I am brand new to this forum, to Inkscape, and to design generally. I am learning Inkscape, but I have workflow questions as well as technique questions. I have a hard time getting consistent and predictable reactions from path actions such as Union, Combine, etc.

Can I get some advice so I do not spin my wheels?

I have a canoe and a wave drawn. I want to move the wave up and remove the wave-profile from the bottom of the canoe. General guidance is appreciated and I will do the heavy lifting as needed.








So here is the end results, but I do not think I got here correctly:




The way I did it is by using difference, but I had to make the water into this odd blob which is probably not the best way:

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Oh no, that way is basically correct. Generally, path operations work on areas enclosed by a path, and for the most part, they won't work using a single open path as part of the operation.

I actually had already typed a reply, while you were apparently editing your message. So when I tried to post, I couldn't, because (of forum security measures) your message had to go back through moderation again. Happens to me at least once a week

But indeed, difference is one of the ways I was going to suggest. Note that in the red blob that you differenced, the bottom part of it doesn't matter. It's only the wave line that matters. So it could have been just a smooth line around the bottom. The most important part is that the line fully encloses the bottom part of the canoe.

You could have gone a different route as well. Instead of extending the wave path around the bottom part of the canoe, you could have extended it around the top part of the canoe, and used Intersection instead.

Another thing that might have been part of problem, was the wave path being made of individual segments. So I was also going to suggest joining those segments first, and then extending that line either around the above water part of the canoe, or the below water part.

But in the end, you solved your own problem

Thanks! I am going to try the intersect next. I have not played with that yet.

Welcome to the forum and to Inkscape!
There's more than one way to get just about anything done. I only have one comment, as generally, Brynn is quite the expert so no further comments are needed!
You're probably going to find that you'll want to have a few more nodes in your path as you get more advanced, sometimes that makes for a better union, difference, etc. (go into path, then the node tool, then select all, which highlights all nodes, then click on the + node, each time you click it will add a new node).
BTW - nice design on the canoe. have fun drawing!