[Solved] Basic issue duplicating layers

I am struggling with an early tutorial animating a growing flower on the synfig wiki.

i am up to the step. Adding in Petals,

after i have made my first petal and linked it to the stem i am instructed to duplicate the petal layer.

every time i duplicate and attempt to transform the duplicated layer it transforms both layers equally. i can bring the two layers apart if i change its origin point manually but when i attempt to rotate one layer, it affects both as well.

i hope i made myself clear.

I have concluded that it has something to do with the fact I’m duplicating a object that is linked. as i can make a new document and copy paste layers then freely transform them. i checked the tutorial and i haven’t done anything out of step,

it says: Select all the vertices of the duplicated petal, and move them a little, so the petals are no longer overlaid.

its seems im fundamentally misunderstanding something very basic

UPDATE im still not sure whats going on but it isn’t related to the spline being linked

is this a bug?

Hi and welcome,

I think it is.

I believe that you linked not only origin of the petal layer, but also the shape itself (orange dots). Be sure to link only origin (green dot) of the petal to the stem’s spline. You can check in the parameter’s panel, if ‘origin’ of both layers have a blue chain between them, it’s good, but if ‘vertices’ have that, then something is wrong and you have to unlink them in order to change them separately.

Although, the manual is quite outdated, so there’s a possibility that something is broken. If my tip doesn’t help, can you upload your example?

hey thanks so much for the fast response here is a series of screen shots detailing my issue i hope it makes sense.

i hope its self explanatory but just incase

1st pic is of a simple spline
2nd pic i duplicated the layer
3rd pic i move them apart with the green dot (only way i can seperate the two layer, orange dots not working)
4th i attempt to transform the spline with orange dots
5th is showing that the rotation affects both layer even though only one is selected

Ah, I see the problem.
You create regions with the “Spline tool”, right? If so, then you accidentally checked “Auto Export” option. Uncheck it and create petals again and you won’t see the problem.
SplineAuto

Alternatively, right click on the “Vertices (NewSpline032)” parameter for each petal and select “Disconnect” and you will be able to modify it separately. This will save you some time recreating all petals again.

Thank you so much, i didn’t think it was a bug

you are my hero. please enjoy you evening

fyi i have been trying to find the solution since last night. maybe this would have been more apparent if already knew a small bit of animation but this is all really new to me again thank you so much

also is there a way to mark this post as solved for future user?

Glad I was able to help!

Well, usually folks just add “[Solved]” to the subject of the thread. Try editing your initial post and add that prefix to it, you should have enough rights for that if I am not mistaken.

this was my question too. thanks for the post and the answer.