Say I have a simple stickman, made out of multiple BLines for ease of animation. How can I save him so I can re-use him later? I mean, so he keeps all his points.
First encapsulate all the layers in a Paste Canvas Layer if you haven’t done it already. This is for easy handling.
Save the file in a secure place.
When you want to incorporate a the stickman copy to your animation simply open it in Synfig Studio and copy the Paste Canvas Layer from the stickman’s file and paste to the new composition.
Close the Stickman file document and that’s all.
Currently the Import operation will effectively import a file into your animation but it will be linked to the original document file so you need to open the imported file to modify it.
There is needed an import from file that creates a copy of the content.
-G
Ok,thanks! One more question - Is it possible to create a layer, say a circle, which wasn’t there at previous times? The only way I can find of doing it is to have it at the same colour as the background and fade in. This works fine, but to have a layer that wasn’t there before would make life easier.
You can play with the color or the visibility of the layer (Amount parameter). To do it from one frame to the next one you can use Constant interpolation in the waypoint created.
-G
Genete, I think there is a problem with this method, and that’s if the stickman uses his own exported parameters. Maybe I misunderstood your method…
but when you copy him into the new document those parameters are not visible in the child ValueBaseNodes, and even worse synfig is likely to crash when you access them(eg by moving ducks connected to the exported parameters.)
I haven’t found a good way to solve this, other than to disconnect all your export parameters. But then you have a model that is difficult to control 
Andrew
Yes, exported value nodes won’t be detached from the original document when you copy the layers. It has to be fixed.
-G
Sorry, another question.
I have a circle outline, and I want it to sort of crumple at time X. I’m doing this by moving the tangents. However, every time I do this it changes the circle to look like that every time previously. I’ve checked, and I’m definitely in Animate Editing mode. How can I fix this?
To produce an animation you need at last two waypoints at different times. Have you followed the basic tutorials to understand the basic animation procedure?
synfig.org/wiki/Doc:Animation_Basics
-G
I have. I haven’t had this trouble before. how do I set a waypoint manually?
Right click on the animated parameter and select “Add waypoint”
-G
Ok,I’ve got that working.
Now, I’ve rotated the crumpled circle a bit, at time X, but I have about 30 keyframes after it where I want it to stay at that angle for all of them, even though currently they are all at the angle from before time X. I’m sure it’s something to do with waypoints, but I’m not sure what to do.
Isn’t better to share the sample file? You can upload it here if it is not so huge.
-G
It’s unfinished. Anyway, I have a more pressing worry (gah) - When I edit something in a new keyframe it no longer creates a waypoint.
Sorry, never mind that, that problem has ceased. For now, at least…
ARGH! Ok, now some really weird things are happening. It’s like every time I edit a keyframe it changes the keyframe before it.
Yes, I think I have. the default is both locked, right?
Right. Can you share the file before and after the weird thing happens? Without looking it we cannot help you.
-G
I think I’ve got it fixed now.
But I will upload part of it to show you the problem with the crumpled circle.
remember, its unfinished, so don’t be too critical.
Apparently I can’t upload attachments. Oh well, it was only a minor problem.