Most useful shortcuts nobody knows
I've become very aware lately of hidden shortcuts in software packages that do not have equivalent menu buttons and are rarely mentioned in help docs. Some of these shortcuts perform crucially important functions, but yet few people use them because few people know what they are.
I know many of these have been covered in other threads and tutorials, but it'd be nice to have them all in one place. Please contribute, and please be succinct. All software packages welcome.
Some easy ones from me:
3ds Max:
Alt+MiddleButton and drag - Arc Rotate
From a sub-obj selection + ctrl + click on any other sub-obj mode - select touching.
From a sub-obj selection + shift+ctrl + click on any other sub-obj mode - select fully enclosed (Usually from vertex or edge, to face).
Mudbox:
V + L_Button + M_button and drag - selection rectangle for faces.
Photoshop:
Under the general settings of the blending options panel. If you alt+ L_click on the sliders for the grayscale bars, it splits the sliders and allows for smooth value blends.
I know many of these have been covered in other threads and tutorials, but it'd be nice to have them all in one place. Please contribute, and please be succinct. All software packages welcome.
Some easy ones from me:
3ds Max:
Alt+MiddleButton and drag - Arc Rotate
From a sub-obj selection + ctrl + click on any other sub-obj mode - select touching.
From a sub-obj selection + shift+ctrl + click on any other sub-obj mode - select fully enclosed (Usually from vertex or edge, to face).
Mudbox:
V + L_Button + M_button and drag - selection rectangle for faces.
Photoshop:
Under the general settings of the blending options panel. If you alt+ L_click on the sliders for the grayscale bars, it splits the sliders and allows for smooth value blends.
Replies
ctrl + shift + U = convert selection/layer to grey
ctrl+ alt + c = canvas size
ctrl + alt + 0 (numpad) = 100% size, 1:1
ctrl + click on the layer thumbnail = mask the layer content as selection
shift + click on layer mask = temporary disable mask
3dsmax
i = focus on mouse cursor, usefull when creating splines and you want to pan your view
ctrl + backspace = remove selected edges or vertices without affecting existing faces to be deleted by it in the polyEdit mode
F1 in maxscipt = opens up context sensitive help entries. Actually the fastest way to look methods up
but I tend to extend and script alot myself sometimes even to that degree that at some point someone eventually tells me that the feature x / y was already available and right beneath my nose.
(Select somthing in a layer)
Cntl + Shift + C (copies all visable layers as one flattened layer)
- on photoshop, to make a layer visible isolating itself only press shift + alt + "eye icon" of the layer, and if you want to get back to all layers the way it was do it again on the same eye icon of the same layer.
ctrl + j = copy selection to new layer WITHOUT shifting
backspace in selection (e.g BW in mask) = cut off or extend without aliasing mess, its basicly just filling with the background color but does a absolute additional fill, not the buggy one you can do with the paint bucket
Opera (he he)
1 = switch to left tab from current tab
2 = switch to right tab from current one
ctrl + click on image = save image
F12 = quick setup
Windows Explorer
F2 = rename selected file
F6 = jump to adress bar (the real navigator)
ctrl + w = close window (works in almost every application, ctrl + w closes the window, alt +F4 closes the whole app)
win + R = run command, I use it daily usually with the following commands
- 'Photoshop'
- 'calc' (calculator)
- 'mspaint'
- 'charmap' (character map for layouting and typo work)
- 'cmd' (command line, dos like prompt)
- 'firefox'
all those should work in your systems as well if you have the apps installed. In addition to that you can call anything (including shortcuts) that are stored in /windows/system32/ so sometimes I add additional shortcuts like PS(.ink) (*.ink is a windows shortcut, the extention is though hidden)
Ctrl+Shift+I = Image Size
Ctrl+Alt+I = Invert Selection
ctrl+shift+esc
Takes you directly to the task manager, no more ctrl alt delete crap.
And the Ctrl-Backspace in 3DS Max mentioned by renderhjs is something I only learned about myself a month or two ago, and it is a GODSEND.
I can't find a situation where ctrl+backspace does anything different than just backspace. Can you give an example?
you select the loop, press backspace. yay the edge is gone!, you go into vertex mode - and OH NOES, the vertices of the edgeloop are still there
so if you had pressed control + backspace, it would delete the edge and the corresponding vertices - saving you time
Alt +del -or- Ctrl + del = fill selection w color
3dsmax.
Shift+X=Edge constraint toggle
Flatten image onto new layer:
ctrl+alt+shift+E
Essentially flattens the image onto a layer while leaving the rest of the layers intact.
