################################################################################ # # # SCULPT TOOL - DETAILED GUIDE # # Heiwa Interactive Arts - v1.0 # # # ################################################################################ Blender-style viewport mesh sculpting for DAZ Studio. Ctrl+drag on a figure to push, pull, smooth, drape and puff its mesh in real time, then bake the result into a real, dial-able DAZ morph or a pose-driven JCM (Joint Controlled Morph) - non-destructive, undoable, and it survives a restart. Works in BOTH DAZ Studio 4.5 - 4.x AND DAZ Studio 6 (two builds, one tool - see "How To Install.txt"). Four tabs: Sculpt, JCM, Shortcuts, and Appearance and Extras - this guide covers every button, brush, checkbox and slider on all four, tab by tab. ================================================================================ QUICK START ================================================================================ 1. Select a figure in the Scene pane. 2. Click the "Sculpt" tool icon in the main toolbar to activate it. 3. Hold Ctrl and drag in the viewport - the mesh deforms under the cursor with whichever brush is active (Grab by default). 4. Open the settings pane: Window > Panes (Tabs) > Sculpt Pick a different brush, adjust Radius/Strength/Falloff, turn on Symmetry, etc. 5. Happy with the shape? Go to the Sculpt tab's "Create Morph" group, type a name (or leave it blank for an auto name), click "Create Morph". Your edit is now a permanent morph in Parameters > Currently Used. 6. Ctrl+Z undoes a stroke, a bake, a mirror - almost everything here is undoable like any other DAZ action. That's the 90% case. The rest of this guide is the full reference. ================================================================================ TAB 1 OF 4: THE "SCULPT" TAB ================================================================================ This is the main tab: brush picking, brush dynamics, symmetry, morph-to-sculpt, selection mode, and the Create Morph bake. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Target (top of the tab - scene-wide actions, not brush-specific) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reset Selected Morph .... Remove the temporary sculpt (scratch morph) on the currently-selected mesh only. Does not touch any OTHER mesh's in-progress sculpt. Reset All Morphs ........ Remove every in-progress scratch morph this tool is holding, across every mesh in the scene (body, hair, dress, etc. all at once). Undoable. Clear Selection .......... Clear the painted vertex selection on the currently-selected mesh only. (See the mask warning above - this is the fix for "sculpting does nothing".) Clear All Selection ..... Same as Clear Selection, but clears every mesh's selection in the scene at once - for multi-mesh setups (e.g. figure + several conformed items). Hide Selected ............ Hide the faces inside the current selection. Hidden geometry is invisible AND ignored by picking and sculpting (see the warning above). Tip: hover a part and press the Select Linked key (default L) to grab a whole connected piece first, then Hide Selected to tuck it out of the way. Unhide All ............... Bring back everything hidden with Hide Selected. Invert Selection: there's no button for this - it's the fixed shortcut Ctrl+I (not remappable, unlike everything on the Shortcuts tab). It flips the current selection: selected verts become unselected and vice versa. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brush (the "Core" grid - 8 brushes) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grab ...... Drag vertices with the cursor. The general-purpose brush - push, pull, reshape by dragging directly. Inflate ... Push vertices outward along the surface normal. Puffs a region up/out evenly, like blowing up a balloon under the cursor. Crease .... Push vertices inward; sharpens edges. The opposite push to Inflate - good for creases, wrinkles, sharpening a fold. Smooth .... Relax vertices toward their neighbors. Removes noise/bumps and softens whatever the other brushes left behind. Drape ..... Relax cloth while sagging it downward for draped folds. Meant for conformed clothing - settles fabric naturally. Puff ...... Lift and spread hair for fuller volume. Meant for conformed hair - adds body/thickness. Select .... Paint a vertex selection (the dots). This is what creates the "mask" described in the warning section above. Hold the Minus Sculpt modifier while painting to REMOVE from the selection instead of adding to it. Transform . Move, rotate and scale the painted selection with an interactive on-screen gizmo - like a mini Blender/Max transform gizmo, but only affecting your selected vertices. Every brush shares the Dynamics controls below (Radius/Strength/Falloff), plus the Symmetry / Surface options (mirroring, connectivity, etc.). