ZBrush Tip: Mask By Cavity: Preserve Creases and Isolate Recesses

Mask by Cavity is a fast, reliable way to preserve creases and recessed details while you sculpt, polish, or paint. It lets broad edits glide over protected valleys, keeping sharp definition intact. If you’re setting up your toolset or pipeline, consider sourcing ZBrush via NOVEDGE for streamlined licensing and support.

• Navigate to Tool > Masking and click Mask By Cavity to automatically isolate recessed areas.
• Refine the result with SharpenMask and BlurMask; use Invert to target peaks instead of cavities.
• Work at an appropriate subdivision level—higher density captures finer creases more accurately.
• Lock in selections: after masking, go to Polygroups > Group Masked to convert masks into persistent groups.
• To protect creases during cleanup, keep the cavity mask active while using HPolish, TrimDynamic, or Polish by Features.
• For weathering, leave cavities masked to retain grime; invert the mask to highlight edges with wear and chipping.
• For painting: enable Colorize, fill a base color, invert the cavity mask, and softly airbrush edge tones for believable breakup.
• Apply procedural texture or noise with the mask active to confine it to crevices (or invert for edge-only micro-scratches).

Practical scenarios where Mask by Cavity excels:

• Hard-surface: preserve panel seams while planarizing with HPolish.
• Characters: add dust, oil, or AO-inspired tint in folds without flooding planes.
• Props: confine rust, soot, and dirt to nooks; invert to accent chipped edges.
• Stylized sculpts: keep crisp line work from softening during global smoothing.
• Texturing handoff: bake or convert cavity-driven polypaint to a texture map later.

Pro tips for sharper, faster results:

• Mask fidelity tracks mesh density; mask at your highest sculpt level, then step down to edit safely.
• Combine with Mask By Features to further isolate creases from smooth transitions when needed.
• Create quick edge highlights: invert the cavity mask, lightly brush a brighter color, then blur the mask once for natural falloff.
• Need control per brush? Use masking plus light ZIntensity and LazyMouse for edge-safe polish passes.
• Turn masked areas into working sets: Group Masked, then use visibility or Slice/Group Loops for precise border control.
• After heavy operations, Clear Mask and re-run Mask By Cavity to refresh accuracy on the updated surface.

Troubleshooting and quality checks:

• Mask looks blotchy: increase subdivision or gently smooth the surface before generating the mask.
• Missing fine creases: subdivide once more or deepen the sculpted valleys slightly, then reapply Mask By Cavity.
• Too aggressive isolation: blur the mask once or twice to soften transitions along planes.

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