I've been using inkscape for a couple of months now, and have had pretty good success with it. However the thing I'm struggling with is the "path" tool. I just can't get it to do what I think it's going to do, and when it does do something...I don't honestly understand why it did what it did. If that makes any ounce of sense . I don't know if I'm just not selecting the right objects or what. But anyway, is there a tutorial or something that I can find that explains using it in detail, instead of just breezing over it like most tutorials seem to?

Oh hey EsotericForest, welcome!
(remember me from LDD?)
I wasn't allowed to disply my signature at that forum (because of outside links). But if you check out my signature, you can find excellent instructional material. I would particularly recommend the tavmjong bah Guide. Also don't know if you've found the Help menu > Tutorials. They're written for pure novices (which I know you're not, but it will give you the very basics).

If I understand what you mean about the trouble you're having with Paths, it sounds like you may have Snapping enabled? Depending on your settings, it can really act kind of wacky. Also, if I recall you use version 0.46? If so, the Snap settings are quite confusing, so that if you think you have it set to snap strongly, it might not be snapping at all, or you might think you have snapping disabled, but instead it's snapping everything.

Now when you say you're having trouble with Paths, do you mean this tool ? Or are you talking about creating paths with or ?

I don't feel I'm explaining my problem very well...so maybe some visuals of my problem will help...

Alright now I have this filled area, and I want to add some kind of shadow that follows the entire inside edge...



So I then draw a line that follows the curve...



I then use the blur tool with the line selected to give it a shaded look...



Now, the problem is I obviously don't want the shadow/blur to be going into the white area...I want it to follow the green filled area to give the illusion of a shadow (This is just a quick example haha).

Hope this helps to explain my problem.

Typically Object menu > Clip is used to remove areas where a blur extends where it's not wanted. However in very complex images, which it looks like this one may be (or that I suspect you are capable of creating), there may be other tricks. But it's not predictable enough that I can suggest anything. If you'd like to give Clip a try, then you can tell us why it isn't working, or add more details about what you need?

In simple cases, usually you would duplicate the object, and use it as your clipping path. By default, it will disappear once you set the clip (unless you changed it in Inkscape Preferences). But it WILL have removed the unwanted parts of the blur. If I remember correctly, I believe the clipping path must be on top of what will be clipped.

But again, please refer to the Guides, Manuals, Tutorials, etc. for details.

I'd recommend this:

• Duplicate the object and set it's fill to magenta (so it screams ) this will be the clipping object
• Select the original object below magenta one and set it's stroke to black (don't use an extra line object)
• Blur it
• Select both original and magenta object and do Object > Clip > Set
• Adjust the object stroke width if necessary to get the shading you want