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dynamics (shared by every brush) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radius ..... How big an area the brush affects, in cm. The slider covers roughly 0.5-100 cm (default ~3 cm); you can type a bigger number directly into the box next to it if you need to. Strength ... How strong one dab/drag is, as a percentage (0-100%, default 100%). Lower it for a gentler touch per pass. Falloff .... How soft the brush edge is. 0% = a hard, binary edge (full strength right up to the radius, then nothing); 100% = a fully soft falloff from full strength at the center down to nothing at the edge. Starts soft (close to 100%) by default. Smoothing .. Only affects Inflate and Crease. Relaxes those two brushes as you sculpt so overlapping strokes (or strokes crossing the symmetry line) don't fold or ridge on themselves. 0 = off (pure inflate/crease), 100 = fully smoothed. Off by default. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Symmetry / Surface (click the arrow to open/close this section) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- X / Y / Z ... Mirror every stroke across that axis (left/right, up/down, front/back). All off by default - turn on the one(s) you need (X is the common one for left/right body symmetry). World ....... OFF (default): symmetry mirrors using each mesh's OWN local axes - correct for Genesis figures, conforming clothes and hair even when they're posed or fitted oddly. ON: symmetry mirrors straight through the WORLD origin/axes instead - useful for scene props or anything deliberately aligned to the world grid rather than its own center. Front Faces Only .. ON by default. Sculpting only: brushes affect only the front-facing vertices under the cursor, not vertices behind the surface you're looking at. Turn off to reach through to the far side too. (This is separate from "Backface" on the Selection tab, which controls SELECTING through the mesh, not sculpting through it - two similar-sounding settings for two different brush categories.) Select Connection .. OFF by default. Makes the SELECT brush topology-aware: instead of grabbing every vertex within the radius (even ones on the far side of a fold that happen to be spatially close), it starts at the vertex under your cursor and walks outward along the mesh's own edges, still capped by the radius. Great for selecting one strap/strand/band on a dress or hair without spilling onto nearby unconnected geometry. Sculpt Connected ... OFF by default. Same idea as Select Connection, but for the SCULPT brushes (Grab, Inflate, Crease, Smooth, Drape, Puff): the brush only reaches vertices connected to the spot you started on, so sculpting a dress strap can't drag the body underneath it along with it. For Grab, the connected area is locked in at the start of the stroke, so the effect stays glued to the strap/strand you grabbed even if the drag moves the cursor off it. Show Selection ..... ON by default. Shows/hides the painted selection dots in the viewport. IMPORTANT: this does NOT clear or disable the selection mask - see the warning section at the top of this guide. Mirror L→R / R→L .... Copy the sculpt from one side of the figure onto the other (mirrored across the figure's own centerline) - both sides end up with the sculpt. Works on the live, in-progress sculpt, before you bake a morph/JCM. Ctrl+Z undoes. Mirror ZL→R / ZR→L .. Same mirroring, but also ZEROES the source side, so the sculpt effectively MOVES to the other side instead of being copied to both. ("Z" = zero the source.) Ctrl+Z undoes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morph To Sculpt (click the arrow to open/close this section) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turns ANY morph the figure already has (from Parameters/Shaping, including third-party character/shape morphs) into a live, editable sculpt - so you can touch up a purchased morph with brushes, mirror it, and re-bake it. Morph field ...... Type a morph's name OR its Parameters label (case doesn't matter) - a dropdown lists matches as you type. Strength .......... 0-300%. Scales how strongly the chosen morph's shape is captured: 100% = the morph's full shape at its current dial value, 50% = half, up to 300% for an exaggerated version. Click anywhere on the slider to jump straight there. To Sculpt ......... Captures the chosen morph (at its current dial value, or 100% if the dial sits at 0, times Strength above) into the live sculpt, then sets the morph's own dial back to 0 so the shape doesn't apply twice. Works even for morphs that are "controller" dials driving hidden bone/shape combinations underneath - the tool captures their real mesh effect either way. After this, edit the shape with brushes, mirror it, and bake it with Create Morph or Create JCM like any other sculpt. Ctrl+Z removes the added sculpt (the dial stays at 0 - dial it back up yourself if you want the original morph too). Conformed followers (eyes, tear, eyelashes, eyebrows) are automatically primed to move together with the captured shape, so a head/face morph brought in this way doesn't leave the eyes or lashes behind. