Or since we are working in a 3d medium but making 2D results it is just something that is what you do because it is the final look of the image that matters in the end, no matter how you get to it. Exactly! What you are describing amounts to doing what needs doing to create the best image you can (as close to your mental image as possible) utilizing whatever tools are available to you. If you were working on a 3D animation/fly-through and the shield is sticking through a guy's arm, you could make sure your selected camera angles just never view the through-the-arm part, or you'd need to adjust and re-adjust until it's no longer through the arm. Hollywood stage sets show full house interiors that aren't really full and complete. The front wall is gone, the stairs lead upward to nothing, the side door open onto nowhere, etc. It's all part of the art of illusion. :)