Quick Reference

Blender

A visual cheat-sheet for the 187 keyboard shortcuts found in Blender

#Keyboard Shortcuts

#Universal

shortcuts description
Esc Cancels Blender functions without changes
Space Open the toolbox
Tab Start or quit edit mode
F1 Loads a Blender file, changes the window to a file window
Shift F1 Appends parts from other files, or loads as library data
F2 Writes a Blender file, changes the window to a file window
Shift F2 Exports the scene as a DXF file
Ctrl F2 Exports the scene as a VRML1 file
F3 Writes a picture, if a picture has been rendered, and the file format is as indicated in the display buttons
Ctrl F3 Saves a screen dump of the active window
Ctrl Shift F3 Saves a screen dump of the whole Blender screen
F4 Displays the logic context
F5 Displays the shading context, light, material, or world sub-contexts
F6 Displays the shading context and texture sub-context
F7 Displays the object context
F8 Displays the shading context and world sub-context
F9 Displays the editing context
F10 Displays the scene context
F11 Hides or shows the render window
F12 Starts the rendering from the active camera
Left Go to the previous frame
Shift Left Go to the first frame
Right Go to the next frame
Shift Right Go to the last frame
Up Go forward 10 frames
Down Go back 10 frames
Alt A Change the current Blender window to animation playback mode, the cursor changes to a counter
Alt Shift A Change the current window and all 3D windows to animation playback mode
I Insert key menu, this menu differs from window to window
J Toggle the render buffers
Ctrl O Opens the last saved file
Q Quit Blender
Ctrl Alt T Timer menu, this menu offers access to information about drawing speed
Ctrl U Save user defaults, current project settings are written to the default file that will be loaded every time you start Blender
Ctrl W Write file without opening a file window
Alt W Write videoscape file
Ctrl X Erase everything except the render buffer, the default scene is reloaded
Ctrl Y Redo
Ctrl Z Undo
Ctrl Shift Z Redo

#Object Mode

shortcuts description
Home All objects in the visible layer are displayed completely, centered in the window
PgUp Select the next object key, if more than one is selected the selection is shifted up cyclically
Shift PgUp Add to selection the next object key
PgDn Select the previous object key, if more than one is selected the selection is shifted up cyclically
Shift PgDn Adds to selection the previous object key
` Select all layers
Shift ` Revert to the previous layer setting
Tab Start or stop edit mode
A Selects or deselects all
Ctrl A Apply size and rotation
Ctrl Shift A If the active object is automatically duplicated, brings up a menu for actually creating the objects
Shift A Brings up the add menu, the toolbox items that start with ADD
B Border select, draws a rectangle with the left mouse to select objects
Shift B Render border, this only works in camera view mode
C Center view, the position of the 3D cursor becomes the new center of the 3D window
Alt C Convert menu, depending on the active object a popup menu is displayed enabling you to convert certain types of ObData
Ctrl C Copy menu, this menu copies information from the active object to selected objects
Shift C Center zero view, the 3D cursor is set to zero and the view is changed so all objects can be displayed
D Display draw mode menu
Shift D Add duplicate, the selected objects are duplicated
Alt D Add linked duplicate, linked duplicates of the selected objects are created
Ctrl D Draw the texture image as wire
Alt E Start or stop edit mode
F If selected object is a mash, toggles face select mode on or off
Ctrl F Sort faces, the faces of the active mesh object are sorted based on the current view in the 3D window
G Grab mode, or translation mode
Alt G Clears translations, given in grab mode
Shift G Group selection
I Insert object key, a keyposition is inserted in the current frame of all selected objects
Ctrl J Join objects, all selected objects of the same type are added to the active object
K Show keys, the draw key option is turned on for all selected objects
Shift K Display popup menu for showing and selecting all keys
L Makes selected object local, makes library linked objects local for the current scene
Ctrl L Link selected, links some of the active object data to all selected objects
Shift L Select linked, selected all objects somehow linked to the active object
M Move selected objects to another layer
Ctrl M Mirror menu, it is possible to mirror an object along the X, Y, or Z axis
N Number panel, the location, rotation, and scaling of the active object are displayed and can be modified
Alt O Clear origin, the origin is erased for all child objects, which causes them to move ot the exact location of the parent objects
Shift O If the selected object is a mesh, toggles the subsurf on or off
Ctrl P Make selected objects the children of the active object
Alt P Clears parent relation, user is asked if they wish to keep or clear parent-induced transforms
R Rotate mode, works on selected objects
Alt R Clears rotation, the X, Y, and Z rotations of selected objects are set to zero
S Size mode or scaling mode, works on selected objects
Alt S Clears size, the X, Y, and Z dimensions of selected objects are set to 1
Shift S Opens the snap menu
T Texture space mode, the position of dimensions of the texture space for the selected objects can be changed in the same manner for grab and size mode
Ctrl T Makes selected objects track the active object
Alt T Clears old style track, constraint track is removed as all constrains are
U Makes object single user, the inverse operation of link
V Switches in and out of vertex paint mode
Alt V Object image aspect, this hotkey sets the X and Y dimensions of the selected objects in relation to the dimensions of the image texture they have
W Opens the object booleans menu
X Deletes selected objects
Z Toggles solid mode on or off
Shift Z Toggles shaded mode on or off
Alt Z Toggles textured mode on or off