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Autofit / Smoothing / Children / SubD (row of toggle buttons) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Autofit: On/Off ... Do conformed hair/clothing/eyebrows re-fit to the body LIVE while you sculpt? ON (default): they follow the changing body shape as you sculpt - accurate, but DAZ recalculates their fit on every change, which is the pause you can feel on heavy figures. OFF: they hold their current shape while you sculpt (fast, no pauses) and snap to the new body shape the moment you Create Morph or Save. The FINAL result is identical either way - this only changes what you see while dragging. Smoothing: On/Off . A smart mirror of DAZ's own "Enable Smoothing" setting, scene-wide - it reflects reality (shows On if ANY object in the scene has smoothing on) rather than forcing anything by itself, until you click it: Click OFF: turns "Enable Smoothing" off on EVERY object in the scene (skips DAZ's smoothing/collision recompute on every update = faster sculpting). Click ON: restores "Enable Smoothing" on every object. Off by default in a fresh session. Children: On/Off .. OFF by default. When ON, selecting a node also makes every editable child mesh a valid hover/sculpt target - so selecting the body lets you hover, select and sculpt its conformed hair, dress, eyebrows etc. without individually scene-selecting each one. OFF restricts sculpting to exactly what's selected in the Scene pane. SubD: On/Off + level combo .. Viewport SubDivision of the selected model - this is the SAME setting as DAZ's own Parameters pane SubD, just mirrored here for convenience, so it's saved with the scene as usual. ON: displays the model smoothed/subdivided (High Resolution) at the level picked in the dropdown (0-5). OFF: base resolution. Off by default. Note: sculpting always edits the BASE cage regardless of this setting - SubD only smooths how the result is displayed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Selection (click the arrow to open/close this section) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mode ...... How the Select brush picks vertices: Brush - paint under the cursor, within Radius. Box - drag a rectangle; everything inside is selected. Lasso - drag a freehand outline (the default mode). In every mode, hold the Minus Sculpt modifier while dragging to REMOVE from the selection instead of adding to it. Backface ... OFF by default. When ON, Box/Lasso selection reaches THROUGH the mesh and picks up back-facing/hidden vertices inside the region too, not just the front-visible ones. (This is the SELECTION equivalent of "Front Faces Only" on the Symmetry / Surface group, which instead governs SCULPTING through the mesh - the two are independent settings for two different operations.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Create Morph -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name ....... What the baked morph is called. Leave blank for an automatic name like "Sculpt_20260704_153000". Dir ........ Folder the morph's .dsf asset file is written to. EMPTY (default): the morph is created but stays scene-only - it still works and dials in Parameters, it just isn't saved as a re-usable file on disk. A REAL FOLDER: saves a proper .dsf asset there. Point it at the figure's own Morphs folder under your Content Library (e.g. .../Genesis 9/Base/Morphs//) so DAZ picks it up as a normal slider next time the figure loads. The "..." button next to it opens a folder picker that starts wherever the Dir box currently points (falls back to the nearest folder that actually exists if the typed path doesn't, instead of dumping you at the DAZ install folder). Create Morph ...... Bakes the current live sculpt into a permanent morph. It appears in Parameters > Currently Used as a dial-able slider you can turn back down to 0 (or delete like any morph). Adjust Rig To Shape ... Opens DAZ's own "Adjust Rig to Shape" dialog for the selected figure, so its bone centers/end points (and optionally orientation) can be moved to match the shape you just sculpted or scaled. Select the figure in the Scene pane first. Three more options that affect what Create Morph does live on the "Appearance and Extras" tab, in the "Create Morph Extras" group (covered in TAB 4 below) rather than here, to keep this group compact: - "Include followers (eyes, tear, brows, mouth...) - follow the dial" - "Create eyelash morph (follows the dial)" - "Auto: adjust rig to shape" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Restore Defaults (bottom of the Sculpt tab) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resets this tab's brush dynamics (radius/strength/falloff/smoothing for every brush), symmetry, front-faces, selection options and the transform gizmo back to factory defaults - and collapses the three arrow-sections closed again. It deliberately LEAVES ALONE: SubD, Mesh Smoothing, and Autofit (these are scene/performance choices, not "sculpt settings", so a reset can't silently un-subdivide your mesh or change how followers behave without you asking). It also doesn't touch the Appearance tab or the Create Morph Extras options - those have their own separate Restore Defaults button (TAB 4). ================================================================================ TAB 2 OF 4: THE "JCM" TAB ================================================================================ JCM = Joint Controlled Morph: a corrective sculpt that fires automatically when a specific bone bends to a specific angle (the classic use: fixing an elbow or knee crease that a figure's base rig doesn't handle on its own), and fades back to nothing at rest pose. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JCM Library -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name ................ What to call the JCM. Leave empty for an automatic name like "pJCMForearmBendXRotate_67". Create JCM from current sculpt ... Pose a bone, sculpt the correction with the brushes, then click this: it bakes the sculpt as a REST-POSE corrective (undoing the pose's own deformation first) and links it to whichever bone rotated the most, so it fades in as that joint bends and fades out at rest. Saved into the JCM folder (Dir) below, under the Name above (or the auto name - rename it afterward if you like). Dir .................. Folder JCMs are saved to and this list is read from. Keep every JCM for a project in one folder so you can re-apply the set to other figures later. Load JCM ............. Import a JCM .dsf from anywhere into this folder so it shows up in the list below. Also works, best- effort, for other morph .dsf files as long as the file name matches the morph name inside. The list shows every JCM saved in the Dir folder. Select one (or several with Ctrl/Shift click) and use: Activate ......... Turn the selected JCM(s) ON for the figure selected in the Scene pane (loading them onto it first if they aren't already there). Double-clicking a JCM in the list does exactly this too - it's always "Activate", not a toggle; use Deactivate to turn one back off. Deactivate ....... Turn the selected JCM(s) OFF on the figure. They STAY attached to the figure - Activate re-enables them instantly, no reloading needed. Rename ........... Rename the selected JCM (both the file and the internal morph name). Still activatable afterward under its new name. Refresh .......... Re-scan the Dir folder for new/changed files. Remove ........... Removes the selected JCM from THIS LIST and turns it off on every figure in the scene - but the .dsf file itself is NOT deleted from disk. Load JCM + Activate brings it straight back; Ctrl+Z undoes the change to the figure. Add To Sculpt .... Loads the selected JCM's shape into the LIVE sculpt so you can edit it further with brushes, mirror it, reset it, and re-bake it (scaled by the Strength slider in the Sculpt tab's "Morph To Sculpt" group). The JCM itself is switched off first so its shape doesn't apply twice. Ctrl+Z removes the added sculpt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Presets (bundle several JCMs into one switchable set) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Create Preset from selected JCMs .. Bundles the JCMs currently selected in the list above into a double-clickable ON/OFF pair of files (with thumbnails), written to the preset folder. Double-clicking the ON file (from DAZ's Content Library) enables that whole set on a matching figure; the OFF file disables it again. Load Presets .......... Import a preset from anywhere into this folder so it appears in the list below (its member JCMs come with it if they sit alongside). Dir ................... Folder presets are saved to and read from. Preset list buttons: Activate / Deactivate .. Turn every JCM in the selected preset on/off on the figure selected in the Scene pane. Apply to Figure ........ Adds this preset's morphs onto the SELECTED figure and turns them on - the way to carry a JCM set over to a different figure that shares the same base mesh. Its ON/OFF files then toggle the set on that figure too. Remove from Figure ...... Removes this preset's morphs from the selected figure (they disappear from Parameters). Undoable with Ctrl+Z. Refresh ................. Re-scan the preset folder. Remove .................. Removes the preset from this list and its morphs off every figure in the scene - files stay on disk; Load Presets brings it back; Ctrl+Z undoes the figure change. ================================================================================ TAB 3 OF 4: THE "SHORTCUTS" TAB ================================================================================ Every gesture and hotkey below is fully customizable and only active while the Sculpt tool itself is the active tool (so they never fight with DAZ's own shortcuts the rest of the time). "Restore Defaults" at the bottom resets every row on this tab back to the factory bindings listed here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mouse Gestures -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sculpt gesture ....... Ctrl + Left-drag (default). The modifier+button combo that starts a sculpt stroke with whatever brush is active. Always needs a modifier (no bare left-click sculpting, to avoid fighting normal DAZ viewport clicks). Smooth gesture ....... Shift + Left-drag (default). Forces the Smooth brush for one stroke, no matter which brush is selected - quick relax without switching brushes. Select gesture ....... Alt + Left-drag (default). Swaps to the Select brush for one stroke, then returns to whatever brush you had active - quick selection edits without leaving your current brush. Minus Sculpt ......... Shift, held together with the sculpt gesture (default). Inverts the current brush for that stroke (Inflate deflates, Crease pushes out, Puff thins, etc). You can ALSO invert without holding any keyboard modifier at all by dragging with the sculpt modifier + the RIGHT mouse button instead of Left (e.g. Ctrl + Right-drag) - handy when your other hand is busy. Clear selection ...... Shift + Right-click (default). One click wipes the current painted vertex selection - the fast way to lift the "why can't I sculpt here" mask from the top of this guide without reaching for the pane. