Mouse Basics
| Right-Click | Right-click (also referred to as RMB for [R]ight [M]ouse [B]utton) selects a given object. Hold down Shift to select additional objects. |
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| Left-Click | Left-click (also referred to as LMB for [L]eft [M]ouse [B]utton) “does” stuff: works the transform manipulators, sculpts, paints, etc. (If you pause to think about it, these button assignments make sense, since you’re going to be doing a lot more LMB clicking to make little edits, and making many fewer RMB selections… probably.) |
| Middle-Click | Middle-click (done by treating the the scroll wheel as a button and clicking with it on most mice) allows you to drag the view around the currently selected object. This is a free, unconstrained view rotation. Often useful for taking a quick look at things from another angle. |
| Scroll Wheel | The scroll wheel zooms in and out in the current view. |
Navigating the View
Camera Angles
| Keypad 0 | View through the camera. |
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| Keypad 1 | View from the front (looking along the Y-axis). Note that holding down the Control key and typing Keypad 1 (Control + Keypad 1) shifts the view to looking along the negative Y-axis — i.e. from the back. |
| Keypad 3 | View from the right (looking along the X-axis). Control + Keypad 3 views from the left (negative X-axis). |
| Keypad 7 | View from the top (looking along the Z-axis). Control + Keypad 7 views from the bottom (negative Z-axis). |
View Adjustments
| Keypad 4 | Rotate the view counter-clockwise around the selected object. |
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| Keypad 6 | Rotate the view clockwise around the selected object. |
| Control + Keypad Arrows | Pan the view in the direction of the arrow. Not all keypads are marked with arrows:
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| Keypad Period | Zoom and center the view to maximize the view of the currently selected object. |
| Keypad 5 | Toggle between perspective and orthorgraphic (map) views. |
Selecting and Manipulating Objects
Selections
| A | Select [A]ll objects in the scene in Object Mode (or all vertices in the object, if Edit Mode). If any objects are already selected, pressing A once will deselect everything, and pressing it a second time will select everything. |
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| B | Select objects with a [B]ox. Switches to a marquee selection tool, draw a box around the objects that you want to select. |
| Shift + Right-Click | Add more objects to the current selection |
Options
| N | Show the details window in any 3D view. The contents of the details window vary depending on the mode and on which object is selected. |
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| Spacebar | Brings up the “Spacebar Menu” which provides a contextual set of options, depending on what object(s) are selected. Use this for quick access to adding objects and complex object editing options. |
Transformations
| G | Translate (move or “[G]o”) the selected object freely in the current view. Type G and then move the mouse. Left-click to “put down” the object. |
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| S | [S]cale the selected object uniformly in all dimensions. Type S and then move the mouse. Left-click to “put-down” the object. |
| R | [R]otate the selected object in the current plane of view. Type S and then move the mouse. Left-click to “put-down” the object. |
| Control + Any Transform | Holding down the Control key while doing any transformation (using the transform manipulators or the keyboard shortcuts above) while lock you into moving at “even” increments (5 degrees of rotation, 1 unit of movement, etc.). The exact numeric value of the transformation is shown in the lower-left corner of the 3D view pane. |
Editing Objects
| Shift + D | [D]uplicate the currently selected object. Type Shift + D and then move the mouse. Left-click to “put-down” the object. |
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| W | With two objects selected in Object Mode, W brings up the boolean modeling options. In Edit Mode, W brings up the subdivide options. |
| Tab | Toggle between the two most recently selected modes (say, Object Mode and Edit Mode). Control + Tab will cycle through all available modes. |
Animation
| I | [I]nsert a keyframe for the selected object. Choose the type of keyframe from the menu. |
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