it seems the manual says yes

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL ... iting.html
(bottom of page)

Simplify path: This command reduces the number of nodes in a path while keeping the shape of the path almost the same. The larger the selection, the more aggressive the simplification.

but whenever i select a bunch of nodes (from a traced image), it simplifies the whole path

Not sure what drove you to the conclusion that Simplify path would work on selected nodes, but deleting selected nodes usually does simplify path. Some additional adjusting may be needed but it`s easier to adjust 2 or 3 rather than 20 or 30.

As a prevention, changing nodes type to a more appropriate (smooth, sharp..) is advisable.

Maestral wrote:Not sure what drove you to the conclusion that Simplify path would work on selected nodes

see the quote, it says the larger the selection

I got your point, but it all might be just a matter of terminology, or phrasing shall I say.
My interpretation of larger selection would be the shape with more nodes. "Large" in sense of quantity of nodes.

Note that Simplify works even when object is just selected.

Break path could also help if you have some complex shapes and would like to simplify a section(s) of them, preserving the rest.

right, i see your point

english isnt my first language, maybe sometimes i dont get the finer details of phrasing

i want to use the simplify on a traced portrait for a stencil

it would be cool if you could just select a portion of the path and simplify it
i just discovered you can finetune the simplification under Inkscape prefences -> Misc
not sure what the numbers do, though

Maestral wrote:My interpretation of larger selection would be the shape with more nodes. "Large" in sense of quantity of nodes.

It refers to the size (i.e. width, height) of the current selection, not to the complexity of the selected path(s). The larger the bounding box of the current selection, the stronger the effect of the simplification.

Inkscape's Advanced Tutorial wrote:Therefore, if you select a path along with some larger object, it will be simplified more aggressively than if you select that path alone.

Simplifying only a selection of nodes is currently not supported (known feature request, tracked in bug #170441).

And don't forget the simplify lpe for those familiar with it:
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17370

Lazur URH wrote:And don't forget the simplify lpe for those familiar with it:
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17370

is that something i can add to my Inkscape ?
like an extension or a script ?

if so, where can i get it ?

I don't have experience with that, needed to be compiled from the branch linked at the topic.
Which means putting together a custom version where it is included as a live path effect.

Espermaschine wrote:

Lazur URH wrote:And don't forget the simplify lpe for those familiar with it:
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17370

is that something i can add to my Inkscape ?
like an extension or a script ?

if so, where can i get it ?

It is a new Live Path Effect (LPE) which will be available in future Inkscape 0.92 (or in current trunk builds for those willing to test bleeding-edge unstable development builds). It won't help with your original request though (to simplify only a selection of nodes).

It's been a while ago, maybe a year or 2. Someone who was using the development version (at the time it was 0.49) posted that you could select only certain parts of a path to Simplify. At the time, they had provided that info as an answer to a question. But the person couldn't make it work. And it turns out it was because they weren't using that dev version.

I don't know if that behavior is still part of 0.49, which is now called 0.91, which may be released soon as the new stable version. If it is, you can get 0.91pre2 (or there might be a pre3, I'm not sure) here: https://inkscape.org/en/download/

brynn wrote:It's been a while ago, maybe a year or 2. Someone who was using the development version (at the time it was 0.49) posted that you could select only certain parts of a path to Simplify. At the time, they had provided that info as an answer to a question. But the person couldn't make it work. And it turns out it was because they weren't using that dev version.

I don't know if that behavior is still part of 0.49, which is now called 0.91, which may be released soon as the new stable version. If it is, you can get 0.91pre2 (or there might be a pre3, I'm not sure) here: https://inkscape.org/en/download/

thanks brynn

tried it with 0.91pre3
didnt work
simplified the whole path no matter what the selection was

Hhmm, interesting. Well, I know that sometimes things are in the development version for a while, but are taken out later. So that could be the case here. Or maybe it's os related....although I don't remember their system info.... Oh well, maybe will show up someday anyway