Common shortcut keys for Blender 3D

Blender 3D has a lot of shortcut keys to speed up its workflow. Here is a list of the common shortcut keys for Blender.

Introduction to using shortcut keys with Blender 3D

To get more proficient in Blender, getting accustomed to the commonly used shortcut keys is better. Most shortcut keys in Blender are indicated in the popup screen when hovered upon.

Shortcut keys in Blender will improve the workflow for modelling, texturing, rigging and animating.

This post divides common shortcut keys into Navigation, Selection, Object Mode, Edit Mode, Sculpt Mode, Weight Painting Mode, General, 3D Cursor, Nodes, UV Unwrap, Timeline, Render, Pose mode, and camera. We’ve also included common shortcut keys for Blender’s Node Wrangles add-on.

The shortcut keys were tested in Blender 3.2.

Navigation

Select: LMB

Orbit: MMB

Pan: Shift + MMB

Zoom: mouse wheel

Top view: numpad 7

Front view: numpad 1

Side view: numpad 3

Orthographic view (on/off): numpad 5

Camera view: numpad 0

Go to selected Object (focus): numpad .

Perspective/Orthographic view: numpad 5

Zoom to show all: Home

Fly: Shift + F

Modes menu: Ctrl + Tab

Menus

Toolbar: T

Search bar: F3

Zero out object properties: /

Properties sidebar: N

Mode selection menu: Ctrl + Tab

Quick Favourites: Q

View menu: ~

Selection

Select: RMB

Select All / Deselect All: A / Alt + A

Box Select: B

Circle Select: C

Lasso Tool: Ctrl + LMB

Select Similar: Shift + G

Invert Selection: Ctrl + I

Select Connected/Linked: (while hovering) Ctrl + L

Hide from Editing / Unhide from Editing: H / Alt + H

Move selected to Collection: M

Selection to cursor menu: Shift + S

Object Mode

Move Object: G

Scale Object: S

Rotate Object: R

Reset position/location: Alt + G

Reset scale: Alt + S

Reset Rotation: Alt + R

Add object: Shift + A

Add Subdivision Modifier: Ctrl + 1/2/3, etc.

Add Object properties popup: F9

Duplicate to new object: Shift + D

Duplicate object as linked: Alt + D

Rename object: F2

Batch Rename object: Ctrl + F2

Join objects: Ctrl + J

Changing view: Z

Parent: Ctrl + P

Go to Edit Mode: Tab

Mode selection menu: Ctrl + Tab

Apply Menu: Ctrl + A

Pie Menus

Shading Pie Menu: Z

Pivot point Pie Menu: .

Transformation Orientation Pie Menu: ,

Object Menus

Context Menu: RMB

Hide/Unhide Tool menu: T

Edit Mode

Go to Object Mode: Tab

Toggle between Vertex, Edge, or Face: 1, 2, or 3

Context Menu (Vertex, Edge & Face): RMB

Proportional editing (on/off): O (area affected changed by mouse wheel scrolling)

Duplicate selection: Shift + D

Separate to new object: P

Extrude: E

Create Loopcut: Ctrl + R. Mouse scroll adds more/less loops

Select edge loop: Alt + LMB

New Edge/Face from Vertices: F

Delete: X

Inset: I

Normals Menu: Alt + N

Recalculate normals: Shift + N

Extrude vertices/edges/faces: Ctrl + RMB

Select different Object: (while hovering) Alt + Q

Knife Tool: K

Rip Region: V

Sculpt Mode

Brush Radius: F or [ and ]

Brush Strength: Shift + F

Smooth: (hold) Shift

Subtract Sculpting: (hold) Ctrl

Select different Object: (while hovering) Alt + Q

Remesh

Remesh: Shift + R to set scale, then Ctrl + R

First remesh about 0.05
Second remesh about 0.01
Third remesh (if needed) about 0.005
Default is 0.1

Brushes

Grab Brush: GDraw Brush: X (holding Alt will dig)

Draw Sharp Brush: Shift + Spacebar + 1 (reassign to 1)

Clay Strips Brush: Shift + Spacebar + 2 (reassign to 2)

Inflate Brush: I

Pinch Brush: P

Crease Brush: Shift + C

Scrape Brush: none (reassign to 3)

Masking

Mask Brush: M

Unmask Brush: Ctrl + M

Mask area: Ctrl + Shift + drag

Unmask All: Alt + M

Invert Mask: Ctrl + I

Mask Options Menu: A

Weight Painting Mode

Go to Weight painting mode: Ctrl + Tab

General

Undo last actions: Ctrl + Z

Repeat last command: Shift + R

Toggle X-Ray on/off: Alt + Z

Go to selected Object (focus): numpad .

Zoom to active Object & Isolate: /

Make active view full screen: Ctrl + Spacebar

3D cursor

Position: Shift + RMB

Cursor pie menu: Shift + S

Reset: Shift + C

Nodes

See node output: Ctrl + Shift + LMB

Connect node lines: Shift + drag holding RMB

Mute node: M (while selected)

Remove from Frame: Alt + P

UV Unwrap

Select seems (Edge select mode) -> Ctrl + E -> Mark Seam -> U -> UnwrapSelect linked: L

Timeline

Playback: Spacebar

Insert Keyframe: I

Render

Block Select viewport render: Ctrl + B then select with LMB (can also use while in camera view)

Clear Block Select viewport render: Ctrl + Alt + B

Full-screen Render: F12

Render animation: Ctrl + F12

Show last Rendered: F11

Save rendered image: Shift + Alt + S

Cancel Render: Esc

Pose Mode

Reset Orientation: Alt + R

Rotate relative to: Shift + N

Add Constraint: Ctrl + C

Move to Bone Layer: M

Camera

Centre camera view to centre of current view: Ctrl + Alt + numpad 0

Node Wrangler

Some of these shortcuts will also work without Node Wrangler

Preview node output: Ctrl + Shift + LMB node

Automatically create Mapping and Texture Coordinate nodes: (While node selected) Ctrl + T

Duplicate nodes with links: Ctrl + Shift + D

Detach/attach outputs: Alt + Shift + D

Lazy Connect with socket menu: Alt + Shift + RMB

Swob outputs: Alt + S

Add selected Nodes to Frame: Shift + P