Introduction to generativepy

Creating maths diagrams in Python

I’ve been developing generativepy as a background project for a little while now. I use it to create almost all of the diagrams for my maths articles, and most of my maths videos on YouTube. I mainly wrote it for my own use, but I’ve decided to produce a user guide in case anyone else finds it useful. I’d appreciate any feedback! This is an introduction, it will probably take quite a few articles to cover the whole topic.

This is the user guide for generativepy, currently at version 2024.11.

What is generativepy

generativepy is a Python library for creating images, diagrams, animations, and videos. It is general purpose but includes features that make it particularly suitable for creating mathematical and technical diagrams and videos.

generativepy is a library. It has no user interface. To create a diagram or video you need to write some Python code that calls the library. This guide gives lots of examples, and the code to create a simple diagram isn’t complicated. Of course, if you want to create a very complex diagram the code can get as sophisticated as you like.

Uses

generativepy can be used to create images and animations (movies and GIFs), It is particularly suitable for geometry…