I'm really happy with the 0.48 version and with the "auto smooth nodes". So i usually create paths and can easily adjust them if i have enough nodes. But if i go into detail i could often use some more nodes. But if i insert a node (e.g. double click) the neighbor nodes get reset to simple smooth nodes. Is there a convenient way to insert an "auto smooth node" directly? Otherwise i always need to select the nodes and convert them again. Anything that helps to make it work fast is welcome.

I'm guessing it's made this way by design. Probably the auto-smooth are converted to simple smooth, to maintain the shape of the curve. There have been several messages posted in these forums, about how deleting a smooth node from between 2 other smooth nodes, automatically converts the 2 remaining nodes to corner/cusp nodes. It's very frustrating, but apparently the reason is to maintain the shape of the curve. (But despite complaints (bug #257771), the behavior remains. My understanding is that it would not be a simple fix, but may some day be fixed.)

I tried to research this, before beginning to reply. In the tavmjong bah Guide, it says:

"An auto-smooth node is a special node that will automatically adjust to maintain a smooth path when it or one of its neighboring nodes are moved."

But then in the same paragraph:

"Auto-smooth nodes revert to normal smooth nodes if their handles are explicitly adjusted or if the path is dragged on either side of the node."

What I don't understand, is if the artist has specifically made the nodes auto-smooth, why would he/she want them changed, just by using them in the way they were made to function. It's like they were only made for one-time use!

I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong. But if I'm right, you're more than welcome to file your own new feature request "bug" report about this. And I hope you will. I know that as open source software, Inkscape is developed according to developers' interests, but I still think that "squeeky wheel gets grease" sometimes applies as well.

Maybe this behavior should be optional. Or at least that you have the possibility to insert a smooth node that does not change the state of the neighbors. In this case the user would expect that his path gets modified. In any case the user would have no intention to insert a node if he doesn't want the path to be changed. Maybe you can add a bug report? Your arguments seam to be the right ones in my opinion and I'm absolutely no familiar with the bug tracker. For you, i guess, it would be piece of cake.

BTW: Will it be fixed that when you have two nodes selected and click on one of them only this one will remain active? Often i do not hit the node directly and select accidentally the segment instead. In this case i have to deselect the object or the _other_ node. First can be hard to select again and the second one may be out of the current viewport, which makes it quite uncomfortable. This behavior was different in older versions and better in my opinion.

I try file a new report, if I can get to it before I forget, lol.

BTW: Will it be fixed that when you have two nodes selected and click on one of them only this one will remain active?

This is not a bug, and will not be fixed.

Often i do not hit the node directly and select accidentally the segment instead. In this case i have to deselect the object or the _other_ node. First can be hard to select again and the second one may be out of the current viewport, which makes it quite uncomfortable. This behavior was different in older versions and better in my opinion.

I can't remember if it's Inkscape or GIMP (or both), but I think it's possible to change the "grab sensitivity" meaning that if you click 3, or 5, or 10 pixels away (whatever you choose) it will still select the node. Let me look around....ok yes, it's in Inkscape Preference > Mouse. There you can set the Grab Sensitivity and Click/Drag Threshold.

Does not really help, since i also often rip things apart (for example deleting a segment or spliting a node). Both ends will remain selected. That is good so far, since mostly you will do something press also another button (e.g. delete segment + join nodes for a sharp join). But there is no way i can deselect one of this nodes until i leave the object or select another (third) node. Selecting the segment on the other side won't help either, since you are back to same state as before with just 2 (including the one you only want to select) other nodes.

This feels very uncomfortable since i also miss any way to remove nodes from a selection (tried Shift, Alt, Ctrl,... nothing works). For example if i have 100 nodes, selected 50 of them (e.g. for rotation), and want to exclude only one additional node, it is not possible anymore. This is somehow time expensive. Something wrong with my build or is this the default behavior now? If, then i would ask "Why the hell?"