Make something rotate.. newbie help

Hi all. Very very very new to this so please be gentle.

I am gradually starting to make things happen but there is one thing I need to do, and can’t.

I want to do a very simple drawing of something, then make it spin.

In my animation I actually want to make the symbol for a circulating pump spin, but not everyone knows what this looks like (it’s a triangle inside a circle) so let’s say, I want to draw a square, then make said square rotate/spin around its central point.

So, I make a 3 second animation, with keyframes at 0s, with the square at 0°, then another keyframe at 1.5 seconds with the square at 45°.

After the initial knightrider tutorial this seemed like the logical thing to do! But nope, doesn’t work like that.

So, if this isn’t how it’s done (in a really basic way), then how…?

Hi!
https://youtu.be/KiSZisIikLg
Greetz!

OK, so I used a rotate layer to make the square move, all good.

So, I have used inkscape to draw my schematic in, and imported that to Synfig. I have grouped all the layers for each “component” on the schematic to make it easier to handle.

So I thought, hmmm, can I apply a rotate layer to the component I want to rotate? That seems simple enough. So yes, added the layer. But if I try to change the origin point or the angle, I get this message:

“The value you are trying to edit is in a composition
which doesn’t seem to be open. Open that composition and you
should be able to edit this value as normal.”

So I used the link kindly provided, and tried that method on my grouped layers that make up the shape I want to move. Same message.

I must apologise for bothering everyone here, I appreciate your time and help and I wish I knew more about these things, but I have no one to ask!

Thorn

Hi!
Don’t use rotation layers. Use the Group Transformation Widget as shown in the video. You have less chance to screw things up after changing the center of rotation accidentally when using the GTW. Make your drawings in Synfig or export the Inkscape graphics to png and import them into Synfig. That will give you fewer problems with linked files and vectors that need regrouping.
Greetz!

Hi the link is broken, but i suspect, it will help me with my rotation problems, is there another new link?

maybe this one helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkNhXjC5snY