Updating MikTex breaks Manim latex conversion (with workaround)

[karelo911]

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Something is wrong with either MikTex or Manim itself, but Manim doesn't render TextMobjects properly after updating MikTex packages to the latest version. I've read a similar issue posted here https://github.com/3b1b/manim/issues/1239 showing that "g0-65 is not supported" and some letters are not rendered.

I managed to resolve this temporarily by reinstalling MikTex Basic, deferring updates, and letting MikTex only install necessarily packages when rendering animations. I hope MikTex gets this fixed asap or maybe there is a necessary fix on Manim's end. I'm quite new to Manim so I don't know much about how MikTex renders LaTex input. I just want to share how I worked around this issue for those who experienced the same lately. Thanks.

[Maxicl14]

Yes, I've had the same problem too. Providing some warnings I've had here in case they help:

Writing "\centering This is some \LaTeX" to C:\Manim\manim_2020\media\Tex\664e80e8d8d98482.tex C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-84 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-104 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-105 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-115 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-111 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-109 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-101 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-76 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g0-65 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-69 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref) C:\Manim\manim_2020\manimlib\mobject\svg\svg_mobject.py:125: UserWarning: g1-88 not recognized warnings.warn("%s not recognized" % ref)

[karelo911]

In addition, I also observed that the string "gx-xxx" pertains to a specific character that was not rendered in the animation. For instance, g0-65 I think results in capital letter "A" not rendering, g0-67 results to "C" not rendering and so on.

[vasiljevic]

In new versions of MikTeX, Metafont has trouble with building the European Computer Modern fonts.

My workaround is to switch to XeLaTeX and Unicode. You need to set TEX_USE_CTEX = True in https://github.com/3b1b/manim/blob/master/manimlib/constants.py#L74

If you don't need to use Chinese fonts you may also comment out second line in https://github.com/3b1b/manim/blob/master/manimlib/ctex_template.tex#L2

[rafaelcharris]

I found a way around as well. I had to erase fontenc from the tex_template.tex file. Not my solution, it was thanks to this post here: https://github.com/3b1b/manim/issues/1276#issuecomment-742292726

[karelo911]

In new versions of MikTeX, Metafont has trouble with building the European Computer Modern fonts.

My workaround is to switch to XeLaTeX and Unicode. You need to set TEX_USE_CTEX = True in https://github.com/3b1b/manim/blob/master/manimlib/constants.py#L74

If you don't need to use Chinese fonts you may also comment out second line in https://github.com/3b1b/manim/blob/master/manimlib/ctex_template.tex#L2

I found a way around as well. I had to erase fontenc from the tex_template.tex file. Not my solution, it was thanks to this post here: #1276 (comment)

Thank you for these suggestions. For those who experience the same issues with Manim rendering LaTeX you may try our workarounds in this thread. I hope this gets patched with the next update, either through MikTeX or Manim itself.

[joakimjalden]

In new versions of MikTeX, Metafont has trouble with building the European Computer Modern fonts. My workaround is to switch to XeLaTeX and Unicode. You need to set TEX_USE_CTEX = True in https://github.com/3b1b/manim/blob/master/manimlib/constants.py#L74 If you don't need to use Chinese fonts you may also comment out second line in https://github.com/3b1b/manim/blob/master/manimlib/ctex_template.tex#L2

I found a way around as well. I had to erase fontenc from the tex_template.tex file. Not my solution, it was thanks to this post here: #1276 (comment)

Thank you for these suggestions. For those who experience the same issues with Manim rendering LaTeX you may try our workarounds in this thread. I hope this gets patched with the next update, either through MikTeX or Manim itself.

I was able to solve it on my Windows 10 installation with MiKTeX by simply installing the cm-super package (see #1276 and also #1239 where this was suggested by @codingwithmagga). The cm-super package includes the needed Type 1 European Computer Modern fonts.