3b1b/manim · error · Exception

Invalid color type

Error message

Invalid color type

What it means

Raised by color_to_rgb (utils/color.py:28) when the color argument is neither a str (hex name like '#FF0000' or a color name handled by hex_to_rgb) nor a colour.Color instance. Any other type — tuple, list, np.ndarray, int — falls through to the generic error, since only those two representations are understood.

Source

Thrown at manimlib/utils/color.py:28

from manimlib.constants import COLORMAP_3B1B
from manimlib.constants import WHITE
from manimlib.utils.bezier import interpolate
from manimlib.utils.iterables import resize_with_interpolation

from typing import TYPE_CHECKING

if TYPE_CHECKING:
    from typing import Iterable, Sequence, Callable
    from manimlib.typing import ManimColor, Vect3, Vect4, Vect3Array, Vect4Array, NDArray


def color_to_rgb(color: ManimColor) -> Vect3:
    if isinstance(color, str):
        return hex_to_rgb(color)
    elif isinstance(color, Color):
        return np.array(color.get_rgb())
    else:
        raise Exception("Invalid color type")


def color_to_rgba(color: ManimColor, alpha: float = 1.0) -> Vect4:
    return np.array([*color_to_rgb(color), alpha])


def rgb_to_color(rgb: Vect3 | Sequence[float]) -> Color:
    try:
        return Color(rgb=tuple(rgb))
    except ValueError:
        return Color(WHITE)


def rgba_to_color(rgba: Vect4) -> Color:
    return rgb_to_color(rgba[:3])


def rgb_to_hex(rgb: Vect3 | Sequence[float]) -> str:

View on GitHub (pinned to dee01804d4)

Solutions

1. Convert tuples/arrays to a colour.Color first: Color(rgb=tuple(rgb)) — note rgb_to_color does exactly this
2. Use hex strings ('#RRGGBB') or named colors understood by the colour module
3. Wrap untrusted color values: color if isinstance(color, (str, Color)) else Color(rgb=tuple(color))

Example fix

# before
mob.set_fill(color=(1, 0, 0))  # tuple -> raises

# after
from colour import Color
mob.set_fill(color=Color(rgb=(1, 0, 0)))

from colour import Color
import numpy as np

def as_manim_color(c):
    if isinstance(c, (str, Color)):
        return c
    return Color(rgb=tuple(np.array(c)[:3]))

mob.set_fill(color=as_manim_color(user_color))

from colour import Color

def is_manim_color(c) -> bool:
    return isinstance(c, (str, Color))

When it happens

Trigger: set_fill(color=(1, 0, 0)) or set_color(np.array([0.5, 0.5, 0.5])) raises; passing a QColor, a CSS 'rgb(...)' string, or an int 0xFF0000 also raises. Passing '#FF0000' or Color(rgb=(1,0,0)) works.

Common situations: Coming from other graphics libraries where RGB tuples are the norm; storing colors as numpy arrays in scene data; refactors that pass raw values from shaders/interpolations into color APIs.

Related errors

• Need at least one color
• At least 2 mobjects needed for Union.
• At least 2 mobjects needed for Intersection.
• At least 2 mobjects needed for Exclusion.
• Invalid input sample type

AI-assisted analysis of 3b1b/manim@dee01804d4 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8a472a8f6b8262ad. Report an issue: GitHub.