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Desktop shortcuts and controls | Substance 3D Modeler

  1. Substance 3D home
  2. Home
  3. Getting started
    1. Install Substance 3D Modeler
    2. System requirements
    3. Public Beta
    4. Supported VR headsets
    5. Desktop and virtual reality
    6. Quick start guides
      1. Desktop quick start guide
      2. VR quick start guide
    7. Controls
      1. Desktop shortcuts and controls
      2. VR shortcuts and controls
    8. Reference images
    9. Join the Community
    10. Glossary
    11. FAQs
  4. Interface
    1. Interface overview
    2. Viewport
    3. The Palette
    4. Actions menu
    5. The Top bar
      1. Top bar overview
      2. Color picker
      3. Materials panel
      4. Assets panel
      5. Environment panel
      6. Viewport panel
      7. Outliner
      8. Node properties panel
    6. The Bottom bar
    7. Preferences
  5. Create with Clay
    1. Tools
      1. Tools and Subtools
      2. Select tool
      3. Clay tool
      4. Erase tool
      5. Split tool
      6. Crop tool
      7. Warp tool
      8. Elastic tool
      9. Smooth tool
      10. Raise tool
      11. Buildup tool
      12. Inflate tool
      13. Crease tool
      14. Flatten tool
      15. Paint tool
    2. Brushes
    3. Brush shapes
    4. Placement modes
    5. Angle and grid snap
  6. Create with Primitives
    1. Get started with primitives
    2. Primitive parameters
      1. Parameter overview
      2. Shape parameters
      3. Combine parameters
    3. Organize primitives
      1. Primitive containers
      2. Manage primitive order
      3. Primitive groups
      4. Repetition
  7. Organize your scene
    1. Scope and scene structure
    2. Layers
    3. Groups
    4. Advanced scene assembly
      1. Instances
      2. Symmetry and repetition
      3. Booleans
    5. Import meshes
  8. Render mode
    1. Render mode overview
    2. Work with cameras
  9. Export Mode
    1. Export your creations
    2. Export presets
  10. Technical support
    1. Technical requirements
    2. How does Modeler work?
    3. Performance
    4. Troubleshooting
    5. Supported file formats
  11. Release notes
    1. V1.17(Current Release)
    2. V1.15
    3. V1.14
    4. V1.13
    5. Public Beta V1.17.50 (Current Release)
    6. Public Beta Archive
      1. Public Beta V1.16.50
      2. Public Beta V1.15.50
      3. Public Beta V1.14.50
      4. Public Beta V1.12.50
      5. Public Beta V1.11.50
      6. Public Beta V1.10.50
      7. Public Beta V1.9.50
      8. Public Beta V1.8.50
    7. V1 Archive
      1. V1.12
      2. V1.11
      3. V1.10
      4. V1.9
      5. V1.8
      6. V1.7
      7. V1.6    
      8. V1.5
      9. V1.4
      10. V1.3
      11. V1.2
      12. V1.1 
      13. V1.0 
    8. V0 Archive
      1. 2022/08/02 V0.17.0
      2. 2022/06/22 V0.14.1
      3. 2022/05/13 V0.10.2

Desktop shortcuts and controls

Find a list of shortcuts to help improve your workflows on Desktop.You can modify the desktop layout through the preferences menu. Use File > Preferences > Desktop to reposition the palette or adjust the scale of interface elements.

Note:

Many time consuming operations such as increasing resolution, exporting, or converting a mesh to clay can be canceled with the Esc key. 

Tools

Shortcut

Quick swap tool

Tab

Clay tool

c

Erase tool

e

Warp tool

w

Constrain Warp to surface normal z

Buildup tool

b

Smooth tool

Hold Shift to temporarily switch to Smooth tool while using sculpting tools (any tool other than the Select tool).

Select tool

v

Crease tool x
Flatten tool d
   

Brush

Shortcut

Size

Ctrl + click and drag

Asymmetric resize In Gizmo placement mode, Ctrl + click and drag a non-uniform resize handle.
Increase brush size ]
Decrease brush size [
   

Action

Shortcut

Undo

Ctrl + z

Redo

Ctrl + shift + z

Select all

Ctrl + a

Deselect all

Ctrl + shift + a

Invert selection

Ctrl + i

Cut

Ctrl + x

Copy

Ctrl + c

Paste

Ctrl + v

Group selected

Ctrl + g

Ungroup selected

Ctrl + shift + g

Merge selected

Ctrl + e

New Layer

Ctrl + n

Select/Deselect scene object

With the Select Tool, left click the layer/object. Hold shift to add or remove objects to the selection.

Duplicate selected

Ctrl + d

Quick duplicate and move

d while transforming the gizmo

Delete selected layers

Backspace / delete

Hide Selection

h with an object selected

Show all

h with no objects selected

Increase resolution

Ctrl + =

Decrease resolution

Ctrl + -

   
Focus and Scoping Shortcut

Scope In

Hover over clay and tap s

Scope Out

Alt + s / Hover over empty space and tap s

Scope in directly to layer Ctrl + double click layer
   
Gizmo Shortcut

Toggle Gizmo and surface modes

g

Flip

Ctrl + LMB on gizmo translate handle

Rotate 90°

Ctrl + LMB on gizmo rotate handle

Gizmo rotate angle snap

Start rotating, then hold Shift to snap to angles

While the cursor is inside the rotation ring, rotation snaps to 22.5° increments.

Outside the rotation ring, rotation snaps to 15° increments.

Reset Gizmo orientation

r (tap r twice to reset gizmo orientation and location)

Apply Gizmo brush

Spacebar (Hold and move gizmo for continuous application)

   

File Menu

Shortcut

Export

Ctrl + shift + e

Save

Ctrl + s

Save As

Ctrl + shift + s

New

Ctrl + shift + n

Load

Ctrl + o

Open Preferences Ctrl + k
   

Camera/Viewport

Shortcut

Toggle perspective/orthographic

Numpad 5

Switch to Right / Front / Top view Numpad 1 / Numpad 3 / Numpad 7
Switch to Left / Back/ Bottom view Ctrl + Numpad 1 / Ctrl + Numpad 3 / Ctrl + Numpad 7
Frame selection / Recenter camera on selection f
Set camera focus point Shift + f
   
Miscellaneous
Shortcut
Manually toggle VR on or off F4
Close top-most dialog esc
Pick Color from scene q
   
Note:

If Modeler fails to automatically switch to desktop mode on removing your headset, you can use ESC to manually switch to desktop mode. After manually switching to desktop mode, a button appears that will allow you to reenable VR mode.

Scene Navigation

There are 3 movements that can be performed with the desktop camera.

Action

Description

Shortcut

Orbit/RotateRotate the camera around a pointalt + left click and drag
PanMove the camera up, down, left, and rightalt + middle click and drag
ZoomZoom the camera in and outalt + right click and drag

The camera always moves relative to the Gizmo, or relative to the mouse cursor.

It is not possible to tilt the camera.

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