Top Python Visualization and Animation Open Source Libraries in 2023

Python visualization and animation libraries are modules or packages that allow you to create animations, charts, and other graphics using Python code. They usually provide functions or classes that help you manipulate graphical elements such as shapes, colors, images, text, etc., and control their movement, appearance, and behavior over time. Some examples of Python animation libraries are Matplotlib, VPython, and manim.

Python animation libraries are useful for creating dynamic and interactive visualizations of data or objects using Python code. For example, you can use Matplotlib to plot graphs of functions or figures and add animations to them. You can also use VPython to create 3D displays and animations of physical phenomena. Another example is manim, an animation library designed for an intuitive and easy-to-use interface and for explanatory math videos used for programmatically creating precise animations.

Python itself cannot create animation. It can only create images. It needs an external program to create a perception of movement. Python animation libraries may have specific requirements or caveats for creating animations. For example, celluloid requires that the axes limits are the same for all plots and that artists are passed to the legend function separately Plotly has some limitations with 3D animations and interactivity.

Here are some of the top open source Python animation libraries you can leverage in your projects.