Hi Missy (zonkerzebra),
Tool vs. Object. With tools, I had in mind the following. If the application A has a tool that does this and that, and an artist is used to it, then often the question comes up, where is this (!) tool in Application B? A tool question.
This leads to a search to come close to the tool one has described. Which often might be a combination of many tools or even a complex workflow, to get something similar.
If the question would have been, I want to do the following to my object, this is what I have (start point, not half the way already), and I want to change the following. This would be a question around the target, or the object itself. Then the answer is (hopefully) not a whole workflow, it might be a single tool that is even better than the one used before elsewhere.
I tend to answer often several times. I do not believe that there is only one way or the “right” way to do it. Besides, we all have our own ideas about how things work best for us. To have at least three ways to do something is certainly a better feeling than to have only one that fits most of the time.
In one of my first hand on classes, 15 years ago, I asked people to create a sphere in as many ways they can think of. It is a simple game to get people used to think “out of the box”.
Having said all of that, I hope we will find what you need, to have your ideas as a central part of your work, and not the focus on anything else.
My best wishes