Blender Documentation Volume II - Reference Guide: Last modified July 08 2004 S68
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# Object Mode HotKeys

Relevant to Blender 2.33

These hotkeys are mainly bound to the 3D Viewport Window, but many work on Objects in most other windows, like IPOs and so on, hence they are summarized here.

HOME. All Objects in the visible layer are displayed completely, centered in the window.

PAGEUP. Select the next Object Key. If more than one Object Key is selected, the selection is shifted up cyclically. Only works if the AnimButtons->DrawKey is ON for the Object.

SHIFT-PAGEUP. Adds to selection the next Object Key.

PAGEDOWN. Select the previous Object Key. If more than one Object Key is selected, the selection is shifted up cyclically. Only works if the AnimButtons->DrawKey is ON for the Object.

SHIFT-PAGEDOWN. Adds to selection the previous Object Key.

ACCENT. (To the left of the 1KEY in US keyboard) Select all layers.

SHIFT-ACCENT. Revert to the previous layer setting.

TAB. Start/stop EditMode. Alternative hotkey: ALT-E.

AKEY. Selects/deselects all.

CTRL-A. Apply size and rotation. The rotation and dimensions of the Object are assigned to the ObData (Mesh, Curve, etc.). At first glance, it appears as if nothing has changed, but this can have considerable consequences for animations or texture mapping. This is best illustrated by also having the axis of a Mesh Object be drawn (EditButtons->Axis). Rotate the Object and activate Apply. The rotation and dimensions of the Object are 'erased'.

SHIFT-CTRL-A. If the active Object is automatically duplicated (see AnimButtons->DupliFrames or AnimButtons->Dupliverts), a menu asks `Make dupli's real?`. This option actually creates the Objects. If the active Mesh Object is deformed by a Lattice, a menu asks `Apply Lattice deform?`. Now the deformation of the Lattice is assigned to the vertices of the Mesh.

SHIFT-A. This is the AddMenu. In fact, it is the ToolBox that starts with the 'ADD' option. When Objects are added, Blender starts EditMode immediately if possible.

BKEY. Border Select. Draw a rectangle with the LeftMouse; all Objects within this area are selected, but not made active. Draw a rectangle with the RightMouse to deselect Objects. In orthonormal ViewMode, the dimensions of the rectangle are displayed, expressed as global coordinates, as an extra feature in the lower left corner. In Camera ViewMode, the dimensions that are to be rendered according to the DisplayButtons are displayed in pixel units.

SHIFT-B. Render Border. This only works in Camera ViewMode. Draw a rectangle to render a smaller cut-out of the standard window frame. If the option DisplayButtons->Border is ON, a box is drawn with red and black lines.

CKEY. Centre View. The position of the 3DCursor becomes the new centre of the 3DWindow.

ALT-C. Convert Menu. Depending on the active Object, a PopupMenu is displayed. This enables you to convert certain types of ObData. It only converts in one direction, everything ultimately degrades to a Mesh! The options are:

- `Font -> Curve`

- `MetaBall -> Mesh` The original MetaBall remains unchanged.

- `Curve -> Mesh`

- `Surface -> Mesh`

CTRL-C. Copy Menu. This menu copies information from the active Object to (other) selected Objects.

- Fixed components are:

  - `Copy Loc`: the X,Y,Z location of the Object. If a Child is involved, this location is the relative position in relation to the Parent.

  - `Copy Rot`: the X,Y,Z rotation of the Object.

  - `Copy Size`: the X,Y,Z dimension of the Object.

  - `DrawType`: copies Object Drawtype.

  - `TimeOffs`: copies Object time offset.

  - `Dupli`: all Duplicator data (Dupliframes, Dupliverts and so on)

  - `Mass`: Real time stuff.

  - `Damping`: Real time stuff.

  - `Properties`: Real time stuff.

  - `Logic Bricks`: Real time stuff.

  - `Constraints`: copies Object constraints.

- If applicable:

  - `Copy TexSpace`: The texture space.

  - `Copy Particle Settings`: the complete particle system from the AnimButtons.

