When to mask and which method, workflow what order should these be in ?

[Steve003]

Hi,
Is all of this correct ? What order should these stages and decision points be in.
It perhaps needs one of those decision and action diagrams with triangles and squares.
Anyone care to do one ?
It can be bewildering to know what mask methods if any are required and when, despite the basic workpath steps Metashape offers. masks are not mentioned in those listed steps. Masks are a users decision, and making one and saving on many hours of masking each photo is vital so knowing when and which one is what this is all about.

Workpath journey and decisions at crossroads.

Scenario, object is out of doors and immovable. Weather cloudy bright no sun or rain.

A. Assemble the required photos with shadow detail visible, no sun, no shade, no rain spots, no varying background (if background has changes use masks, at start of all this, see F.)
B. set of photos, align photos
C. perhaps orient and set up region box on sparse point cloud, using ortho views ( 5 toggles ortho, then with ortho on use 7 1 and 3 numpad keys), or do so in dense point cloud result.
D. show cameras, see there are some overlaps. ignore them, (as unable to select them) create a model then select the overlappers, right-click in the Model view and choose Filter Photos by Cameras option in order to leave only selected cameras in Photos pane.
E. decide if masking is required, choice of
E1. create mask with masking tools for one image or use e.g. photoshop and save as .tif with alpha. Apply that mask to all cameras. Metashape will mask up all images with it.
Or
E2. mask from model, having created the model then use this to make the model. (unless model needs a mask to even manage to make it, if so use F)
F. make the Mesh, options
F1.mesh from dense point cloud, so make a dense point cloud first and delete unwanted areas on it then make the mesh from it.
or
F2. mesh from depth map (better definition on thin pipes, rope etc, ) no need for dense point cloud stage.  May need masks to avoid unwanted areas, see E1 or E2.
F3. mesh from sparse point cloud, too crude perhaps to make a mask selection from but allows camera positions to show for editing out unwanted cameras.
G. apply texture

Steve