The rotate attribute has two different uses depending on the element it is applied to:
<animateMotion> elements it specifies how the animated element rotates as it travels along a motion path.<text> and <tspan> elements it specifies rotation for each glyph in the text element.The SVG rotate attribute can be used with the following SVG elements:
| Value | auto | auto-reverse | <number> |
|---|---|
| Default value | 0 |
| Animatable | No |
The auto and auto-reverse values allow the animated element's rotation to change dynamically as it travels along the path. If the value of rotate is auto, the element turns to align its right-hand side in the current direction of motion. If the value is auto-reverse, it turns its left-hand side in the current direction of motion.
Setting rotate's value to a number specifies a constant rotation, in degrees, that does not change with the animation. The default value of 0 keeps the animated element in its original orientation.
| Value | <list-of-number> |
|---|---|
| Default value | None |
| Animatable | Yes |
A list of numbers (separated by spaces or commas), each specifying the rotation in degrees to apply to the corresponding glyph. If there are fewer numbers than glyphs, the last number is applied to all remaining glyphs. If there are more numbers than glyphs, the extra numbers are ignored.
Rotation values apply to single rendered visual characters, and therefore do not always map one-to-one to input characters or rendered glyphs. Where a single visual character is composed of multiple glyphs (such as a base letter with a separate accent glyph), or where multiple input characters collapse into a single glyph (such as a ligature), the parts that belong together are rotated as a group. This is needed because rotating them independently would distort the appearance or meaning of the character.
<svg
width="400"
height="120"
viewBox="0 0 480 120"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- Draw the outline of the motion path in grey -->
<path
d="M10,110 A120,120 -45 0,1 110 10 A120,120 -45 0,1 10,110"
stroke="lightgrey"
stroke-width="2"
fill="none"
id="theMotionPath" />
<!-- Red arrow which will not rotate -->
<path fill="red" d="M-5,-5 L10,0 -5,5 0,0 Z">
<!-- Define the motion path animation -->
<animateMotion dur="6s" repeatCount="indefinite" rotate="0">
<mpath href="#theMotionPath" />
</animateMotion>
</path>
<g transform="translate(100, 0)">
<use href="#theMotionPath" />
<!-- Green arrow which will rotate along the motion path -->
<path fill="green" d="M-5,-5 L10,0 -5,5 0,0 Z">
<!-- Define the motion path animation -->
<animateMotion dur="6s" repeatCount="indefinite" rotate="auto">
<mpath href="#theMotionPath" />
</animateMotion>
</path>
</g>
<g transform="translate(200, 0)">
<use href="#theMotionPath" />
<!-- Blue arrow which will rotate backwards along the motion path -->
<path fill="blue" d="M-5,-5 L10,0 -5,5 0,0 Z">
<!-- Define the motion path animation -->
<animateMotion dur="6s" repeatCount="indefinite" rotate="auto-reverse">
<mpath href="#theMotionPath" />
</animateMotion>
</path>
</g>
<g transform="translate(300, 0)">
<use href="#theMotionPath" />
<!-- Purple arrow which will have a static rotation of 210 degrees -->
<path fill="purple" d="M-5,-5 L10,0 -5,5 0,0 Z">
<!-- Define the motion path animation -->
<animateMotion dur="6s" repeatCount="indefinite" rotate="210">
<mpath href="#theMotionPath" />
</animateMotion>
</path>
</g>
</svg><svg width="200" height="80" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<text x="20" y="50" font-size="28" rotate="0 15 30 45 60 75">Hello!</text>
</svg>