- For Curve Objects:

  - `Copy Bevel Settings`: all bevelling data from the EditButtons.

- Font Objects:

  - `Copy Font Settings`: font type, dimensions, spacing.

  - `Copy Bevel Settings`: all bevelling data from the EditButtons.

- Camera Objects:

  - `Copy Lens`: the lens value.

SHIFT-C. CentreZero View. The 3DCursor is set to zero (0,0,0) and the view is changed so that all Objects, including the 3Dcursor, can be displayed. This is an alternative for HOME.

DKEY. Draw mode menu. Allows to select draw modes exactly as the corresponding menu in the 3D viewport header does.

SHIFT-D. Add Duplicate. The selected Objects are duplicated. Grab mode starts immediately thereafter.

ALT-D. Add Linked Duplicate. Of the selected Objects linked duplicates are created. Grab mode starts immediately thereafter.

CTRL-D. Draw the (texture) Image as wire. This option has a limited function. It can only be used for 2D compositing.

ALT-E. Start/stop EditMode. Alternative hotkey: TAB.

FKEY. If selected Object is a mesh Toggles Face selectMode on and off.

CTRL-F. Sort Faces. The faces of the active Mesh Object are sorted, based on the current view in the 3DWindow. The leftmost face first, the rightmost last. The sequence of faces is important for the Build Effect (AnimButtons).

GKEY. Grab Mode. Or: the translation mode. This works on selected Objects and vertices. Blender calculates the quantity and direction of the translation, so that they correspond exactly with the mouse movements, regardless of the ViewMode or view direction of the 3DWindow. Alternatives for starting this mode:

- LMB to draw a straight line.

The following options are available in translation mode:

- Limiters:

  - CTRL: in increments of 1 grid unit.

  - SHIFT: fine movements.

  - SHIFT-CTRL: in increments of 0.1 grid unit.

- MMB toggles: A short click restricts the current translation to the X,Y or Z axis. Blender calculates which axis to use, depending on the already initiated mouse movement. Click MiddleMouse again to return to unlimited translation.

- XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY constrains movement to X, Y or Z axis of the global reference.

- a second XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY constrains movement to X, Y or Z axis of the local reference.

- a third XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY removes constraints.

- NKEY enters numerical input, as well as any numeric key directly. TAB will switch between values, ENTER finalizes, ESC exits.

- ARROWS:These keys can be used to move the mouse cursor exactly 1 pixel.

- Grabber can be terminated with:

  - LMB SPACE or ENTER: move to a new position.

  - RMB or ESC: everything goes back to the old position.

- Switching mode:

  - GKEY: starts Grab mode again.

  - SKEY: switches to Size (Scale) mode.

  - RKEY: switches to Rotate mode.

ALT-G. Clears translations, given in Grab mode. The X,Y,Z locations of selected Objects are set to zero.

SHIFT-G. Group Selection

- `Children`: Selects all selected Object's Children.

- `Immediate Children`: Selects all selected Object's first level Children.

- `Parent`: Selects selected Object's Parent.

- `Shared Layers`: Selects all Object on the same Layer of active Object

IKEY. Insert Object Key. A key position is inserted in the current frame of all selected Objects. A PopupMenu asks what key position(s) must be added to the IpoCurves.

- `Loc`: The XYZ location of the Object.

- `Rot`: The XYZ rotation of the Object.

- `Size`: The XYZ dimensions of the Object

- `LocRot`: The XYZ location and XYZ rotation of the Object.

- `LocRotSize`: The XYZ location, XYZ rotation and XYZ dimensions of the Object.

- `Layer`: The layer of the Object.

- `Avail`: A position is only added to all the current IpoCurves, that is curves which already exists.

- `Mesh`, `Lattice`, `Curve` or `Surface`: depending on the type of Object, a VertexKey can be added

CTRL-J. Join Objects. All selected Objects of the same type are added to the active Object. What actually happens here is that the ObData blocks are combined and all the selected Objects (except for the active one) are deleted. This is a rather complex operation, which can lead to confusing results, particularly when working with a lot of linked data, animation curves and hierarchies.

