# error to plot source estimate **URL:** \ **Category:** Support & Discussions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/error-to-plot-source-estimate/11605 "2025-11-29T02:27:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aclesage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@aclesage](https://mne.discourse.group/u/aclesage)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/error-to-plot-source-estimate/11605/1 "2025-11-29T02:27:28Z")
Dear all, im am running the jupyter notebook 10\_overview in visual studio code 3 everything runs fine except the last piece of code \ # path to subjects’ MRI files subjects\_dir = sample\_data\_folder / “subjects” # plot the STC stc.plot( initial\_time=0.1, hemi=“split”, views=[“lat”, “med”], subjects\_dir=subjects\_dir )\ i get a Runtime Error * * * RuntimeError Traceback (most recent call last) Cell In[21], line 4 2 subjects\_dir = sample\_data\_folder / “subjects” 3 # plot the STC ----\> 4 stc.plot( 5 initial\_time=0.1, hemi=“split”, views=[“lat”, “med”], subjects\_dir=subjects\_dir 6 ) File /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mne/source\_estimate.py:790, in \_BaseSourceEstimate.plot(self, subject, surface, hemi, colormap, time\_label, smoothing\_steps, transparent, alpha, time\_viewer, subjects\_dir, figure, views, colorbar, clim, cortex, size, background, foreground, initial\_time, time\_unit, backend, spacing, title, show\_traces, src, volume\_options, view\_layout, add\_data\_kwargs, brain\_kwargs, verbose) 755 @copy\_function\_doc\_to\_method\_doc(plot\_source\_estimates) 756 def plot( 757 self, (…) 788 verbose=None, 789 ): → 790 brain = plot\_source\_estimates( 791 self, 792 subject, 793 surface=surface, 794 hemi=hemi, 795 colormap=colormap, 796 time\_label=time\_label, 797 smoothing\_steps=smoothing\_steps, 798 transparent=transparent, 799 alpha=alpha, 800 time\_viewer=time\_viewer, 801 subjects\_dir=subjects\_dir, 802 figure=figure, 803 views=views, 804 colorbar=colorbar, 805 clim=clim, 806 cortex=cortex, 807 size=size, 808 background=background, 809 foreground=foreground, 810 initial\_time=initial\_time, 811 time\_unit=time\_unit, 812 backend=backend, 813 spacing=spacing, 814 title=title, 815 show\_traces=show\_traces, 816 src=src, 817 volume\_options=volume\_options, 818 view\_layout=view\_layout, 819 add\_data\_kwargs=add\_data\_kwargs, 820 brain\_kwargs=brain\_kwargs, 821 verbose=verbose, 822 ) 823 return brain File :12, in plot\_source\_estimates(stc, subject, surface, hemi, colormap, time\_label, smoothing\_steps, transparent, alpha, time\_viewer, subjects\_dir, figure, views, colorbar, clim, cortex, size, background, foreground, initial\_time, time\_unit, backend, spacing, title, show\_traces, src, volume\_options, view\_layout, add\_data\_kwargs, brain\_kwargs, verbose) File /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mne/viz/\_3d.py:2518, in plot\_source\_estimates(stc, subject, surface, hemi, colormap, time\_label, smoothing\_steps, transparent, alpha, time\_viewer, subjects\_dir, figure, views, colorbar, clim, cortex, size, background, foreground, initial\_time, time\_unit, backend, spacing, title, show\_traces, src, volume\_options, view\_layout, add\_data\_kwargs, brain\_kwargs, verbose) 2516 if backend == “auto”: 2517 try: → 2518 backend = \_get\_3d\_backend() 2519 except (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError): 2520 warn(“No 3D backend found. Resorting to matplotlib 3d.”) File /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mne/viz/backends/renderer.py:181, in \_get\_3d\_backend() 179 break 180 else: → 181 raise RuntimeError( 182 “Could not load any valid 3D backend\n” 183 + “\n”.join(f"{key}: {val}" for key, val in errors.items()) 184 + “\n”.join( 185 ( 186 “\n\n install pyvistaqt, using pip or conda:”, 187 “‘pip install pyvistaqt’”, 188 “‘conda install -c conda-forge pyvistaqt’”, 189 "\n or install ipywidgets, " 190 + “if using a notebook backend”, 191 “‘pip install ipywidgets’”, 192 “‘conda install -c conda-forge ipywidgets’”, 193 ) 194 ) 195 ) 197 else: 198 MNE\_3D\_BACKEND = \_check\_3d\_backend\_name(MNE\_3D\_BACKEND) RuntimeError: Could not load any valid 3D backend pyvistaqt: No module named ‘qtpy’ notebook: No module named ‘ipyevents’ install pyvistaqt, using pip or conda: ‘pip install pyvistaqt’ ‘conda install -c conda-forge pyvistaqt’ or install ipywidgets, if using a notebook backend ‘pip install ipywidgets’ ‘conda install -c conda-forge ipywidgets’ i installed ipywidgets with pip but does not work I do not use conda so far **when i run** mne.sys\_info() Platform macOS-13.3-arm64-arm-64bit Python 3.12.3 (v3.12.3:f6650f9ad7, Apr 9 2024, 08:18:47) [Clang 13.0.0 (clang-1300.0.29.30)] Executable /usr/local/bin/python3 CPU Apple M2 Max (12 cores) Memory 64.0 GiB Core ├☑ mne 1.11.0 (unable to check for latest version on GitHub, SSL error) ├☑ numpy 2.1.3 (OpenBLAS 0.3.27 with 12 threads) ├☑ scipy 1.16.0 └☑ matplotlib 3.10.7 (backend=macosx) Numerical (optional) ├☑ sklearn 1.7.1 ├☑ pandas 2.3.1 ├☑ h5py 3.14.0 └☐ unavailable numba, nibabel, nilearn, dipy, openmeeg, cupy, h5io Visualization (optional) ├☑ ipywidgets 8.1.8 └☐ unavailable pyvista, pyvistaqt, vtk, qtpy, ipympl, pyqtgraph, mne-qt-browser, trame\_client, trame\_server, trame\_vtk, trame\_vuetify Ecosystem (optional) ├☑ defusedxml 0.7.1 └☐ unavailable mne-bids, mne-nirs, mne-features, mne-connectivity, mne-icalabel, mne-bids-pipeline, neo, eeglabio, edfio, curryreader, mffpy, pybv, antio ---
**Author:** ![wmvanvliet](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/mne.discourse.group/wmvanvliet/32/100_2.png) [@wmvanvliet](https://mne.discourse.group/u/wmvanvliet)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2025, 10:39am UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/error-to-plot-source-estimate/11605/2 "2025-12-04T10:39:41Z")
Here is the relevant bit of the error message: ```python install pyvistaqt, using pip or conda: ‘pip install pyvistaqt’ ‘conda install -c conda-forge pyvistaqt’ ``` You need to install the `pyvistaqt` package in your python environment. We use this to draw 3D figures.