7. Mask Tools

7. Mask Tools
	Chapter 1. Tool Reference

Masking selects part of a mesh's surface to be affected by the subsequent tools and menu commands.

You can modify a mask using the Mask Menu

Masks require the object to be a Mesh. You can convert the other primitives into Mesh by pressing J.

While a mask is active the surface is coloured yellow where selected, and blue in the unselected parts. You can disable this colouring with the menu command "View/Show Mask".

Press SPACE or menu "Edit/Deselect" to quickly remove the mask.

You can also press Delete to remove all masked parts of the mesh. This is useful for cutting meshes up.

7.1. Mask Rect

Drag a Rectangle to Mask part of the mesh to edit.

Hold Shift to add to the current masked area.
Hold Ctrl to subtract from the current masked area.

Makes a sharp edge mask - you can use "Mask/Smooth" to soften the edge of the masked area.

Using Move Tool on Masked Region

Using Sculpt Tools on Masked Region

7.2. Mask Loop

Drag a Loop to Mask part of the mesh to edit.

Hold Shift to add to the current masked area.
Hold Ctrl to subtract from the current masked area.

Makes a sharp edge mask - you can use "Mask/Smooth" to soften the edge of the masked area.

7.3. Mask Brush

Paint to Mask part of the mesh to edit.

7.4. Unmask Brush

Paint to Remove Mask from part of the mesh.

Removing mask from a fully masked sphere.

7.5. Mask Angle

Click to a select surface orientation, and Mask the mesh compared to that direction.

This is useful in tandem with the "Limit Mask" tool which clamps the mask to a tighter range.
With a Mask tool selected you can use the Right Mouse Button as a Shortcut to the Limit tool.

7.6. Mask Dist

Click to Mask mesh by distance to the clicked point.

This is useful in tandem with the "Limit Mask" tool which clamps the mask to a tighter range.
With a Mask tool selected you can use the Right Mouse Button as a Shortcut to the Limit tool.

It is also useful to select connected parts of a mesh when you want to avoid selecting other nearby parts.
In the following example I used Mask Limit and "Mask/Dome" to add contrast to the masked region.

Selecting by distance on a knot

7.7. Mask AngleDist

Click to Mask nearby parts of a Mesh with a similar orientation.

This tool gives the tightest selection as it is controlled both by distance on the surface and surface angle.
It is handy for selecting flat planes in a model.

7.8. Mask Limit

Click to crop a smooth Mask to the clicked value. Useful for shrinking a Mask.

With a Mask tool selected you can use the Right Mouse Button as a Shortcut to the Limit tool.

Using Limit to shrink a mask

You can achieve the opposite effect (enlarging the masked area) by first using "Mask/Invert", then using the Limit tool, then inverting back again.

Inverted Mask Limit

Using regular and inverted Limits together increases your mask's contrast and gives you exact control of the mask's falloff.

Using Limit to shape mask falloff for a bend

7.9. Select Connected

Expand the mask to all connected parts of the mesh.

7.10. Gradient Mask

Drag between two points to create a masked gradient.
This is great for setting up the model for a taper or skew using scale or move.
Also helpful to isolate a body part for posing.
As with the other masking tools, hold CTRL to subtract from the existing mask, or SHIFT to add to the mask to make more complex masked regions.


5. Sculpting Tools		8. Painting Tools
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