KKEY. Show Keys. The DrawKey option is turned ON for all selected Objects. If all of them were already ON, they are all turned OFF.

SHIFT-K. A PopupMenu asks: `OK? Show and select all keys`. The DrawKey option is turned ON for all selected Objects, and all Object-keys are selected. This function is used to enable transformation of the entire animation system.

LKEY. 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, the following menu entry appears only if applicable.

- `To Scene`: Creates a link of the Object to a scene.

- `Object IPOs`: Links Active Object IPOs to selected ones.

- `Mesh Data`: Links Active Object Mesh data selected ones.

- `Lamp Data`: Links Active Object Lamp data to selected ones.

- `Curve Data`: Links Active Object Curve data selected ones.

- `Surf Data`: Links Active Object Surf data selected ones.

- `Material`: Links Active Object Material to selected ones.

SHIFT-L. Select Linked. Selects all Objects somehow linked to active Object.

- `Object IPO`: Selects all Object(s) sharing active Object's IPOs.

- `Object Data`: Selects all Object(s) sharing active Object's ObData.

- `Current Material`: Selects all Object(s) sharing active Object's current Material.

- `Current Texture`: Selects all Object(s) sharing active Object's current Texture.

MKEY.

Moves selected Object(s) to another layer, a pop-up appers. Use LMB to move, use SHIFT-LMB to make the object belong to multiple layers. If the selected Objects have different layers, this is 'OR'ed in the menu display. Use ESC to exit the menu. Press the "OK" button or ENTER to change the layer seting. The hotkeys (ALT-)(1KEY, 2KEY, ... - 0KEY) work here as well (see 3DHeader).

CTRL-M. Mirror Menu. It is possible to mirror an Object along the X, Y or Z axis.

NKEY.

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 the Child Objects to move to the exact location of the Parent Objects.

SHIFT-O. If the selected Object is a Mesh toggles SubSurf onn/off. CTRL-1 to CTRL-4 switches to the relative SubSurf level for display purpouses. Rendering SUbSurf level has no HotKey.

CTRL-P. Make selected Object(s) the child(ren) of the active Object. If the Parent is a Curve then a popup offers two coiches:

- `Normal Parent`: Make a normal parent, the curve can be made a path later on.

- `Follow Path`: Automatically creates a Follow Path constraint with the curve as target.

If the Parent is an Armature, a popup offers three options:

- `Use Bone`: One of the Bones becomes the parent. The Object will not be deformed. A popup permits to select the bone. This is the option if you are modeling a robot or machinery

- `Use Armature`: The whole armature is used as parent for deformations. This is the choiche for organic beings.

- `Use Object`: Standard parenting.

In the second case further options asks if Vertex groups should not be created, should be created empty or created and populated.

ALT-P. Clears Parent relation, user is asked if he wishes to keep or clear parent-induced transforms.

- `Clear Parent`: the selected Child Objects are unlinked from the Parent. since the transformation of the Parent disappears, this can appear as if the former Children themselves are transformed.

- `... and keep transform`: the Child Objects are unlinked from the Parent, and an attempt is made to assign the current transformation, which was determined in part by the Parent, to the (former Child) Objects.

- `Clear Parent inverse`: The inverse matrix of the Parent of the selected Objects is erased. The Child Objects remain linked to the Objects. This gives the user complete control over the hierarchy.

RKEY. Rotate mode. Works on selected Object(s). In Blender, a rotation is by default a rotation perpendicular to the screen, regardless of the view direction or ViewMode. The degree of rotation is exactly linked to the mouse movement. Try moving around the rotation midpoint with the mouse. The rotation pivot point is determined by the state of the 3DWiewport Header buttons. Alternatives for starting this mode:

- LMB to draw a C-shaped curve.

The following options are available in rotation mode:

- Limiters:

  - CTRL: in increments of 5 degrees.

  - SHIFT: fine movements.

  - SHIFT-CTRL: in increments of 1 degree.

- MMB toggles: A short click restricts the current rotation to the horizontal or vertical view axis.

- XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY constrains rotation to X, Y or Z axis of the global reference.

