Let’s talk about sculpting today, and in particular about topology automasking in sculpt mode, which can make your work flow faster and smoother. I’m using the 2.81 version of Blender.
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Setup
In order to demonstrate how topology automasking in sculpt mode works, we need something to work on, so let’s quickly create something pretty simple.
This time you don’t have to delete the default cube. Just select the cube and scale it: S 5
Add the subdivision surface modifier, set subdivisions to 5 (both render and viewport).
Apply the modifier. Then, in edit mode add a UV sphere and move it along the X axis so that it’s visible. If you’re following along you can position the sphere like in the picture below:
Work in Sculpt Mode
Now go to sculpt mode, set the radius to 100 and strength to 1, so that the effect is more visible. Now try sculpting the big part and the small part one by one, using the draw brush for example. Everything works as expected. Undo the changes.
And now suppose you want to sculpt the small part near where it touches the big part. If you try to do it, you’ll notice that the big part gets deformed as well. You could zoom in and do it more precisely, but still you may not be fully satisfied with the effect. That’s where topology automasking comes in really handy. Undo the changes first.
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Press N and go to the Tool tab. Under Options check Topology Automasking. Now you will only affect the vertices connected to the active vertex under the brush. You can see the active vertex as a blue dot on the mesh.
Try it out by first sculpting the big part near the border, then the small one near the border. As you can see, only the connected vertices are affected.
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