I try to create a basketball.
As you know they do have lines on the surface.
so far I created just a rectangle selection … as a mask… works fine.
But you also know, that two other lines are not straight.
They are rounded. Is it possible to bend a mask ?
So I can tweak them ?
The best way to do what you’re after is probably to apply the ball lines as a B&W texture, convert that texture to polypaint, then “mask by color”, or convert it to an alpha and “mask by alpha”. There are many options in the masking palette. Likewise you could apply it as a displacement map, and convert the map to polygons.
However, yes, there are alternate masking tools. Hold down CTRL, then click on the brush menu to select one of the alternate masking methods (lasso, pen, rectangular, curve, etc.)
Edit: For a geometric solution, you could do this instead. The BBall lines are a simple cross down the center axis. That’s easy to do with slicing. slice out those lines into polygroups, then turn on X, Y and Z symmetry, and paint out the oblong rounded lines as a solid shape on the sides (if you look at a basketball, you’ll hopefully see what I mean.). Then group that masking as polygroups. Alternatively, use the Circular slice tool. Then run it through the Group loops function at different settings until you get lines around them that are as smooth/wide as you desire. Then you can assign all the lines as a polygroup, and derive masking or extrusion from them.
This is just a quick and dirty example of what I mean. With care you could do a much cleaner job on some variation of this:
you rock… well… I guess I understood the alpha map version… but got stuck with your geometry polygon version… what you describe sounds cool… but I just couldn’t follow you… uuaahhhh
Homework for you then 
:
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/modeling-basics/polygroups/
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/modeling-basics/polygroups/slice-curve/
http://docs.pixologic.com/user-guide/3d-modeling/hard-surface/panel-loops/
http://docs.pixologic.com/reference-guide/tool/polymesh/geometry/#edge-loop
and don’t forget about Mirror and Weld.
thank you man… that’s awesome… so I know these functions… my problem is just that I don’t know how to proceed … even with the given direction… not sure if you have a zscript or so saved… that would show me the way you do it step by step… hmmm… my little brain (or what ever is left of it - doesn’t seem to much) is cooking… lol;
thx for your help man, appreciate it !
so here is what I have so far…
just don’t know how to do the other additional lines… that’s my problem…
Sorry, I was away. Um, I’m just eyeballing this. You could superimpose the viewport against the profile of an actual Bball and trace it much more accurately. But the idea is to get some clean slicing, and from there you can go a dozen different ways. I use the slice curve brush, because it slices cleanly. The circle will leave jagged edges. Remember, pressing alt while drawing out the curve inserts a soft bend, double clicking alt inserts a stiffer angle. Start with a miedium high poly sphere with decent topo (not a primitive pm3d sphere with the poles on the end–those cause problems–clean it up first by running it through dynamesh then Zremesher respectively, and subdiving as needed).
Remember, you only need to get one quadrant right. The rest can be Mirror and Welded (Tool>Geometry>Modify Topology>M&W). If it’s mirroring the wrong side, flip the geo first with the Mirror command in the deformation menu. Group the polygroups as you go by hiding them, and using “Group Visible” on the visible portion. So you’ll do a M&W across X, Y, and Z axes by the time you’re done. Once you’ve got those clean line slices, make a duplicate of the subtool, and save a copy. You can now go in almost limitless directions, and you can always get those clean lines back if you have that tool saved. Some things you can do from there:
-fill the line polygons with black, and the body with white polypaint. Use this to transfer those lines to another UV’d model as polypaint. Polypaint can be converted to masking. A UV’d object can generate an alpha, texture, displacement , or normal maps.
-Generate an alpha
-generate masking
-invert the lines as masking with a slight blur to run positive and negative Deformation> Inflate operations on the model on the lines and body respectively.
-Use line masking to protect the lines from a surface texture you apply .
-Shift-ctrl click on the line polygroups to hide everything but them, and run a Tool> Edge Loop> “Extrude Edge Loop” with a slight negative value to recess the lines with additional geometry.
-Use the polygroups to play with the Panel Loops function
Everything else is up to you to figure out. Good luck!
Wow, man you rock !!! this is great. Now I got something to do. I promise, I’ll keep you posted with my challenge and problems… but you are the man… my master !!!
Thank you soooo much, highly appreciated !!!
