(this is a repost due to lack of response to the previous post)
Can someone explain to me what the difference between those two are? as far as I can see, both "bend path" and "pattern along path" do exactly the same thing! I'm adding a link to an SVG file that shows this: http://grosberg.michael.googlepages.com/path_effect.svg
the only difference is that in one you copy-paste the control path onto a shape, and in the other you copy-paste the shape to be bent onto the path. But no matter which effect you use, if you use the same shapes you'll get the same result. The ONLY difference is in the procedure.
So why do we have two ways of accomplishing the same thing? wouldn't it be simpler to just have a single effect? or am I missing some subtle difference?