Keyboard Shortcuts

EarthMover · 28 Oct 2010, 00:19

So what are everyone's most used keyboard shortcuts that you've created yourself?

I like to keep a lot of mine on the left side of my keyboard so I can do a lot while the mouse is in the right hand. I also use a lot of Shift+letter shortcuts, since my hand is always on Shift for panning.

W = Move
E = Rotate
R = Scale
S = FredoScale
Z = Last Camera Position
Shift + C = Close Component / Group
Shift + R = Rectangle Tool
Alt + R = Rotated Rectangle Tool
Shift + P = Smart Push Pull
Alt + A = Adjust Tool (TIG 2D tools)
Alt + D = Divide Face (Thom's Edge Tools)
Shift + W = Weld
Shift + Q = Quad Face Loop
Shift + Spacebar = Select Curve
Shift + G = Make Group
Shift + F = Flip Face Normals
F2 = Vertex Tools
F5 = Select Edges by Length
F6 = Make Faces
F7 = Arc Centerpoint Finder
U = Extrude Edge by Vector (TIG)

These are the main shortcuts I use and have used them so much that I can pretty much select any of those tools with my eyes closed. If you haven't gotten into the habit of using customized shortcuts, then I would start now and make it a habit to practice using them. Once you get it down to muscle memory, your whole modeling process will speed up tremendously.

Dave R · 28 Oct 2010, 01:37

W= Plugins/Weld
Alt+T= Plugins/Tube Along Path
Alt+U= Plugins/[JF] Unfold
Alt+P= Plugins/Purge...
Alt+G= Edit/Make Component...
F9= Plugins/[TBD] TimeTrack/Setup
F10= Plugins/[TBD] TimeTrack/Go
F11= Plugins/[TBD] TimeTrack/Stop
F12= Plugins/[TBD] TimeTrack/Total
Alt+X= Plugins/Xray Selection (toggle)
E= Edit/Delete Guides
F2= Edit/Item/Flip Along/Component's Red
F3== Edit/Item/Flip Along/Component's Green
F4 Edit/Item/Flip Along/Component's Blue
Shift+F2= Edit/Item/Flip Along/Red Direction
Shift+F3= Edit/Item/Flip Along/Green Direction
Shift+F4= Edit/Item/Flip Along/Blue Direction
D= Plugins/Get Dimensions

Chris Fullmer · 28 Oct 2010, 02:34

F3 = Ruby Console
F5 = Web Console
F4 = I assign to whatever plugin I am working on at the moment

O = Offset
F = FollowMe
H = Hide Rest of Model
ctrl-H = Hide Similar omponents
X = explode
ctrl-F = paste in place (that's an old Illustrator shortcut)
ctrl-R = Reverse Faces
Z = zoom window (NOT ZOOM TOOL, WHICH IS (nearly) USELESS)
V = View Hidden

Gaieus · 28 Oct 2010, 05:32

Not too many custom ones actually as getting used to them will make it harder to work on others' machines...

O = Offset
F = Follow me
Ctrl+H = Hide rest of model
Shift+Ctrl+H = Hide similar
Shift+Ctrl+S = Save toolbar locations
Shift+Ctrl+S = Save toolbar locations= Restore toolbar locations
Shift+Ctrl+V = Paste in place
V = Launch Vertex edit
(and here, "inside", I configured all the Move, Rotate etc. tools to do what they would do with native SU as ThomThom programmed it in a way that outside Vertex tools they still behave as native tools)

thomthom · 28 Oct 2010, 06:25

Ctrl + Shift + V - Place In Place
Ctrl + H - Hidden Geometry
Shift + C - Hide Similar Components
Shift + G - Make Group
V - Hide Rest of Model
X - X-Ray mode
Ctrl + 1 - Select Only Faces
Ctrl + 2 - Select Only Edges
Ctrl + 3 - Select Only Groups
Ctrl + 4 - Select Only Components
Ctrl + Shift + 1 - Deselect Faces
Ctrl + Shift + 2 - Deselect Edges
Ctrl + Shift + 3 - Deselect Groups
Ctrl + Shift + 4 - Deselect Components
| - Profile Builder
N - Probes->Normals (for flipping Normals, and Normal queries)
Ctrl + D - Purge
Ctrl + R - Cleanup Local Context
Ctrl + Shift + W - RotaScale
F12 - Vertex Tools

I can't get anything done without shortcuts set up. Drives me mad to use other people's computers. Especially when they have all custom set of shortcuts. (4 to draw rectangle... gaarg!)

Gaieus · 28 Oct 2010, 06:27

@thomthom said:

(4 to draw rectangle... gaarg!)

Chris Fullmer · 28 Oct 2010, 06:56

I try hard to get used to the default shortcuts.

O for orbit, H for Hand, F for offset - those ones drive me nuts though. That is what the mouse is for. No need for shortcuts there. And I use follow me lots more than offset. Anyhow, that is why I always reset those shortcuts

I also prefer q for rotate and r for rectangle. But I have finally gotten used to them being the opposite by default.

Gaieus · 28 Oct 2010, 07:02

@chris fullmer said:

I also prefer q for rotate and r for rectangle. But I have finally gotten used to them being the opposite by default.

