Introduction
This page lists some useful Blender shortcuts and tools. The bare minimum tools that are required to prepare a model for PES are highlighted in green. If a tool or shortcut is only available in Blender versions newer than 2.79, it will be noted.
Some tools have options with additional shortcuts; these are displayed at the bottom of the viewport while the tool is active.
Viewport
| Tool
|
Shortcut
|
Version
|
Notes
|
| Rotate
|
MMB
|
|
|
| Zoom
|
Ctrl+MMB or scroll wheel
|
|
|
| Pan
|
Shift+MMB
|
|
|
| Re-center
|
Num.
|
|
Centers the camera on the selected objects and zooms to fit them in view.
|
| Toggle orthogonal
|
Num5
|
|
Switches between perspective and orthogonal view.
|
| Front view
|
Num1
|
|
Hold Ctrl for the opposite side. Hold Shift to align the camera with a face in edit mode.
|
| Left view
|
Num3
|
|
"
|
| Top view
|
Num7
|
|
"
|
| Toggle wireframe
|
Z
|
|
Blender 2.8+ also has the material preview and rendered shading modes available this way.
|
Basic
| Tool
|
Shortcut
|
Version
|
Notes
|
| Search
|
Space
|
|
Opens a searchable context-sensitive list that contains every tool in Blender and lists their shortcuts.
|
| Toggle sidebar
|
N
|
|
The sidebar contains a lot of useful information, most importantly transforms in object mode and selection coordinates and vertex weights in edit mode.
|
| Select/deselect
|
LMB
|
|
Hold Shift to select/deselect multiple objects; the last selected object is the active object (indicated by a light orange outline).
|
| Select/deselect all
|
A
|
|
|
| Box select
|
B
|
|
LMB to select; MMB to deselect.
|
| Circle select
|
C
|
|
LMB to select; MMB to deselect. Mouse wheel or +/- to increase or decrease size.
|
| Switch mode
|
Tab
|
|
Toggles between object and edit mode. In Blender 2.8+, you get a pie menu with all modes.
|
| Move
|
G
|
|
Press X, Y, or Z to only transform on that axis. Hold Shift to exlude that axis. Press the key twice to use the object's local axis.
|
| Scale
|
S
|
|
"
|
| Rotate
|
R
|
|
Ditto. You can also press R twice to rotate freely.
|
| Reset transforms
|
Alt+G/S/R
|
|
|
| Undo
|
Ctrl+Z
|
|
You can increase the number of undo steps in the settings.
|
| Redo
|
Ctrl+Shift+Z
|
|
|
| Delete
|
X or Delete
|
|
|
| Add
|
Shift+A
|
|
Add new objects (or mesh primitives to an existing object in edit mode).
|
| Duplicate
|
Shift+D
|
|
|
| Set 3D cursor location
|
Shift+S
|
|
You can also right click (Shift+RMB in 2.8+) to place the 3D cursor at your cursor.
|
| Select orientation
|
,
|
2.8+
|
Useful when things aren't aligned to the global axes. The view orientation can be used in conjuncture with aligning the camera to a face.
|
| Select pivot point
|
.
|
2.8+
|
Allows you to change the pivot point of transformations.
|
| Hide
|
H
|
|
Hides the selection. Shift hides everything but the selection.
|
| Unhide all
|
Alt+H
|
|
|
Object mode
| Tool
|
Shortcut
|
Version
|
Notes
|
| Join
|
J
|
|
Joins the selected objects with the active object. The merged object has the properties of what was the active object.
|
| Apply transforms
|
Ctrl+A
|
|
Opens a dialog to apply the location, rotation, and/or scale of the object. This sets the current location/rotation to (0,0,0) and scale to 1. All changed transforms need to be applied before export, as these values are not respected by other programs.
|
| Parent
|
Ctrl+P
|
|
Opens the dialog to parent the selected objects to the active object.
|
| Clear parent
|
Alt+P
|
|
|
| Move to
|
M
|
|
Moves an object to another layer (or folder in Blender 2.8+).
|
| Convert
|
Alt+C
|
|
Converts an object to another type (ex. curve to mesh).
|
Edit mode
| Tool
|
Shortcut
|
Version
|
Notes
|
| Separate
|
P
|
|
Separates the selected parts of the object into a new object. The new object retains the properties of the object it was separated from.
|
| Vertex selection
|
1
|
2.8+
|
|
| Edge selection
|
2
|
2.8+
|
|
| Face selection
|
3
|
2.8+
|
|
| Select linked
|
L
|
|
Selects all vertices/edges/faces connected to what is under the cursor. Hold Shift to deselect.
|
| Extrude
|
E
|
|
Extrude the selection to create additional geometry.
|
| Merge
|
Alt+M (M in 2.8+)
|
|
Allows you to merge vertices.
|
| Edge split
|
V
|
|
Splits the mesh along the selected vertices or edges. The cursor position determines the direction to split in.
|
| Edge slide
|
Shift+V
|
|
Slides vertices along edges.
|
| Knife tool
|
K
|
|
Makes cuts in the mesh to create additional edges. Has an option to cut all the way through the mesh.
|
| Loop cut
|
Ctrl+R
|
|
Subdivides a continuous row of quads (ideally forming a loop) along the length of the row.
|
| Bevel
|
Ctrl+B
|
|
Bevels edges.
|
| Inset
|
I
|
|
Insets faces with options for thickness and depth.
|
| Triangulate
|
Ctrl+T
|
|
Allows you to manually triangulate selected faces. Useful when working with low-poly models where automatic triangulation might produce results that break the silhouette or deform in unintended ways. Can also be used to tweak shading.
|
| Fill
|
F
|
|
Creates faces between selected vertices or edges. Can also be used to merge faces.
|
| Connect vertices
|
J
|
|
Creates an edge between the selected vertices. If the vertices share a face, the face will be broken up. Useful in conjuncture with the fill tool.
|
| Tris to quads
|
Alt+F
|
|
Automatically converts selected tris to quads. Useful for ripped models to make them easier to work with.
|
| Edge tools
|
Ctrl+E
|
|
Opens the edge tool menu. Most importantly, this lets you mark UV seams and sharp edges.
|
| Unwrap
|
U
|
|
Opens the dialog to unwrap the UVs for the selected parts of the object.
|
UV editor
| Tool
|
Shortcut
|
Version
|
Notes
|
| Toggle snapping
|
Shift+Tab
|
|
Click the button next to the magnet icon to switch to vertex snapping; this makes it easy to stack UV islands.
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