In addition to the general sculpting tools, Maya also offers a subset of tools specific to working with blend shapes. These are useful for targeting deformations specific to one or more blend shapes without negatively impacting others. For more information on the blend shape workflow, see Shape Authoring.
The following tools appear on the Sculpting shelf and in the Mesh Tools > Sculpting Tools menu. For a list of common settings associated with these tools, see Sculpting Tool settings.
| Tool Name | Icon | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
|
Smooth Target Tool |
 |
Levels vertex positions in relation to each other by averaging the positions of vertices. You can use this tool to smooth only the blend shape target currently in Edit mode. |
|
Clone Target Tool |
 |
Copies sculpting edits from a specified blend shape target to the blend shape target currently in Edit mode. Blend shape and target sources can be set via the Blend Shape Source and Target Source attributes in the Tool Settings editor. Holding Ctrl while this tool is active temporarily switches to the Erase Target Tool, while holding Shift temporarily switches to the Smooth Target Tool. |
|
Mask Target Tool |
 |
Hides the sculpt edits of the current target for the painted area. Hold Ctrl while painting to remove the mask and unhide the edits, or hold Shift to smooth the masked/non-masked areas. |
|
Erase Target Tool |
 |
Removes sculpt operations for the blend shape target currently in
Edit mode.
Note: Be careful when using this with the
Mask Target Tool, as you can still erase edits that are currently hidden.
|