I've used the "trace bitmap" tool on some clipart I got on openclipart.org. I just want the exterior path of this image. When I select some of the interior path nodes and delete them, I get left with a stroke that has the triangle in/out effect going on.

Any idea why or how I fix it?

Thanks!

You shouldn't need trace bitmap on openclipart, you can download svg-s straight.

The trace bitmap doesn't add a pattern along path/powerstroke lpe by accident.

If you want to keep the exterior, just break apart the path (Ctrl+Shift+K), deselect the largest subpath (Shift+Click) and delete the rest.

When you delete nodes, Inkscape tries to keep the same shape by adjusting the remaining nodes. Sometimes, it doesn't do a good job.

Have you tried: Path -> Break Apart (Shift+Ctrl+K)

Thanks for the replies. I have had success getting the outline with "Break Apart. My problem now is that the outline did not create a completely closed shape.The outline looks good everywhere except for one small gap.

I've tried to select the node tool, click one node, then click the other node across the gap from it and then clicked both "join selected nodes" and also "join selected endnodes with a new segment." I had no luck with either. Those commands change nothing. I also tried Path/Object to Path and Path/Stroke to Path prior to that.

Thanks again for getting me this far.

An alternative approach that might get you better results is to use Path > Union after you've used Break Apart. The workflow becomes this:

1) Trace bitmap
2) CTRL-SHIFT-K (Break Apart)
3) CTRL-+ (Plus on the numeric keypad - Union)