- a second XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY constrains rotation to X, Y or Z axis of the local reference.

- a third XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY removes constraints.

- NKEY enters numerical input, as well as any numeric key directly. ENTER finalizes, ESC exits.

- ARROWS:These keys can be used to move the mouse cursor exactly 1 pixel.

- Roration can be terminated with:

  - LMB SPACE or ENTER: move to a new position.

  - RMB or ESC: everything goes back to the old position.

- Switching mode:

  - GKEY: switches to Grab.

  - SKEY: switches to Size (Scale) mode.

  - RKEY: starts Rotate mode again.

ALT-R. Clears Rotation. The X,Y,Z rotations of selected Objects are set to zero.

SKEY. Size mode or scaling mode. Works on selected Object(s). The degree of scaling is exactly linked to the mouse movement. Try to move from the (rotation) midpoint with the mouse. The pivot point is determined by the settings of the 3D Viewport header pivot Menu. Alternatives for starting scaling mode:

- LMB to draw a V-shaped line.

The following options are available in scaling mode:

- Limiters:

  - CTRL: in increments of 0.1.

  - SHIFT-CTRL: in increments of 0.01.

- MMB toggles: A short click restricts the scaling to X, Y or Z axis. Blender calculates the appropriate axis based on the already initiated mouse movement. Click MMB again to return to free scaling.

- XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY constrains scaling to X, Y or Z axis of the local reference.

- a second XKEY, YKEY, ZKEY removes constraints.

- NKEY enters numerical input, as well as any numeric key directly. ENTER finalizes, ESC exits.

- ARROWS:These keys can be used to move the mouse cursor exactly 1 pixel.

- Scaling can be terminated with:

  - LMB SPACE or ENTER: move to a new position.

  - RMB or ESC: everything goes back to the old dimension.

- Switching mode:

  - GKEY: switches to Grab.

  - SKEY: starts Size mode again.

  - RKEY: switches to Rotation.

ALT-S. Clears Size. The X,Y,Z dimensions of selected Objects are set to 1.0.

SHIFT-S. SnapMenu:

- `Sel->Grid`: Moves Object to nearest grid point.

- `Sel->Curs`: Moves Object to cursor.

- `Curs->Grid`: Moves cursor to nearest grid point.

- `Curs->Sel`: Moves cursor to selected Object(s).

- `Sel->Center`: Moves Objects to their barycentrum.

TKEY. Texture space mode. The position and dimensions of the texture space for the selected Objects can be changed in the same manner as described above for Grab and Size mode. To make this visible, the drawing flag EditButtons->TexSpace is set ON. A PopupMenu asks you to select: "Grabber" or "Size".

CTRL-T. Makes selected Object(s) track the Active Object. Old track method was Blender default tracking before version 2.30. The new method is the Constrain Track, this creates a fully editable constraint on the selected object targeting the active Object.

ALT-T. Clears old style Track. Constraint track is removed as all constrains are.

UKEY. Makes Object Single User, the inverse operation of Link (CTRL-L) a pop-up appears with choices.

- `Object`: if other Scenes also have a link to this Object, the link is deleted and the Object is copied. The Object now only exists in the current Scene. The links from the Object remain unchanged.

- `Object & ObData`: Similar to the previous command, but now the ObData blocks with multiple links are copied as well. All selected Objects are now present in the current Scene only, and each has a unique ObData (Mesh, Curve, etc.).

- `Object & ObData & Materials+Tex`: Similar to the previous command, but now Materials and Textures with multiple links are also copied. All selected Objects are now unique. They have unique ObData and each has a unique Material and Texture block.

- `Materials+Tex`: Only the Materials and Textures with multiple links are copied.

VKEY. Switches in/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. Use this hotkey when making 2D Image compositions and multi-plane designs to quickly place the Objects in the appropriate relationship with one another.

WKEY. Opens Object Booleans Menu.

XKEY. `Erase Selected?` Deletes selected objects.

ZKEY. Toggles Solid Mode on/off.

SHIFT-Z. Toggles Shaded Mode on/off.

ALT-Z. Toggles Textured Mode on/off.

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