Here's another dumb question from your resident newb maya user.

I may be completely misjudging this tool but I thought if I selected "Normals" in the tool settings the handles are supposed to move the vert along the normals. I was expecting the vert to trace along the surface but as soon as I grab the Y handle (or V handle as displayed in the screenshot) it begins to penetrate the surface.

I tried delete history, freeze transformations and center pivot. They didn't seem to make a difference. could anyone suggest how to get verts to slide along the surface without impacting edge flow?

Bonus questions:
A) Is there a deform tool similar to Modo's soft drag or are the soft mod/sculpt tools as close as it comes right now? What is your preferred method of shaping geometry in Maya besides tweaking verts?

B) Is there any way to retain the center lines position on the origin while sculpting geometry near it or using the soft mod tool?

Apologies, I have a fairly good understanding of edge loop theory but modeling in Maya has been pretty tricky for me thus far.