Very beginner, seeking idea or example for rigid body simulation with Manim

[max-manim]

Beginner here. I'm considering making an animation or simulation of a mechanism similar to an internal combustion engine. What do you think is the best way to do it? Or if there are existing projects that are similar that I can learn or steal ideas from, that would also be very helpful.

Taking the typical design of an ICE as an example, I would like the animation to include the reciprocal movement of the piston, the rod, and the crankshaft, etc. The 'simulation', as I imagine, will need to be done 'manually' in my Manim code, as I don't think simulation is part of its features.

Thanks.

[uwezi]

"The Nature of Code" by Daniel Shiffman is good book on the basics of simulating the physical world. You can translate a lot of the concepts directly into Manim.

https://natureofcode.com/

[max-manim]

Thanks. By saying "beginner" I mean only beginner in terms of Manim, and I'm reasonably conversant in coding, algorithm, etc., so the physics or geometry bit is not a problem to me.

[max-manim]

Alternatively, I thought about doing this with Excel. I'm reasonably familiar with using Excel to draw parametric graphs, but my experience has been largely limited to static graphs (though parametric)
I ever came across a good website hosting a good number of extremely inspiring examples of using Excel in animation, but was unable to remember its name or locate it. Even couldn't find it with Google. Fortunately, I finally figured it out with the help of AI (Deepseek). It's Excel Unusual (https://excelunusual.com/).

[uwezi]

Everything you possibly could draw in Excel you can do so much better and easier in Manim.
Manim is just a Python library - its strength is all the other Python libraries which you can use behind the scenes... numpy, scipy, simpy to name just a few

[uwezi]

I don't consider Manim-Physics a good addition to Manim because the development team behind it is too small for their original ambitious goals, but it shows what can easily be done:
https://manim-physics.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/manim_physics.rigid_mechanics.rigid_mechanics.html#module-manim_physics.rigid_mechanics.rigid_mechanics