Blender 3D useful shortcut keys

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Where is the "..." key in Blender? The following is a list of useful keyboard shortcut keys, commands and features that you'll find handy when using Blender 3D to model content for use in either Blenders own 'Blender Game Engine' or external third party game engines; it's worth getting to know them as they'll allow you to get the most out of the 3D application when modeling content for games.

Keyboard hotkey & shortcut charts ^

A keyboard 'map' is helpful given how many shortcut and hotkey combinations there are in Blender. The following hotkey map shows the basic shortcuts available when using Blender 2.5. A blank version is also available so you can map your own hotkey locations (now that Blender 2.5 has a customisable GUI).

Basic 'standard' (UK) hotkey keyboard layout map for Blender 2.5

Basic ('standard' UK) keyboard layout and hotkey map for Blender 2.5

Blender 2.5 hotkey keyboard shortcut map blank so you can chart your own key-combinations

Blender 2.5 keyboard shortcut & hotkey map blank so you can chart your own key-combinations - standard keyboard layout based on UK language

Navigation shortcut keys ^

Items marked [*] are compatible with Blender 2.50.

  • G = MOVE [*]
    G then 'X', 'Y' or 'Z' = MOVE along specific axis only.

  • S = RESIZE [*]
    S then 'X', 'Y' or 'Z' = RESIZE along specific axis only.

  • R = ROTATE [*]
    R then 'X', 'Y' or 'Z' = ROTATE along specific axis only.

  • X = DELETE [*]
    Displays the delete 'options' pop up.

  • M = LAYERS [*]
    Displays the 'move to layer' pop up - selected object will be moved to the selected layer. Displays current layer as selected on opening.

  • NumPad 1, 3, 7 and 5 [*]
    View port control; 'front', 'side', 'top' and 'perspective' respectively. Pressing any of these will put the view port the mouse has control over (the mouse is placed over) into 'orthogonal' or 'perspective' mode.

  • Shift + F1-F12 = Window 'Type'

    • F1 - File Browser; F2 - Logic Editor; F3 - Node Editor; F4 - Console; F5 - 3D View; F6 - Graph Editor; F7 - Properties; F8 - Video Sequence Editor; F9 - Outliner; F10 - UV/Image Editor; F11 - Text Editor; F12 - Dope Sheet. [*]

    • F1 - File Browser (load); F2 - File Browser (export); F3 - Node Editor; F4 - Data Select; F 5 - 3D View; F 6 - IPO Curve Editor; F7 - Buttons; F8 - Video Sequence Editor; F9 - Outliner; F10 - UV/Image Editor; F11 - Text Editor; F12 - Action Editor.

  • Middle Mouse Button (MMB)

    • MMB Click Hold
      By default moves the view port the mouse has control over based on mouse position. Can be altered to use different rotation focus points.

    • MMB Scroll Up/Down [*]
      Zooms the view port forwards/backwards.

    • MMB+Shift [*]
      'Translates' the view port, moves view left/right and up/down.

    • MMB+Ctrl [*]
      Zooms view port Uses a finer distance control than scrolling MMB.

  • Left Mouse Button (LMB)

    • LMB Click [*]
      'Sets' an action. After moving or doing something LMB Click is used to 'set' the action in place. For example, a moved object stays placed relative to it's position when you click the left mouse button during a 'move' action.

  • Right Mouse Button (RMB) [*]

    • RMB Click [*]
      Selects object or item.

    • RMB+Shift [*]
      Selects multiple objects or items.

Mode switch shortcuts ^

  • TAB = EDIT mode (including UVEdit mode) [*]

  • V = VERTEX PAINT mode [*]

  • F = UVW mode (TAB in 2.46 & above)

  • Ctrl+TAB = FACE SELECT TYPE - Edit mode [*]
    In edit mode allows the selecting of faces by polygon, edge or vertex 'groups'. Allows working on a mesh in different modes, facilitating slightly different working methods.

Function shortcut keys ^

  • A = SELECT/DESELECT [*]
    Mode sensitive - will select/deselect items based on which mode you're in.

  • E = EXTRUDE [*]
    Mode sensitive - will extrude polygons, vertices or edges either individually (so the create their own 'children', or as a group.

  • U = UVWunwrap
    UVWmode only (for later versions, including 2.5, UVW editing is done in Edit mode).

  • Ctrl+R = LOOPCUT [*]
    Cuts a 'loop' - a line that follows the contours of a model.

  • B = BORDER/Loop SELECT [*]
    Pressing 'B' once activates the 'grid' border select tool. Pressing again activates the selector 'brush' that allows 'paint selecting' objects. Useful for selecting multiple faces or vertices in edit mode.

    • Alt+B = Loop Select 'Cut/Show' [*]
      Using Alt+B toggles on/off the loop 'cut' feature whereby Blender will show only the areas of a scene or object inside the selection loop drawn on screen. Alt+B toggles this feature on/off so the rest of the scene is unhidden when the shortcut is used again.

    • Shift+B = Select Zoom [*]
      View zooms into selected areas

  • F = Create FACE/EDGE [*]
    Creates a polygon ('quad' or triangle') depending on 'select type' - vertexes, edges or faces.

    • Ctrl+Shift+F = Edge FLIP [*]
      Flips orientation of corned-to-corner edges. Selected polygons should be triangles.

Where is Blenders 'scripts' folder in Vista ^

It depends how you installed Blender. There's a screen during Blenders set-up that asks where you want to save 'user' data, in newer version of Blender a folder is actually created in the computer users 'user profile', which used to be part of "Documents and Settings" in Windows XP, instead of Program Files". Its now been shifted to a folder called "Users" in Windows Vista.

IMPORTANT NOTE : you will likely need to enable 'Hidden Files and Folders' in order to do the following as these locations are regarded by Windows Vista as being 'protected' so are hidden and protected for being tampered with.

To do this open up Windows Explorer and from the "Organize" menu select "Folder and Search Options". In the pop-up that opens, click the "View" tab, find and then uncheck "Show Hidden files and folders" as well as "Hide protected operating system files".

If you're using a shared computer remember to re-enable those options to prevent errant fiddling.

So, Blender will create and put the illusive "scripts" folder in the following location when being installed using the default settings;

C:\Users\[profile name]\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts

If it's not there, try looking for the following;

C:\ProgramData\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts

If the scripts folder still can't be found use Windows Vista search [Window key + F] to look for any "Blender Foundation" folders as "scripts" is usually a sub-folder within there.

Where is Blenders 'scripts' folder in Windows XP ^

See above to make 'hidden' system files visible before searching as some necessary files and folders Blender uses may be hidden for normal access. To find the 'scripts' folder for Blender when using Windows XP, try the following location - assuming default installation locations;

C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\scripts\

Grid Settings ^

Blenders grid parameters can be changed to match the environments being edited or developed. To do this select "View >> View Properties" to open the "View Properties" panel in the 3D window. Change "Spacing:", "Lines:" and "Divisions:" to values that match your editing environment. For example, to match GTK Radiant or UnrealEditor change the three values to "8", "100" and "8"; this ensures that objects are built using the correct scale and will be correctly sized in either editors and games.

Grid settings have been changed and updated in Blender 2.5.

Using "View Properties" to change Blenders grid settings to match third party editing environments - works for Blender 2.34-2.49 only ("Spacing:" should be "8" not "6.4" as shown in the video above to match GTK Radiants grid settings)