Please give us more control of control points on Sharp nodes!

[Corgi]

Unless I'm missing something, there is no way to create control points on Sharp nodes without click-dragging one of the paths the node is connected to. But doing so will modify the control points on the other end of the path you drag. For example:

Now suppose I want to gain access to a control point on the leftmost node. Dragging down on the path immediately to the right of that node yields:

Why did the Smooth node on the right need to change? How can I restore the control points to their original positions? There should be a way to create the control point on the Sharp node without affecting anything else. This doesn't seem to be a problem on Coreldraw for example.

 

[fde101]

One possible interpretation:

Check the status bar for a modifier key you hold down to "force cusps on either end of curve" - you need to be pointing at the segment where you are about to pull down on it to see that modifier.  If you are on a Mac, it is the option key.  Hold that modifier down while dragging.

 

Another:

Convert the node to a smooth node to give it a control handle, then drag on the control handle.  You can perform this conversion either by holding down a modifier key while clicking on it (control on the Mac), or by selecting the node and clicking the "Smooth" button in the context toolbar.

[Corgi]

Thanks for trying @fde101 but neither one of those solutions works for me.

Using the "force cusps" modifier key seemed to produce the same problem, namely, dragging the path changes the control point on the node whose control points I want to remain stable.

Changing the node to Smooth does produce a control handle which I can adjust, but if the node is in the middle (rather than at the end in my simplified example), I would still need to turn it back to Sharp, which then removes the control point and also changes the implicit control point angle.