Feature idea.
I have no idea how hard this would be to implement, or even if it is possible. But it would be an interesting effect.
In Blender, you can take a mesh and add what is called a "lattice" modifier to it. The mesh is usually fairly complex from a face count standpoint. The lattice is usally simpler. It is just a "box" that surrounds the mesh with a few subdivisions.
What is neat is, that if you grab one of the verts in the lattice and move it, it acts like a sort of "bezier" control handle for multiple verts in the mesh, so by moving one vert in the lattice, you can deform a more complex mesh in a controlled fashion.
Could this sort of an idea be adapted to Inkscape? Say you have some text, you convert it to a path, maybe add some nodes. Then you surround it with a box that has a user definable number of nodes per side. If you grab one of those nodes, and drag it, it reacts with a certain number of nodes in the text path, dragging them like a magnet.
With something like this, you could flex and bend an object however you wanted.
____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097