I have a piece of an image I'd like to remove but I only know how to keep parts of images using 'set clip'.

In the image below, I want to keep the stuff on top of the grey area. If I move the grey area on top and choose 'set clip' then I get to keep the stuff I don't want and lose the stuff I do want. Is there a way to inverse clip?

a pretty straight forward way would be (maybe there is a more elegant?):
1. draw a rectangle covering all objects of the complete image
2. into this rectangle cut a "hole" with the shape of your grey area using Menubar | Path | Difference
3. do the clipping with this new shape

If I understand correctly, you want to get rid of the gray piece, but not the letters on top?

Is the object you want to work on, a raster image? If it's a raster image, you would need a really complex clipping path. Like theozh suggested, but also the inner area needs to outline the text and arrow and other things.

If the image is SVG with vector objects, you might try just deleting the gray piece. Unless you literally want a hole in it. Then select the gray piece, and the white background behind it (assuming there is one - we don't have a clue from the PNG screenshot). Make sure the text is not selected. Then do Path menu > Difference. (Note that because of the white background, after you do the Difference, it might not look like anything happened. But put something solid behind the hole, and you'll see it.)

@seans_potato_biz, after reading your post a second time, my answer above probably does not describe what you really want.

seans_potato_biz wrote:In the image below, I want to keep the stuff on top of the grey area.

I was trapped by your words "inverted/opposite".
For what I understand now, you do not need to invert anything.

For clipping you have have to
1. have the clip path on top (z-order) and
2. also select all other objects to be clipped. It shouldn't matter whether you have vector objects or bitmap images.

Unless you want something else...
Is the grey piece part of the image or just your clip path? Or as @brynn speculates do you want to remove the grey background?
Or maybe you want to keep the "E..P", the blue arrow and the green rectangle AND also keep a part of the black arc as object and use a copy further somewhere else? Then you need to cut the black arc with boolean operations. Clipping is just hiding not cutting.
Thank you for clarifying.

I'm really sorry but I said the opposite of what I intended! The grey object is something that I drew in Inkscape. I want to keep the stuff that is NOT part of the grey area. I want to lose everything within the grey area. Normally, when you set-clip you keep the stuff inside the shape and lose the stuff outside but I want the opposite. The image is a vector graphic and not raster.

I think Boolean operations are what I need to use and I'm trying them out now. I can't find one that does what I'd like. Edit: Cut path does what I need with the grey area on top. I need to duplicate the grey shape first since it get used up in the procedure. Thanks!

Ok, I see, no problem...
...I just see your edited post: Yes, either difference or cut & delete the cut parts...

If the grey area is the area you want to delete and if it is a vector drawing then I guess you simply can delete the "E...P" and "blue arrow", etc.
For the black arc you need to do put the grey area on top an do Path | Difference.

Unfortunately, Inkscape cannot make a boolean difference with several objects right away. So you have to duplicate (Ctrl+D) your "grey cutting path" area before for each object to cut then do "Path | Difference" for each object.
Although, there is an extension "Multiple Difference" which makes the difference between the top most object and all underlying objects.
https://inkscape.org/ko/~Moini/%E2%98%8 ... e-division

If you need a general area clipped, rather than a specific and pixel-precise area, I usually do the following:

1) Draw a rectangle (with sharp corners) that covers your whole drawing. I usually give mine a bright green stroke, with no fill.
2) Draw another rectangle within it - it doesn't matter where, but I usually put it very roughly over the area I want removed.
3) Select both rectangles and do Path > Difference.
4) You should now have a path with 8 nodes (check the status bar). Use it to clip your image as normal.

At this point you should have a clipped version of your image, but the bit being clipped is not right. To adjust the clipped area, do this:

5) Select the clipped object, then switch to the Node tool.
6) You should now be able to see your clipping path (if not, check the toolbar - there's a "Show clipping paths" button)
7) You can move the handles of the inner rectangle to adjust the clipped area.
8) If you need a more complex shape you can double-click on the green paths to add another node.
9) Keep adjusting the path until it clips the area you want.

I find this approach is often faster than trying to extract something of exactly the right shape to use with boolean operations to produce the right clipping path.


(Although I still wish they'd added an inverse-clip option to SVG2 to simplify things like this!)

I agree. If I can hide elements with clip, that seems more convenient.