Masking with cutout

[Nitecon]

Hey folks, I've owned 3DCoat for quite a while now but only recently really jumped into the deep end but I'm struggling with trying to find a workflow for 2 really important features I need.  My explanations and problems below are in terms of of my current tools that I use which will hopefully provide the best explanation of what I'm trying to accomplish, it does not mean I think 3D-Coat is bad for not being able to do it the same way, I'm just trying to find out how to to do what I need to do in terms of 3D-Coat workflow.

 

1. Tool masking to prevent actions when section is masked.

 

2. Transpose tool on sections - like 1 side of a cube.

 

My workflows generally involve mostly Zbrush / Maya / Allegorithmic suite, MD and toolbag 2 as my main tools.

 

Now I'm probably just not using the tool in the right way and hopefully someone can point me in a video tutorial etc of how to accomplish my current blockers.

 

Detailed description of issues above:

 

1. Tool masking to prevent actions when section is masked.

 

In ZBrush you have the ability to hit CTRL and drag select / lasso / paint etc a mask on the current model (guess it should be called a voxel / surface here)  Once you have masked off a particular setting no actions can be performed on a fully masked area and partial updates will happen on a slightly masked area.  By this I mean that in terms of coding (I'm a programmer by trade - 3D is a hobby) a flag is set per poly indicating the opacity of the mask for that particular poly, then when an action is performed ("Cut Off" / grow etc) it will only be allowed if the opacity of the mask is not a full black-out.  If it's a full black-out it will completely prevent actions on it.  So why is this feature so critical?  Currently I have a model with some very complex parts and I want to use the "Cut Off" tool to remove additional sections of the internal parts of the model without disturbing the exterior.  Using the "depth" control does *help* but is extremely tedious and hard to work with especially when additional sections of the model are in close proximity of the current wall being cut.

 

Reproducing this workflow:

 

1. Create a standard cube primitive

2. Switch to "Cut Off" tool.

3. Under "E" use vertex lasso.

4. Drag out a shape and complete the lasso tool.

5. Validate the back is cut out including the front of the cube.  (When masking the back of the cube this would normally be prevented)

 

 

2. Transpose tool on sections - like 1 side of a cube.

 

I will try to explain this again in terms of zbrush / blender / maya.  When I have my model up I can switch to wireframe view or just poly view in general in order to see the list of poly's in that section.  In ZBrush depending on what I'm trying to accomplish I would either use poly groups to scale a particular section or even masking as mentioned above and using the inflate tool.  Or quite simply the transpose tool, which appears to be very different from the one in 3D-Coat.  In terms of maya I can just select the entire one side and scale it up in the Y and Z and the rest of the model will adjust accordingly.

 

Reproducing this workflow:

 

1. Create a standard cube primitive.

2. Switch to transpose tool

3. Try to scale the "right side (X+ axis)" up in the Y and Z axis causing the model to become a trapezoid instead of a cube.