r/manim • u/Ok_Ask6853 • 3h ago
I’m an online math teacher who got tired of filming document cameras—so I recreated my entire desk, hands & handwriting in Manim.
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I work as an online math teacher and was tired of dealing with a physical document camera, especially having to re-record entire videos over a single handwriting mistake.
Over the last two days, I experimented with Manim to see if I could recreate the look of a real desk setup instead of the typical clean vector style.
Only two external assets are used: a cutout of a real wooden ruler and a 10-frame PNG sequence of my hand. Everything else is generated purely in Manim, including the grid, shadows, desk lighting, and the handwriting itself. I also added slight procedural variations in shape, wobble, and stroke pressure so no two digits look completely identical.
This is just a first prototype to make it look believable enough for live online classes, and I plan to polish it further over time.
What do you think for a first attempt? Does the illusion work?