#Edit Mode - General

shortcuts description
Tab Start or stop edit mode
Alt E Start or stop edit mode (alternative)
Ctrl Tab Switches between vertex select, edge select, and face select modes
A Select or unselect all
B B Circle select
Ctrl H With vertices selected, this creates a hook object
N Number panel, simpler than the object mode one
O Switch in and out of proportional editing
Shift O Toggles between smooth and sharp proportional editing
P Separate, you can choose to make a new object with all selected vertices, edges, faces, and curves
Ctrl P Make vertex parent
Ctrl S Shear, in edit mode this operation enables you to make selected forms slant
U Undo
W Displays specials popup menu
Shift W Warp, selected vertices can be bent into curves with this option

#Edit Mode - Mesh

shortcuts description
Ctrl + Adds to selection all vertices connected by an edge to an already selected vertex
Ctrl - Removes from selection all vertices of the outer ring of selected vertices
C If using curve deformation, toggles the curve cyclic mode on or off
E Extrude selected
Shift E Crease subsurf edge
Ctrl E Mark LSCM seam
F Make edge or face
Shift F Fill selected, all selected vertices that are bound by edges and form a closed polygon are filled with triangular faces
Alt F Beauty fill, edges of all selected triangular faces are switched so equally sized faces are formed
Ctrl F Flip faces, selected triangular faces are paired and common edge of each pair swapped
H Hide selected, all selected vertices and faces are hidden
Shift H Hide not selected, all non-selected vertices and faces are hidden
Alt H Reveal, all hidden vertices and faces are drawn again
Alt J Join faces, selected triangular faces are joined in pairs and transformed to quads
K Knife tool menu
L Select linked
Shift L Deselect linked
Ctrl L Select linked selected
M Mirror, opens a popup asking for the axis to mirror
Alt M Merges selected vertices as barycentrum or at cursor depending on selection made on popup
Ctrl N Calculate normals outside
Ctrl Shift N Calculate normals inside
Alt S Scales each vertex in the direction of its local normal
Ctrl T Make triangles, all selected faces are converted to triangles
U Undo
Shift U Redo
Alt U Undo menu
W Special menu
X Erase selected
Y Split, this command splits the selected part of a mesh without deleting faces

#Edit Mode - Curve

shortcuts description
C Set the selected curves to cyclic or turn cyclic off
E Extrude curve
F Add segment, a segment is added between two selected vertices at the end of two curves
H Toggle handle align or free
Shift H Set handle to auto
Ctrl H Calculate handles
L Select linked
Shift L Deselect linked
M Mirror selected control points exactly as for vertices in a mesh
T Tilt mode, specify an extra axis rotation for each vertex in a 3D curve
Alt T Clear tilt
V Vector handle
W The special menu for curves appears
X Erase selected

#Edit Mode - Surface

shortcuts description
C Toggle cyclic menu
E Extrude selected
F Add segment, a segment is added between two selected vertices at the end of two curves
L Select linked
Shift L Deselect linked
M Mirror selected control points exactly as for vertices in a mesh
Shift R Select row, starting with the last selected vertex
W The special menu for surfaces appears
X Erase selected

#Edit Mode - Font

shortcuts description
Right Move text cursor one position forward
Shift Right Move text cursor to the end of the line
Left Move text cursor one position backwards
Shift Left Move text cursor to the start of the line
Down Move text cursor one line forward
Shift Down Move text cursor to the end of the text
Up Move text cursor one line back
Shift Up Move text cursor to the beginning of the text
Alt U Reload original data
Alt V Paste text

#VertexPaint

shortcuts description
Shift K All vertex colors are erased, they are changed to the current drawing color
U Undo, press twice redos the undone
W Shared vertexcol, the colors of all faces that share vertices are blended

#UV Editor

shortcuts description
E LSCM unwrapping, launches on the faces visible in the UV editor
P Pin selected vertices, they will stay in place on the UV editor when executing an LSCM unwrap
Alt P Un-pin selected vertices

#FaceSelect

shortcuts description
Tab Switches to edit mode
F With multiple, co-planar faces selected, this will merge them into one FGon so long as they remain co-planar
L Select linked UVs
R Calls a menu allowing to rotate the UV coordinates or the vertex col
U Calls the UV Calculation menu

#Also see