Before getting deep into the boring stuff planned for 0.41, I decided to do some eye candy...
http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.41-CVS-linux-tiles1.png http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.41-CVS-linux-tiles2.png
* The new powerful "Tile clones" dialog implements all 17 plane symmetry groups, allowing you to easily create all sorts of symmetric patterns, Escher-like tesselations, ornaments, etc. Since the pattern is made out of clones, you can freely edit the original tile and the entire pattern is updated live. This feature puts Inkscape into competition with software such as the free Arabeske or commercial SymmetryWorks.
** Apart from selecting the symmetry (and uniquely to Inkscape), you can also set the shift, scale, rotation, and opacity of the clones in the pattern, per row and/or per column. Any of these parameters can also be randomized to any degree. This produces "object fields" that can be arbitrarily distorted, skewed, slanted, "faded out," or "magnetized" like iron particles in a magnetic field.
** To create a clone pattern, simply select something, set the number of rows and columns, and click Create. You can then change some parameters in the dialog and click Create again; this will remove any existing tiled clones of the selected object and recreate the pattern anew. Or, you can just remove the old pattern by clicking Remove. To protect a pattern from deletion by this dialog, group it or move it to another layer.
** Initially, a pattern is created based on the bounding box of the selected object. For symmetries that involve rotation to an angle other than 180 degrees, the rotation point is usually in the middle of the right-hand side of the bbox. After the pattern is created, resizing the original tile does not move the clones away, so you can make the tiles overlap. Also, when the pattern is created, the current bbox of the original tile is remembered; later, if the "Use saved tile bbox" checkbox is on, the same bbox will be used when you click Create again, which means you can vary the pattern parameters without losing the overlapping of the tiles.
** It's best to use a group as the original object for tiling, because you can then enter this group (right-click, "Enter group") and draw inside it. Any changes or new objects added to the group will show in the pattern immediately.