Hi.

I'd like to make a simple circle with a curved line cut out of it. How do I do this?

So far, I've made a circle. I've created another object above it, which is in the shape that I'd like removed from the circle.

I had a play with the eraser tool, but as far as I can figure out, the eraser only cuts out what you can draw freehand. This creates irregular areas.

So, how can I create an object with a regularly shaped area within it cut out?

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Paths-Combining.html
Select circle, Shift select other shape, press Ctrl plus -

Hi Lazur.

That does something close to what I want, but not close enough to satisfy my needs.

When I do 'ctrl -' a shape does get cut from the circle. But the cut-out is a rough approximation of the cut-out shape that I want.

In this particular case, I want to cut out a shape similair to the character '<'. The cut-out shape cuts out a solid triangle.

I've been playing with the other path operations on that document page, but none of them seem to do the trick.

In the image below, I have two shapes. I'd like to cut a shape corresponding to the black delta from the circle that sits under it:

http://i.imgur.com/26dGFh3.jpg

Looking at the docs 'path->exclusion', or 'path->difference' should do something like what I want. However, if I do either, I get this result:

http://i.imgur.com/71XL77w.jpg

The resulting cut-out is too approximate. I'd like something more exact.

It looks like 'masking' might also be able to do something like what I want. The book I have in front of me is "The Book Of Inkscape". It says on page 307 that if I select the object to mask, then the mask, and select 'object->mask->set', then I will remove a masked area from visibility. However, this just makes both objects invisible.

The cut-out works on the fills level. The process is correct -but you have a white outline at the end.
I'm guessing that the black object has an outline as well; if you want to have a hole exactly the same shape on an object exactly the shape of the circle, convert the outlines to path, press Ctrl+Shift+k when objects selected, delete unwanted paths, then use the Ctrl plus - method. With that, you will get the shape that you want, without any outlines.

That does it! Thanks!

I had created the delta shape by drawing a path and setting a thick stroke. So now I know that for at least some tools 'path' and 'stroke' are actually different things!

I followed your advice and turned the stroke to a path. Then I did an 'exclude path', and achieved my desired result.

Thanks