Mask
Masking to control which areas of the mesh are influenced by sculpting.
Black part is masked.
Brush
To edit the mask, select the Mask Brush from the Brush panel.
Editing
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
- Shortcut
A
Masks can be edited across the entire model. Using A opens a pie menu to choose different operations.
Invert Mask
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
- Shortcut
Ctrl-I
Inverts an existing mask.
Fill Mask
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
Fills the whole mask with a value of 1.
Clear Mask
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
- Shortcut
Alt-M
Fills the mask with a value of 0. To completely remove the mask data, see Clear Sculpt-Mask Data.
Box Mask
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
- Shortcut
B
Works like the Box Select tool, it creates a rectangular mask region. Hold Shift to clear the mask of the selected region.
Lasso Mask
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
- Shortcut
Shift-Ctrl-LMB
Can be used to create a free-form mask, similar to the Lasso Select tool.
Tip
To clear the mask of areas with the Lasso Mask tool, first invert the mask, apply the Lasso Mask, and then invert the mask back.
Mask Filters
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
Mask filters are operations that are applied to the whole paint mask.
- Type
- Smooth/Sharpen Mask
Changes the crispness of the mask edge.
- Grow/Shrink Mask
Changes the size of the mask.
- Increase/Decrease Contrast
Changes the contrast of the mask.
- Iterations
The number of times that the filter is going to be applied.
- Auto Iteration Count
Use an automatic number of iterations based on the number of vertices of the sculpt.
Expand Mask by Topology
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
- Shortcut
Shift-A
Creates a mask radiating outwards from the active vertex in a uniform manner.
Note
This operator is meant to be used interactively through the shortcut.
Hotkeys
- Invert
F Flips between expanding a positive mask (value of one) or a negative mask (value of zero). In the case of face sets, this option flips between including areas inside the masked area or areas outside the masked area.
- Toggle Preserve State
E Accumulates the new mask on top of the previous one instead of replacing it. For Face Sets, this creates Face Sets boundaries instead of replacing the existing Face Set.
- Toggle Gradient
G Enables linear gradient, creates a linear gradient of values from the origin to the current active vertex.
- Geodesic Recursive Step
R Generate a new Geodesic falloff from the boundary of the enabled vertices of the current falloff.
- Topology Recursive Step
Alt-R Generate a new topology flood fill falloff from the boundary of the enabled vertices of the current falloff.
- Move Origin
Spacebar Moves the initial vertex used for calculating the falloff.
- Geodesic Falloff
1 Uses a falloff based on the Geodesic distances from the edge boundary to the active vertex.
- Topology Falloff
2 Uses a falloff based on a flood fill using edges.
- Diagonals Falloff
3 Uses a falloff based on a flood fill using polygon diagonals and edges.
- Spherical Falloff
4 Uses a falloff based on the Euclidean distances from the edge boundary to the active vertex.
- Snap Expanded to Face Sets
Ctrl Isolates the expanded region to the boundary of the face set under the cursor.
- Loop Count Increase
W Increase the number of loops or iterations the operator is run; using four loops will split the mask into four parts.
- Loop Count Decrease
Q Decrease the number of loops or iterations the operator is run; using four loops will split the mask into four parts.
- Toggle Brush Gradient
B Similar to linear gradient but uses the current brush Falloff to define the shape of the falloff.
- Texture Distortion Increase
Y Increases the falloff distance when using a texture to distort the mask shape.
- Texture Distortion Decrease
T Decreases the falloff distance when using a texture to distort the mask shape.
Usage
Textures
Textures can be used to affect the “strength” of the mask. This feature can be combined with loops and recursion to create really unique looking masks. To enable textures, you first need to create/select a texture to use, this is done by in the Properties editor’s Texture Properties. Next select the texture in the Texture Brush Settings, while there make sure to enable 3D Mapping. Now, you can use Y and T to increase or decrease the affect the texture has on the edge of the mask.
Expand Mask by Normals
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
- Shortcut
Shift-Alt-A
Creates a mask radiating outwards from the active vertex while following the curvature of the mesh. This operator uses the same internal operator as Expand Mask by Topology meaning all the shortcuts and functionality works the same as that tool.
Note
This operator is meant to be used interactively through the shortcut.
Mask Extract
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
Creates a duplicate mesh object based on masked geometry.
- Threshold
Minimum mask value to consider the vertex valid to extract a face from the original mesh.
- Add Boundary Loop
Creates and extra boundary loop on the edges of the geometry, making it ready for adding a Subdivision Surface modifier later.
- Smooth Iterations
Smooth iterations applied to the extracted mesh.
- Project to Sculpt
Project the extracted mesh on to the original sculpt object.
- Extract as Solid
Adds a Solidify Modifier to the newly created mesh object.
Mask Slice
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
Removes the masked vertices from the mesh.
- Threshold
Minimum mask value to consider the vertex valid to extract a face from the original mesh.
- Fill Holes
Fills concave holes with geometry that might have resulted from the Mask Slice operation.
- Slice to New Object
Create a new object from the masked geometry.
Mask From Cavity
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
Generates a mask based on the cavity of the surface. The settings of the operation can be changed in the Adjust Last Operation panel.
- Mode
Choose how the newly created mask is mixed with the existing one. By default it will replace the old mask via “Mix”.
- Mix Factor
The factor of the mix effect. Choose how strong the new mask is applied on the existing one.
- Automask Settings
The same settings as the Auto-Masking settings are applied.
- Factor
Same as Auto-Masking.
- Blur
Same as Auto-Masking.
- Invert
Same as Auto-Masking.
- Custom Curve
Same as Auto-Masking.
Random Mask
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Menu
Generates a mask with random values for the entire object based on different mesh data.
- Per Vertex
Assigns a random mask value for each vertex.
- Per Face Set
Assigns a random mask value for each Face Set.
- Per Loose Mask
Assigns a random mask value for each disjoint part of the mesh.
Display Settings
Reference
- Mode
Sculpt Mode
- Popover
The mask display can be toggled as a viewport overlay. In the overlay popover, the opacity of the mask overlay can be adjusted to make it more or less visible on the mesh.
Clear Sculpt-Mask Data
Reference
- Mode
Object/Edit Mode
- Menu
Completely frees the mask data layer from the mesh. While not a huge benefit, this can speed-up sculpting if the mask is no longer being used.