4 ms·

So you vibe ported manim to rust, kept it closed source, and you’re selling access to it with a monthly subscription? This isn’t satire?

by mllev15 2mo ago

apoogdk 2mo ago
I built the core of the animation engine, and I think our wording may have created the wrong impression about how it was developed. For the use case we have, we needed a fast animation engine. The engine didn’t begin as a port or rewrite of Manim. We originally built it under a different name as a standalone Rust/WebGPU 3D animation engine for real-time AI tutoring. I spent roughly two months building the renderer and animation system from scratch. Our original engine had a different interface, different defaults and produced different visual results. Only after the engine was already working did we decide to make part of its Python interface compatible with ManimCE. We did that because many users already know the Manim API, and coding models are already familiar with its classes and common animation patterns. We spent substantial time matching ManimCE’s visual behavior as closely as possible. We believe this compatibility layer makes adoption easier; yet the underlying renderer, scene system, and implementation are our own. So describing this as vibe coding Manim in Rust and then closing the source is inaccurate. The browser editor, rendering, and video downloads are free. You are free to write code, render and download videos as much as you want. The paid features are the AI-powered functionality, which are priced to cover their cost to us. We respect that some people would prefer it to be open-source, but choosing not to open-source an independently developed engine is different from taking an open-source project and repackaging it as proprietary software.
- mkl 2mo ago
  In that case you shouldn't call it Manim or "3Blue1Brown's animation engine". At best this has a partly Manim-compatible API, similar to how XY [1] has a partly Matplotlib-compatible API. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49085798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49085798
  - sinaatalay 2mo ago
    We are fully compatible with Manim CE. Our goal is 1:1 API compatibility, so people can continue using the API they already know. We never intended to use 3Blue1Brown's name in a negative or misleading way. We simply wanted to communicate that we have made the Manim API created by 3Blue1Brown accessible in the browser with WebGPU, without requiring any installation.
    - Aurornis 2mo ago
      > We never intended to use 3Blue1Brown's name in a negative or misleading way You submitted this with the title “Manim (3Blue1Brown's animation engine) in the browser via WebGPU” Being misleading is exactly what you intended to do.
      - thirtygeo 2mo ago
        Such bad faith here.. Rip off and then caught (inevitable, because most on HN likely love the original), then backpedal like crazy when called out
- Aurornis 2mo ago
  > So describing this as vibe coding Manim in Rust and then closing the source is inaccurate. Your team submitted this with the title “Manim (3Blue1Brown's animation engine) in the browser via WebGPU” If anyone is being misleading, it’s your team.
rvz 2mo ago
Maybe manim should not have used MIT as the license in the first place, since the license permits it.
- Aurornis 2mo ago
  MIT license does not give someone license to advertise a completely different project with your project's name and the name of its famous author.
  - rvz 2mo ago
    On the website and even here, there is no advertisement of an endorsement or use of the author's name for this product. In fact, it is an attribution. We already know they took the open-source code, re-implemented it and closed-sourced it into a product and that is permitted under the MIT license: >> So you vibe ported manim to rust, kept it closed source, and you’re selling access to it with a monthly subscription? This isn’t satire? This isn't the same as what you would get from something like Markdown [0], which explicitly says: "Neither the name “Markdown” nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission." What he must do is to attribute credit of the library to the original author (3Blue1Brown) for the derived use. But other than that, this is permitted. [0] https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/license https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/license
    - Aurornis 2mo ago
      > On the website and even here, there is no advertisement of an endorsement or use of the author's name for this product. In fact, it is an attribution. I'm talking about the submission title, which makes the claim that Manim (3Blue1Brown's animation engine) is running in the browser via WebGPU. The product at the link is not 3Blue1Brown's animation engine. It is not Manim. They created something different and used Manim's API as a guide. The submission title claimed it was Manim and 3Blue1Brown's engine. It is not.

