Import of SVGs from inkscape for "stop motion" effect animation does not allow keyframes/waypoints to be set

Well I found a way around the problem but it is rather cumbersome
and I wanted to ask if I have misunderstood something.

If I import a SVG with groups and layers from Inkscape,
I am unable to manipulate the groups.
Synfig animation window is inactive and keyframes (= Synfig waypoints) cannot be set.

The only way I managed to make the groups available in Synfig is to
select the group (of if groups one by one),
go to parameters and click on canvas (only on canvas),
then right click and use export value, fill in a name, check it is successful.

Click/highlight and copy the converted/exported group or groups (the name has not changed in layers but it has in parameters),
open a new project,
paste the layer or layers into this new project
and now the group and the underlying layers are fully active in animation mode
and you can set keyframes for both layers or the group/s.

Screenshots sequence to show the procedure.
But that is a lot of running around.

It simply can’t be that difficult to import SVGs with groups and layers into Synfig in order to animate them.
So I must be doing something wrong.
What is it?

groupsconvert2

groupsconvert3

groupsconvert4

groupsconvert7

groupsconvert8

groupsconvert9

Edit BobSynfig: Reformatted the text, it was a bit confusing :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah, it isn’t that difficult.
When you open a .sif exported from Inkscape it’s Start and End time are 0.
To fix it,
Go to Canvas → Time → Change the End Time (ex: 120f) → Click Apply → Click OK

Now you can animate it :slightly_smiling_face:.

2 Likes

Thank you for the answer and the editing of my question.
That worked. Phew.
Now I just have to figure out how to make stop motion frames come on and go off. So far I have been using opacity for the group but somewhere in the depth of synfig there might be a visibility range which would perhaps be easier to set.

@Mint
Look for the Z-xxx parameters of Group layers: Group Layer — Synfig User Manual 1.5.1 documentation

Or, maybe that is what do you exactly want: Switch layers.

Thank you very much for the tips.
I will have to have a play. Looking at the manual it looked like both the Z thing and the switch layer could be the solution. It seems that Synfig is very “mechanical” to use rather than intuitive.