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This model of a head has inner geometry for oral and orbital cavity in order to texture the face I would like to hide these parts of the mesh before unwrapping.

enter image description here

How could I select the cavities ?

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  • $\begingroup$ What about selecting a vert/edge ring at the back and then growing the selection (Ctrl+Numpad Plus) until it's about right? $\endgroup$
    – gandalf3
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 8:33

2 Answers 2

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Select an edge ring where the cavity joins with the outer surface:

enter image description here

Then press Select Loop Inner-Region in 3D view > Header > Select:

enter image description here

You may need to invert the selection afterwards (CtrlI).

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, this works well. To select multiple inner regions I had to add them to a vertex group and re-select before assign. $\endgroup$
    – stacker
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 8:46
  • $\begingroup$ @stacker Glad it worked :) Though wouldn't select one cavity > hide > select next cavity > hide etc. work? $\endgroup$
    – gandalf3
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 10:15
  • $\begingroup$ I couldn't get this to work for my model (below) where I just pulled some vertices into the sphere head to make the mouth. Did I do something wrong or will this not work if the mouth is made that way? $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 15:19
  • $\begingroup$ @ThomBlairIII It does depend on the topology, you need an edge ring around opening of the cavity. However, stacker's screenshot shows such an edge ring. $\endgroup$
    – gandalf3
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 19:11
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Select using Limit Selection to Visible and Hide

One possible way to achieve this goal is to enable Limit Selection to Visible, select the outer surface, Invert Selection, then Hide it. This method could be particularly useful if your model has lots of cavities you want to hide.

For example, this mesh has an inner cavity with a pink ball in it:

enter image description here

To hide the model's outer shell, do this:

  1. Select the object, then enter Edit mode with TAB

  2. Enable Limit Selection to Visible in the 3D Viewport Header so that only faces visible to the camera can be selected:

    enter image description here

  3. Toggle into Quad View with CTRLALTQ

    enter image description here

  4. Switch to using the Circle Select tool (C), then increase the size of the selection circle by scrolling up with the scroll wheel (MMB) until you can select most of your model with 1 click

  5. Now using the four windows of the Quad View, select all the outside faces, being careful not to select anything in the cavities:

    enter image description here

    Continue selecting until all outer faces are selected.
    Note:

    • Since there is no "Back View", you will have to rotate in the User defined window to select those

    • Once you have used the Circle Select tool to select in one window, you must stop using the tool while in that window before you can begin to use it in another window. To stop using it, click the LMB (Left Mouse Button) in the window you began using it in

  6. Rotate the mesh in the User defined window (upper right window) to see if you've successfully selected all the outer mesh. Keep selecting until it's all selected.
    Note:

    • Sometimes you have to zoom in and look closely in order for the Circle Selection tool to actually select the geometry

    • If you accidentally select something you don't want selected, you can deselect it with the MMB (Middel Mouse Button/Scroll Wheel) while still using the Circle Selection tool

  7. Once all the outer mesh is selected, Hide the selected faces by pressing H

    enter image description here

  8. If you find you have accidentally hidden parts of the mesh you do not want to hide, then Unhide with ALTH, edit your selection, then Hide again. Repeat as necessary:

    enter image description here

  9. Once you've made sure all your cavities are properly selected, Unhide the outer mesh, then Invert Selection with CTRLI, then Hide

    enter image description here

    Now all the cavities are hidden.

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