So you vibe ported manim to rust, kept it closed source, and you’re selling access to it with a monthly subscription? This isn’t satire?

by mllev15 2mo ago

So you vibe ported manim to rust, kept it closed source, and you’re selling access to it with a monthly subscription? This isn’t satire?

apoogdk 2mo ago

I built the core of the animation engine, and I think our wording may have created the wrong impression about how it was developed. For the use case we have, we needed a fast animation engine. The engine didn’t begin as a port or rewrite of Manim. We originally built it under a different name as a standalone Rust/WebGPU 3D animation engine for real-time AI tutoring. I spent roughly two months building the renderer and animation system from scratch. Our original engine had a different interface, different defaults and produced different visual results. Only after the engine was already working did we decide to make part of its Python interface compatible with ManimCE. We did that because many users already know the Manim API, and coding models are already familiar with its classes and common animation patterns. We spent substantial time matching ManimCE’s visual behavior as closely as possible. We believe this compatibility layer makes adoption easier; yet the underlying renderer, scene system, and implementation are our own. So describing this as vibe coding Manim in Rust and then closing the source is inaccurate. The browser editor, rendering, and video downloads are free. You are free to write code, render and download videos as much as you want. The paid features are the AI-powered functionality, which are priced to cover their cost to us. We respect that some people would prefer it to be open-source, but choosing not to open-source an independently developed engine is different from taking an open-source project and repackaging it as proprietary software.

mkl 2mo ago
In that case you shouldn't call it Manim or "3Blue1Brown's animation engine". At best this has a partly Manim-compatible API, similar to how XY [1] has a partly Matplotlib-compatible API. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49085798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49085798
- sinaatalay 2mo ago
  We are fully compatible with Manim CE. Our goal is 1:1 API compatibility, so people can continue using the API they already know. We never intended to use 3Blue1Brown's name in a negative or misleading way. We simply wanted to communicate that we have made the Manim API created by 3Blue1Brown accessible in the browser with WebGPU, without requiring any installation.
  - Aurornis 2mo ago
    > We never intended to use 3Blue1Brown's name in a negative or misleading way You submitted this with the title “Manim (3Blue1Brown's animation engine) in the browser via WebGPU” Being misleading is exactly what you intended to do.
    - thirtygeo 2mo ago
      Such bad faith here.. Rip off and then caught (inevitable, because most on HN likely love the original), then backpedal like crazy when called out
Aurornis 2mo ago
> So describing this as vibe coding Manim in Rust and then closing the source is inaccurate. Your team submitted this with the title “Manim (3Blue1Brown's animation engine) in the browser via WebGPU” If anyone is being misleading, it’s your team.

rvz 2mo ago

Maybe manim should not have used MIT as the license in the first place, since the license permits it.

Aurornis 2mo ago
MIT license does not give someone license to advertise a completely different project with your project's name and the name of its famous author.
- rvz 2mo ago
  On the website and even here, there is no advertisement of an endorsement or use of the author's name for this product. In fact, it is an attribution. We already know they took the open-source code, re-implemented it and closed-sourced it into a product and that is permitted under the MIT license: >> So you vibe ported manim to rust, kept it closed source, and you’re selling access to it with a monthly subscription? This isn’t satire? This isn't the same as what you would get from something like Markdown [0], which explicitly says: "Neither the name “Markdown” nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission." What he must do is to attribute credit of the library to the original author (3Blue1Brown) for the derived use. But other than that, this is permitted. [0] https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/license https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/license
  - Aurornis 2mo ago
    > On the website and even here, there is no advertisement of an endorsement or use of the author's name for this product. In fact, it is an attribution. I'm talking about the submission title, which makes the claim that Manim (3Blue1Brown's animation engine) is running in the browser via WebGPU. The product at the link is not 3Blue1Brown's animation engine. It is not Manim. They created something different and used Manim's API as a guide. The submission title claimed it was Manim and 3Blue1Brown's engine. It is not.