A system and method for providing an intuitive and efficient mechanism to select areas of interest on a 3D model, and modify a pose or shape of the 3D model. A masking module allows an artist to interactively mask portions of a 3D object and leave other portions of the object unmasked. A posing module provides various tools to allow the artist to apply a posing or reshaping action on the unmasked areas of the 3D object. The computer artist masks portions of the 3D object by clicking and dragging the user input device on an area of the 3D object. All vertices whose topological distances are closer to the vertex associated with the initial click position than the final dragged position are masked. The artist then draws an action line on or partially on the 3D object to define a coordinate system. The artist clicks on a point on the action line, and drags the user input device for corresponding transformations of the unmasked portions of the 3D object.