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brush Hotkeys -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tap the key (no modifier) to instantly switch the active brush: Grab ........ G Select ....... V Smooth ...... S Transform .... T Inflate ..... I Drape ........ 2 Crease ...... C Puff ......... P -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Modal & Pick Shortcuts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resize Radius ........ Ctrl + Alt + F (default). Enters a modal, Blender- style resize: drag horizontally to scrub the brush radius live, click to confirm, right-click or Esc to cancel. Resize Falloff ........ Alt + Shift + F (default). Same modal-drag idea, for brush falloff instead of radius. Hold for Select ....... Unbound by default. While held, temporarily switches to the Select brush; releasing it returns to whatever brush was active before (if you release mid-stroke, the swap-back waits until the stroke ends). Select Object ......... Alt + Q (default). Hover over any object in the viewport and press this to scene-select it (like Blender's hover-to-activate), so you can sculpt it without first clicking it in the Scene pane. Select Linked ......... L (default). Hover a connected part of the mesh and tap this to select the WHOLE connected piece in one go (like Blender's L). Tap another part to add it to the selection; Clear Selection resets. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toggle Shortcuts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lets you bind a key (with an optional modifier) to instantly flip any of the 14 checkboxes below, straight from the viewport, without opening the pane. EVERY row is unbound (None) by default - these are entirely opt-in: Backface (through) Symmetry World Select Connected Front Faces Only Show Selection Sculpt Connected Circle Cursor Include Children Autofit Symmetry X Symmetry Y Mesh Smoothing Symmetry Z SubD (Each of these checkboxes is explained where it actually lives - mostly the Sculpt tab's Symmetry/Surface group and the Autofit/Smoothing/Children/SubD row, plus Show Circle Cursor on the Appearance tab. This section only assigns an optional hotkey to instantly flip them; it doesn't add new settings.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Restore Defaults (bottom of the Shortcuts tab) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resets every gesture, brush hotkey, and modal/pick key on this tab back to the factory bindings listed above. ================================================================================ TAB 4 OF 4: THE "APPEARANCE AND EXTRAS" TAB ================================================================================ Visual/overlay styling, plus the extra options for what Create Morph bakes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overlays -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Select Opacity ........ 0-100% (default 100%). Opacity of the selection dots. Lower it to see the underlying mesh through the selection mask more clearly. Brush Opacity ......... 0-100% (default 100%). Opacity of the brush hover dots shown while the sculpt/select modifier is held, before you start dragging. Colors ................ Four click-to-pick color swatches: Select ... the selection-dot color. Brush .... the brush-hover-dot color (shown while holding the sculpt modifier, e.g. Ctrl). Hover .... the select-hover-dot color (shown while holding the select modifier, e.g. Alt) - kept visually distinct from Brush so the two previews never look the same. Falloff .. the inner falloff-ring color of the brush cursor (default red, distinct from the outer brush-color ring). Show Circle Cursor ..... ON by default. Shows a brush-size circle cursor that follows the stroke while sculpting. (DAZ Studio 6 uses a system-level cursor for this since its viewport can't draw an overlay ring mid-stroke; DAZ Studio 4 draws a live ring.) Turning it OFF gives a ring-free drag; the accurate ring still shows while just hovering, either way. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Create Morph Extras (what "Create Morph", back on the Sculpt tab, bakes) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Include followers (eyes, tear, brows, mouth...) - follow the dial OFF by default. When ON, Create Morph ALSO bakes the sculpt on every conformed follower (eyes, tear, eyelashes, eyebrows, mouth, clothing) - each as a morph named EXACTLY like your new morph. DAZ's own auto-follow then drives all of them from your morph's slider, so they move together with the figure automatically. Each follower type saves into its own Dir below (an empty Dir falls back to a sub-folder next to the main morph); only a morph saved under a follower's OWN data folder will auto-load with it. OFF: only the selected model gets the morph, and the followers' sculpt stays live/editable so you can bake it later instead. Create eyelash morph (follows the dial) OFF by default. Bakes the eyelashes' sculpt as a same-name morph even when "Include followers" above is off - the same auto-follow trick, just scoped to lashes only. Point "Lash Dir" below at the eyelash figure's own Morphs folder so it auto-loads with the lashes (see the hint printed under that row). Auto: adjust rig to shape ON by default. After baking, links every one of the figure's bones (center/end points, including the eye and face bones) to the new morph's dial - the automated equivalent of running DAZ's own "Adjust Rig to Shape" + ERC-freezing it by hand. This is what stops eyes/eyelashes from behaving oddly when you pose or add an expression AFTER baking a head morph. Saved straight into the .dsf; one Ctrl+Z removes it. Lash Dir / Eyes Dir / Brows Dir / Tear Dir / Mouth Dir Five independent save folders, one per follower type - each remembers its own recent-folder list. A follower's morph only auto-loads with that follower when it's saved under THAT follower's own Morphs folder, which is why each type gets its own Dir instead of sharing one. The tool prints the standard Genesis 9 path under each row as a hint, e.g.: Lash Dir -> data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 9\ Genesis 9 Eyelashes\Morphs Eyes Dir -> ...\Genesis 9 Eyes\Morphs Brows Dir -> ...\Genesis 9 Eyebrows\Morphs Tear Dir -> ...\Genesis 9 Tear\Morphs Mouth Dir -> ...\Genesis 9 Mouth\Morphs Leaving any of them empty just saves that follower's morph next to the main one instead - nothing breaks, it simply won't auto-load into a brand new scene the way a properly-pathed one will. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Restore Defaults (bottom of the Appearance and Extras tab) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resets ONLY this tab's Overlays group - both opacities back to 100%, all four colors back to factory (yellow selection / cyan brush / pink hover / red falloff), and Show Circle Cursor back ON. It does NOT touch Create Morph Extras, and it's entirely separate from the Sculpt tab's own Restore Defaults button. ================================================================================ A NOTE ON UNDO ================================================================================ Almost everything here pushes a normal DAZ undo item: single sculpt strokes, Create Morph, Create JCM, Mirror L->R/R->L/ZL->R/ZR->L, Morph To Sculpt / Add To Sculpt, Hide Selected, Freeze/Adjust Rig operations, JCM Activate/Deactivate and Remove. Ctrl+Z behaves exactly like it does for any other DAZ action - so when in doubt, undo is almost always the safe way back. ================================================================================ *** WHY CAN'T I SCULPT HERE? *** - READ THIS FIRST ================================================================================ Two different things can silently stop a brush stroke from doing anything, and both are easy to forget about. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) A PAINTED SELECTION IS A MASK - even when you can't see it -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Select brush lets you paint a vertex selection (shown as dots). The moment ANY selection exists on a mesh, EVERY other brush (Grab, Inflate, Crease, Smooth, Drape, Puff) is masked to affect ONLY the selected vertices - dragging anywhere else on the mesh will look like it does absolutely nothing. Here is the part that trips people up: "Show Selection" (in the Symmetry / Surface group) ONLY controls whether the yellow dots are DRAWN. Turning it OFF does NOT clear the selection or lift the mask - it just makes the mask invisible. So if you painted a selection, then unchecked Show Selection (or just switched to another brush and forgot), sculpting elsewhere on the figure will quietly do nothing, and there will be no visual clue why. THE FIX: - Click "Clear Selection" (Target group, top of the Sculpt tab) to remove the mask and sculpt the whole mesh again. "Clear All Selection" does the same across every mesh in the scene at once. - Or turn "Show Selection" back ON first, just to SEE where the current mask is before deciding whether to sculpt inside it or clear it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) "HIDE SELECTED" REMOVES FACES FROM SCULPTING ENTIRELY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a different, separate feature from the selection-mask above. "Hide Selected" (Target group) hides the FACES inside your current selection - and hidden geometry is invisible AND completely excluded from picking and sculpting, so brushes can't reach it at all (this is intentional - it's meant to let you work on what's underneath, e.g. hide a jacket to sculpt the body under it). THE FIX: - Click "Unhide All" (right next to Hide Selected) to bring every hidden face back and make it sculptable again. RULE OF THUMB: if a brush stroke does nothing, check TWO things - (a) is there an active painted selection restricting you to a different area (Clear Selection), and (b) is the area you're trying to reach currently hidden (Unhide All)? ================================================================================ MORE HELP ================================================================================ Installation, package layout and troubleshooting a missing toolbar icon or pane .......................................... see "How To Install.txt" Thanks for buying Sculpt Tool. Happy sculpting. Heiwa Interactive Arts