Hi Friends,
I'm working on and editing some paths and I notice something I don't understand. I have looked through some (but not all) Guides for an exlanation, but don't find anything about it. Please let me know if I should post some screen prints. I'm not sure it will be necessary, but if so, I'll be glad to oblige.

What I've noticed is when I change a node from anything to Symmetric, not only do the handles of that node move to new positions. Sometimes the handles of adjacent nodes move to new positions. I've very carefully replicated this several times, so I'm absolutely sure that no other nodes are selected, except for the one I want to be Symmetric. That's why I don't understand why non-selected nodes are affected at all.

Can someone give me just a brief explanation for this? Or let me know where I can find info about it? I'd like to understand it, so I can avoid having to go back and replace the adjacent nodes' handles after changing a node to Symmetric.

Thanks for your help

It doesn't happen to me, are you sure you selected only one node lol?

Are you deleting a node first? I was having a similar problem and this guide pointed out what was going on. As far just changing the node type and it affecting the other nodes I have not encountered that problem before if I created the object, but if had copied an object from another document then sometimes what you describe happens, but I just thought it was normal behavior in vector graphics.

Yes, I'm absolutely sure that no other nodes were selected!
And no, I had not deleted any nodes.
But I will qualify both those statements by saying 'not that I know of', because I was working with a duplicate window.

It was partly this problem which prompted me to ask how to submit new feature requests (which I posted in the General forum). The only explanation I can come up with, is that something else actually was selected, outside the area I was working in. But because selections made in the active window are not reflected in the duplicate window, I had no idea. So I'm thinking of submitting a request for a feature which would allow selections to show in the duplicate window.

I would definitely describe myself as "mouse challenged". But if anything annoys me more than the mouse, it's having to use the mouse AND keyboard together, as is frequently the case with Inkscape. I was using the Shift key off and on, to temporarily disable snapping. So it's possible I had accidentally either "rubberband" selected a large area, or that I didn't release the Shift key fast enough, or that I was hitting some other key near the Shift key, creating who knows what kind of effect!

But seriously, frustrations aside, I very carefully checked that no other nodes were selected, especially as I replicated the problem 3 separate times (and that's AFTER I notice the problem 3 or 4 times before that, in other parts of the image). And I only saw the one node selected. As to why I now am unable to replicate the problem, I can't say.

I'll keep on working with the Duplicate Window feature, and maybe I can eventually figure it out. But meanwhile, if anyone has any additional comments, please feel free to post.
And as always, many sincere thanks for your help and support

capnhud posted a link to a tutorial, it was a very good reminder to me too. There are 2 options when deleting nodes - to keep the shape of the curve intact (neighbor nodes handles change to compensate for the previous curve shape) or just delete the selected nodes while other nodes stay intact so the curve changes shape. Use Ctrl with Delete to keep other nodes intact


btw I think you wouldn't need a mouse if you learned all the keyboard shortcuts by heart, some claim its much faster just to tap on the keyboard, lots of options become automated and you can do them without thinking