Plotly.GO (Graph Objects) and Animations

Question

Below is my code that I'm trying to use for animating frames using plotly.graph_objects. I'm trying to get an animation to work using frames (or traces or whatever, not really sure at this point) and using Scatter3D but it keeps saying that there's an error in Frames.

import plotly.graph_objects as go
import numpy as np
import random
import datetime
#from scipy.spatial import distance
#^used for calculating the distances (euclidean distance).

layout = go.Layout(scene = dict(xaxis = dict(nticks=4, range=[0,150],), yaxis = dict(nticks=4, range=[0,150],), zaxis = dict(nticks=4, range=[0,100],), xaxis_title='X AXIS',
                    yaxis_title='Y AXIS',
                    zaxis_title='Z AXIS'),
                  title="Drone Flight Simulator Example",
        updatemenus=[dict(
            type="buttons",
            buttons=[dict(label="Play",
                          method="animate",
                          args=[None])])])

dframes = go.Frame(data=[go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone1',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(8, 109, 210, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone2',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(210, 34, 34, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone3',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(18, 119, 68, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone4',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(10, 10, 183, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone5',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 127, 0, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone6',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 0, 255, 1.0)')))])
dframes2 = go.Frame(data=[go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone1',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(8, 109, 210, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone2',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(210, 34, 34, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone3',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(18, 119, 68, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone4',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(10, 10, 183, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone5',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 127, 0, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone6',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 0, 255, 1.0)')))])
dframes3 = go.Frame(data=[go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone1',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(8, 109, 210, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone2',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(210, 34, 34, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone3',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(18, 119, 68, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone4',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(10, 10, 183, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone5',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 127, 0, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone6',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 0, 255, 1.0)')))])

fig = go.Figure(
    data=[dframes],
    layout = layout, 
    frames = [dframes2, dframes3]
)

fig.show()

This is the error I get when I run it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-6-f5ffdbc7af9d> in <module>
     51 fig = go.Figure(
     52     data=[dframes],
---> 53     layout = layout,
     54 )
     55 #x, y, and z are an array that may be specified as a tuple, list, numpy array, or pandas Series

..env\lib\site-packages\plotly\graph_objs\_figure.py in __init__(self, data, layout, frames, skip_invalid, **kwargs)
    612             is invalid AND skip_invalid is False
    613         """
--> 614         super(Figure, self).__init__(data, layout, frames, skip_invalid, **kwargs)
    615 
    616     def add_area(

..env\lib\site-packages\plotly\basedatatypes.py in __init__(self, data, layout_plotly, frames, skip_invalid, **kwargs)
    155 
    156         # ### Import traces ###
--> 157         data = self._data_validator.validate_coerce(data, skip_invalid=skip_invalid)
    158 
    159         # ### Save tuple of trace objects ###

..env\lib\site-packages\_plotly_utils\basevalidators.py in validate_coerce(self, v, skip_invalid)
   2667 
   2668             if invalid_els:
-> 2669                 self.raise_invalid_elements(invalid_els)
   2670 
   2671             v = to_scalar_or_list(res)

..env\lib\site-packages\_plotly_utils\basevalidators.py in raise_invalid_elements(self, invalid_els)
    296                     pname=self.parent_name,
    297                     invalid=invalid_els[:10],
--> 298                     valid_clr_desc=self.description(),
    299                 )
    300             )

ValueError: 
    Invalid element(s) received for the 'data' property of 
        Invalid elements include: [Frame({
    'data': [{'marker': {'line': {'color': 'rgba(8, 109, 210, 1.0)'}},
              'mode': 'markers',
              'name': 'drone1',
              'type': 'scatter3d',
              'x': [81.25984067869952],
              'y': [48.769639907021364],
              'z': [48.487661398426134]},
             {'marker': {'line': {'color': 'rgba(210, 34, 34, 1.0)'}},
              'mode': 'markers',
              'name': 'drone2',
              'type': 'scatter3d',
              'x': [95.77402762543204],
              'y': [66.4392521659158],
              'z': [3.668445848937296]},
             {'marker': {'line': {'color': 'rgba(18, 119, 68, 1.0)'}},
              'mode': 'markers',
              'name': 'drone3',
              'type': 'scatter3d',
              'x': [84.20426374652047],
              'y': [73.27668150548764],
              'z': [27.740448463558167]},
             {'marker': {'line': {'color': 'rgba(10, 10, 183, 1.0)'}},
              'mode': 'markers',
              'name': 'drone4',
              'type': 'scatter3d',
              'x': [19.262519390174816],
              'y': [18.996893985356188],
              'z': [0.42619043687839864]},
             {'marker': {'line': {'color': 'rgba(255, 127, 0, 1.0)'}},
              'mode': 'markers',
              'name': 'drone5',
              'type': 'scatter3d',
              'x': [90.68411695586907],
              'y': [6.141373076308476],
              'z': [17.555614211400684]},
             {'marker': {'line': {'color': 'rgba(255, 0, 255, 1.0)'}},
              'mode': 'markers',
              'name': 'drone6',
              'type': 'scatter3d',
              'x': [89.07884666120684],
              'y': [80.58458800193029],
              'z': [8.755858833570752]}]
})]

    The 'data' property is a tuple of trace instances
    that may be specified as:
      - A list or tuple of trace instances
        (e.g. [Scatter(...), Bar(...)])
      - A single trace instance
        (e.g. Scatter(...), Bar(...), etc.)
      - A list or tuple of dicts of string/value properties where:
        - The 'type' property specifies the trace type
            One of: ['area', 'bar', 'barpolar', 'box',
                     'candlestick', 'carpet', 'choropleth',
                     'choroplethmapbox', 'cone', 'contour',
                     'contourcarpet', 'densitymapbox', 'funnel',
                     'funnelarea', 'heatmap', 'heatmapgl',
                     'histogram', 'histogram2d',
                     'histogram2dcontour', 'image', 'indicator',
                     'isosurface', 'mesh3d', 'ohlc', 'parcats',
                     'parcoords', 'pie', 'pointcloud', 'sankey',
                     'scatter', 'scatter3d', 'scattercarpet',
                     'scattergeo', 'scattergl', 'scattermapbox',
                     'scatterpolar', 'scatterpolargl',
                     'scatterternary', 'splom', 'streamtube',
                     'sunburst', 'surface', 'table', 'treemap',
                     'violin', 'volume', 'waterfall']

        - All remaining properties are passed to the constructor of
          the specified trace type

        (e.g. [{'type': 'scatter', ...}, {'type': 'bar, ...}])

Answer 1

Probably not relevant anymore but if anyone comes across a similar error: The problem is that you are passing a frame object to the data argument. Simple add dframes["data"] as follows:

fig = go.Figure(
    data=dframes["data"],
    layout = layout, 
    frames = [dframes2, dframes3]
)

In addition, I think it would probably be nicer to just define the list of frames and then take the first one as the initial data one:

frames = [go.Frame(data=[
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone1',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(8, 109, 210, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone2',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(210, 34, 34, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone3',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(18, 119, 68, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone4',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(10, 10, 183, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone5',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 127, 0, 1.0)'))),
              go.Scatter3d(x=[random.uniform(0, 100)], y=[random.uniform(0, 100)], z=[random.uniform(0, 50)], mode='markers',name = 'drone6',marker=dict(line=dict(color='rgba(255, 0, 255, 1.0)')))])
          for _ in range(10)]

go.Figure(data=frames[0]["data"],
          frames = frames[1:],
          layout = layout).show()