Great if you want to do an experiment or if you need to copy a part of the image that is on multiple layers without potentially losing all your layers.
ctrl+f8,f9,f10,f11,f12 convert selection to obj,vert,edge,poly,uv (just got to check that maybe shift)
photoshop-
-ctrl+click on channel: creates selection mask from greyscale values
-ctrl++click on channel: adds to a selection mask from greyscale values
-ctrl+alt+ click on channel: removes a selection from greyscale values
-ctrl+g: while selecting muliple layers groups those, see so many people use the buttons and then dragging them all in to the right group---so slow.
-ctrl+e: merge layer down
-ctrl+shift c: copy merged
maya
w to move, but hold w+lmb opens up marking menus, same goes with q,e,r
shift+RMB opens context sensitive marking menus.
ctrl+RMB mostly convert selection
ctrl+shift - reflection and select mode.
tips. if marking menus have child example if u select edge, then shift+RMB, merge - collapse edge would be in the direction of north - east. You don't have to wait till the menu appear, simply just draw a gesture and maya will remember and invoke the command.
I use marking menus most of the time. This way I don't have to remember mapping keys and minimize my left hand movement.
most are applicable in the mac versions as far as i can tell just replace ctrl with cmd most of the time
alt+w = maximize viewport OR if viewport is maximized, reverts to your original viewport views (depending if you have it set up for 4, 3 or 2 panels).
ctrl+alt+middle mouse button AND drag = camera pans in and out VERY smoothly
-alt + left mouse drag a layer and drop it between to layers to duplicate
-left mouse drag over many layers eye icons to hide/show drag them all
PgUp / PgDwn to change subdivision level of the smooth preview.
Arrow keys for edge loop/ring select and step.
Double click for edgeloop, element and some more stuff depending on component mode
Shift+ MMB drag to constraint to an axis with the transform tools.
Ignore version in the optionbox for "open".
ctrl click one of the arrow to constrain the axis when moving, for example ctrl click y axis will change the 'yellow box' in the middle to xz plane, so it will always stay on the ground when you move something from perspective view.
maya-ctrl clicking on a scale axis will scale the two not clicked on equally
One I use a lot is alt - I, I
This opens the Image menu, and then opens the Image Size dialog. A second one I've started using is alt - I, A, C.
Not the easiest one, but I do use Brightness/Contrast a lot. If I only need Brightness I'll use ctrl-U, but contrast is pretty essential (and the curves dialog is a bit unwieldy for mere contrast-tweaks. There's levels, too, but I just like the simplicity of Brightness/Contrast)
This works great, but I can't get the Ctrl+Shift+C other people are mentioning to work.
I'm gonna get carpal tunnel syndrome with all these fantastic shortcuts. Alt+Backspace in max is my new messiah.
press ctrl v after to paste the merged layers into an empty or new layer
yep, and also you need a selection for it like Brad mentioned.
Still in in PS,
Is there a similar shortcut for merging and copying a choice of layers?
Is there a shortcut for automatically converting something to a smart object and then rasterizing it (both steps in one). It seems that if you just rasterize a layer strait up, it doesn't merge the effects properly. For me I always have to turn it into a smart object first.
Just make sure those are the only layers visible when you Ctrl + A, Ctrl + Shift + C, Ctrl + V.
Using combinations of ctrl shift and alt when Transforming gives a variety of useful results.
In Maya ctrl+spacebar to remove or add all menus. Useful for screenshots or hotkey wizards.
Z people ... " Z " best one, center object or selection in your viewport (3ds max)
i work with a tablet, so i dislike having to use the zoom tool, or my zoom pad on the tablet,
i just grab a selection and hit Z, so it zooms in on the area and saves me 0.78 seconds
Alt+Q Isolation mode
PS:
SHIFT+CTRL+D Reselect
Unreal:
select by property: shift+click on property (e.g. brightness 0.5) then right click on light in viewport and choose select by property to select all lights with the value of 0.5
WinXp (possibly Vista as well):
Shift+Pause Brings up System Properties
Middle-click and drag on any of the toolbar buttons (brushes, stencils, stamps, etc) will reposition that button. Somewhere, someone even mentioned that you could drag the buttons into floater toolbars but I was never able to do it.
Square Brackets, ] [ , will increase and decrease your brush size by a certain increment (I'm sure you can specify this somehow but I don't know it). Great for getting quick consistent varied strokes.
alt + click on eyes icon on layer tab = hide unselected layers
the problem is i don't know how to unhide all layers afterwards =P
alt+click again?
note tool which opens a text field so you're forced to stop what you're doing and remove the layer manually since your hotkeys all go into the text field "bmzzzzz".