty concat lists.

Step‑by‑Step Procedure

1. Prepare the script

# /home/hermes/animations/your_animation.py

## When to Use
Generate a Manim animation, extract a short preview, concatenate full‑resolution fragments, and deliver the MP4 directly via Telegram. Handles common rendering pitfalls (partial movie files, missing renderer options) and provides a workflow for producing both low‑res preview and high‑res final video.

## Verification
- Confirm required inputs and credentials are available.
- Run the smallest safe command or example before scaling up.
- Check produced files, API responses, or plots before reporting success.

from manim import *
import numpy as np

class MyScene(Scene):
    def construct(self):
        # ... your animation code ...
        self.play(Write(Text('Hello')))
        self.wait()

• Use DejaVu Sans Mono font for readability.
• Keep the scene short for preview (≈10 s) and longer for full version.
• Always import numpy as np — you'll need np.log(), np.sin(), etc. Manim does NOT provide log(x, base) — use np.log(x) / np.log(base) instead.
• Avoid mixed quotes in multi-line strings ("..." inside "...") — use triple-quoted strings or escape properly.

2. Render a quick preview

manim -ql /home/hermes/animations/your_animation.py MyScene

• -ql → low quality (480p, 15 fps) – renders fast.
• The resulting file is placed under: /home/hermes/media/videos/your_animation/480p15/partial_movie_files/MyScene/*.mp4
• Grab the first file (or any) as a preview.

3. Render the full‑resolution version

manim -qh /home/hermes/animations/your_animation.py MyScene

• -qh → high quality (1080p, 60 fps).
• Newer Manim: auto‑combines partial files into MyScene.mp4 in /home/hermes/media/videos/your_animation/1080p60/MyScene.mp4. → Check for this file first — if it exists, skip steps 4–5.
• If the combined file is missing, Manim produced only partial MP4s in: /home/hermes/media/videos/your_animation/1080p60/partial_movie_files/MyScene/

4. Build a concat list for ffmpeg (fallback only — skip if combined MP4 exists)

find /home/hermes/media/videos/your_animation/1080p60/partial_movie_files/MyScene \\\
    -type f -name '*.mp4' | sort | while read -r f; do
    printf "file '%s'\n" "$f"
done > /home/hermes/concat.txt

• Ensure each line starts with file ' and ends with '.
• Do not leave blank lines – they cause ffmpeg "string required" errors.

5. Concatenate into a single MP4 (fallback only)

ffmpeg -y -f concat -safe 0 -i /home/hermes/concat.txt -c copy /home/hermes/your_animation_full.mp4

• -c copy preserves original encoding and is fast.
• If you get Line 1: string required, double‑check concat.txt (no empty entries).

6. Send via Telegram

In the final response, include:

MEDIA:/home/hermes/media/videos/your_animation/1080p60/MyScene.mp4

(or the fallback path from step 5).

• Telegram will render it as a video file.
• If the file is too large, fall back to the preview MP4 (the one from step 2).

Pitfalls & Tips

• Renderer flag – Manim only accepts cairo or opengl. Do not use software.
• Partial files – they appear only after a successful high‑quality render; ensure the render finished (process status exited with exit_code 0) before checking for the combined MP4 or running ffmpeg concat.
• Empty concat list – occurs if the find command fails or the path is wrong. Verify with cat /home/hermes/concat.txt.
• Telegram size limit – keep the final MP4 under ~20 MB for smooth delivery. If larger, re‑render with -ql or cut the animation.
• log(x, base) not defined – Manim has no built-in log function. Use np.log(x) / np.log(base) with import numpy as np.
• Mixed quotes in multi-line strings – "text with 'quotes'" works, but "text with \"nested \"\"\"" fails. Use triple-quoted strings or avoid inner quotes.
• Check for auto-combined MP4 – newer Manim versions auto-combine partial files into SceneName.mp4. Check the output directory first before falling back to ffmpeg concat.

Example Usage (as seen in conversation)

1. Created 4most_spectrograph_simple.py.
2. Rendered low‑res preview → sent first clip.
3. Rendered 1080p fragments → built concat1080.txt.
4. Ran ffmpeg -f concat … – initial errors fixed by correcting the concat file format.
5. Sent the final 4most_spectrograph_full_1080p.mp4.

When to Apply

• Any request for a short animation preview and a longer high‑resolution version.
• When the user wants the video delivered directly in Telegram rather than a link.
• When you need to handle Manim’s fragmented output automatically.

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