I recently got a hp tx2500z tablet pc laptop, and was hoping to use it in my figure drawing class to do quick z-sketches. I really want to be “that guy” in class. 
Zbrush works great on the laptop and even in tablet mode, the only problem is that there seems to be no real ui buttons for toggling masking and isolate selection. I guess I could use a combination of polypainting, masking by intensity, and hide pt, but that doesn’t really yield accurate results. I’ve searched a bunch of threads and haven’t really found a solution to the problem. Was thinking of even learning to use zscripts to make the toggle buttons, but wasn’t really sure if it was even possible. Anyone got any ideas?
I work almost exclusively with tablets (in my case Wacom Cintiqs.) I have buttons on the side of my tablet mapped to Ctrl, Shift, Alt and space-bar keys, that I operate with my left hand (I’m right handed and have my stylus in my right hand most of the time.)
If your tablet-PC doesn’t have side keys that can be mapped, I suggest you get yourself a USB “button-pad” (these often have several keys like an external keypad and software driver that lets you set the function of the keys.)
Alternately, I’ve seen “assistive drivers” for handicapped users which can give you a little floating window with “sticky keys” that you tap to turn on & off shift, ctrl, alt, etc. (I often use a small virtual keyboard on my macs that automatically zooms when I touch a square on the lower left, and then zooms away when I’m not using.) One of these drivers might be useful to your workflow–but as far as I’ve seen with my colleagues and students, the best choice by far is a small button pad to complement your stylus-dominated use.
HTH,
-K
I might have misunderstood your question, but here is my suggestion to what I think your problem is. If you want to quickly isolate select an area to hide it then what I do is plan ahead a little, especially if you want to do quick sculpting stuff. Layout a base body and or bust with zsperes and “polygroup” the areas that you want to quick select while sculpting. For example, on a figure I would probably polygroup the head, arms, torso, legs, feet. This way when I want to just work on the head I ctrl shft click on the head and the rest of the polygroups are hidden. Ctrl Shft click in open space to bring everything back. This should give you a faster workflow then masking then hide point. 
Hey Kerwin,
Thanks for the info, I’ll defiantely look into the options you mentioned. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
-e.