Wait a minute, Chris, Q IS the default for Rotate and R IS the default for Rectangle (or am I misunderstanding something?).

thomthom · 28 Oct 2010, 07:08

@chris fullmer said:

No need for shortcuts there.

If I had enough keys on the keyboard, hands to reach them all and the memory for it I'd use shortcuts for everything. I loathe having to use the toolbar.

Chris Fullmer · 28 Oct 2010, 07:19

@gaieus said:

@chris fullmer said:

I also prefer q for rotate and r for rectangle. But I have finally gotten used to them being the opposite by default.

Wait a minute, Chris, Q IS the default for Rotate and R IS the default for Rectangle (or am I misunderstanding something?).

Hehe, oops. I got it backwards. I used to use R for rotate, and Q was an open key so I assigned it to rectangle (which I rarely use). Obviously I've gotten used to it how it is now, I can't even recall what is what anymore.

@Thom +1!

I also dislike the right click menu. Its like a toolbar I can't ever find anything on. (I use it to open entitiy info if its not open. I can always rememeber that one is at the top).

thomthom · 28 Oct 2010, 07:23

I do like the context-menu - but I want to be able to choose which items to have there. I've edited meny of the plugins I have to reduce the number of items down to just what I want. It is a very handy place to have semi-frequent command - always at the mouse position. It's the fifth position in Fitt's Law - the one which is the quickest to access.

Gaieus · 28 Oct 2010, 07:25

Well, Thom, my "bottleneck" seems to be memory as I still have free keys on my keyboard.

thomthom · 28 Oct 2010, 07:38

You can send over to me. Not that I have a good brain memory myself - but I think my muscle memory is better. Which is why I can't stand most of the keyboards that are sold these days - they all muck about with the key positions. Logitec, which used to have great keyboards messed up all their layouts. I got a Microsort keyboard ( I wanted a wireless one with mulitmedia keys as well ), but as it turns out, they also mucked about with the keys - not their position, but their size. ESC and the F1-12 buttons. grumble If only Logitech had provided updated drivers for my old keyboard ... and I could fix the connectors for the charger.
My kingdom for a decent keyboard!

</rant>

TIG · 28 Oct 2010, 08:24

I use most of the 'defaults', plus several of my own.
My main changes / additions are...

G=make-Group
B=make-component [it's Block in ACAD]
Alt+B=close-edit
D=tapemeasure-tool [Dimension in ACAD]
T=Text [as in ACAD]
Alt+T=Texture
Ctrl+D=Divide
H=Hide
Shift+H=unHide
Ctrl+Alt+H=Hide-rest-of-model-toggle
K=locK
Shift+K=unlocK
R=Rotate [as in ACAD]
Alt+R=Rectangle
Alt+Shift+R=3pt-Rectangle
Shift+R=miRRoR
Q=reverse-faces
Alt+Q=orient-faces
U=Unselect-sll
Ctrl+Shift+V=paste-in-place
J=weld [Join in ACAD]
=delete-all-guides

EarthMover · 28 Oct 2010, 14:12

Very cool to see others shortcuts. A few I think I will adapt into my workflow. All seem very logic. This should also be a good thread to give new users a good idea for setting up their own shortcuts.

A few other I use all the time but forgot to add are -

Shift + V - Paste in place
Shift + H - Hide selection
Alt + H = Unhide selection
H = Show hidden geometry.

I think my most invaluable one is changing Z from the zoom tool to View last camera position. This is especially useful in an interior or when getting stuck in a wall. I just tap Z and I'm back where I was.

thomthom · 28 Oct 2010, 14:18

I actually like and use the Zoom tool, it provides finer control than the mousewheel when I need it.

Gaieus · 28 Oct 2010, 17:31

Zooming AND setting the FOV (with the Shift key).

Rich O Brien · 28 Oct 2010, 17:52

W = Weld
X = Explode
H = Hidden Geometry
O = Offset
F = Follow Me
Shift + G = Group
EEby..... = 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9
CTRL + S = Fredoscale
V = Vertex Tools
Shift + O = Offset on Surface
Shift + L = Line on Surface
Shift + A = Arc on Surface
Shift + C = Circle on Surface
Shift + E = Erase on Surface

jeff hammond · 28 Oct 2010, 21:07

I use all of the defaults (just became used to them over the years even if some aren't very logical.)
The self assigned ones are:

X - Xray
Shift X - Back edges
W - weld
Shift A- arc:center + 2pts
Shift H- hidden geometry
Shift V - paste in place
Shift B - B spline
U - follow me
J - jpp
Shift S - fredoscale
Shift space - select curve
Shift R - 3pt rectangle
Shift Z - zoom extents
V - protractor

jeff hammond · 28 Oct 2010, 21:22

[edit]
I made a [req] a while ago that I still think would be great.

Basically, I'd have a key or two [say #1 & 2] that I could assign to various tools depending on the project at hand.

Maybe I need to use fredostretch a lot for the day. I'd select stretch then maybe shift-1 and 1 would now be assigned to stretch. The next day I might need lathe quite a bit so I select the lathe tool then shift-1 and 1 is now lathe. And so on and so forth.

For some odd reason, it's just too big of an ordeal for me to do this via prefs so I just keep going to the icons. If this hot key idea were possible, I'm pretty sure I'd have shortcuts to lesser used functions much more often. (you know, the functions that you use once a month but when you do use them, you might use them 50 times)