Yeah, I think I've seen all the other posts (and tutorials) on this subject, and they make me feel more useless

I start with two basic forms - a long triangle and a circle. I converted both to paths, then tried to replicate the triangle along the circle... All these stages are shown below in this image.

http://jcoppens.com/misc/files/inkscape.png
(I've no idea why the Img insert with the same URL won't work...)

Can anyone indicate what I'm doing wrong here? I've tried many variations.

BTW, I'm using Inkscape 0.91 on Linux.

Hi.

Your link brings up forbidden content -403-.

Anyway, try this:

• make sure your triangle is aligned on a horizontal axis
  -an easy way of drawing such a triangle is by drawing a rectangle with the rectangle tool, without rounded corners, converting it to a path, and with the node tool selecting the two nodes on the right,
  unconnecting them and merging the two nodes together, by clicking the icons in the toolbar-
• select the triangle path, press Ctrl+C
• select the circular path, with the node tool select one of the nodes you want the path and pattern to start at
• split node into two
• open the lpe editor
• apply pattern along path effect
• click the paste pattern from selection

Good luck!

Hhmm...the screenshot bottom left looks like you have both objects selected, at some point. So that gives me the idea that you must be trying to use the PAP extension. I find that is often quite troublesome. But fortunately, we have some new "live" techniques for pattern along path.

Try Path menu > Path Effects

1 - Select the path which is the pattern (triangle)
2 - Copy
3 - Select the path which is the path (circle)
4 - In Path Effects dialog, click the + sign and choose Pattern Along Path and click Add
5 - That will open a new dialog within the Path Effects dialog
6 - Find the Paste icon and click

We used to have a rather automatic way to apply a triangular pattern to a path, as it was being drawn with the Pen or Pencil tools. With the new version 0.91, that was replalced. So instead of applying PAP, it now applies automatically the powerstroke LPE.

It's possible you might prefer that. So you can try it. Using Pen or Pencil, look at the control bar, and set the Shape dropdown menu to Triangle In or Triangle Out. Now, whatever you draw will automatically have a new pink node. After you switch to the Node tool, you can drag that pink node and make the triangle wider. That way you can adjust the width of your pattern automatically (although it's technically not a pattern, but part of the powerstroke.

Or if you're starting with a circle, use the Path Effects dialog to apply the powerstroke.