Blender is one of the most popular pieces of software for 3D modeling and animation. Even though it is free and open-source, digital artists can utilize it in ways that rival some of the best-paid options—for example, it's been used to create hundreds of high-quality animated short films.

One important step to becoming more efficient with Blender is mastering Blender shortcuts and increasing how fast you can get things done in the program. Knowing Blender hotkeys and shortcuts like the back of your hand is one of the fastest ways to achieve this.

To ensure we cover the most valuable shortcuts, we opened a Reddit discussion to gather real-world input from Blender users. You can check it out and contribute to the discussion here: Blender Shortcuts That Changed My Life.

This article will take you through some of the most important shortcuts to know.

The Essentials of Blender’s Interface

There’s a lot of functionality packed into Blender, and the interface that greets you when you launch the program might clue you in on that. However, it can be unnecessarily time-consuming to dive into the Mesh menu and select Extrude each time you want to pull out a face. If you're just starting out, you might want to check out our Complete Guide to Blender 3D for Beginners for a comprehensive overview of the basics.

There’s a lot that Blender shortcut keys and hotkeys can do when it comes to speeding up your productivity in Blender. For those exploring different aspects of Blender, understanding essential tools like Eevee can also enhance your workflow, allowing for smoother transitions between tasks. Let’s start with the essentials.

Navigating Through Menus with Hotkeys

The basic Blender menus, located in the upper-left corner of the window, contain actions that you’re bound to use, whether you’re a beginner learning from a Blender course, or an expert. Let’s cover a few common Blender commands and Blender hotkeys that span these menus.

• File Menu:

  • New File: Ctrl + N

  • Open File: Ctrl + O

  • Save File: Ctrl + S

  • Save File As…: Shift + Ctrl + S

  • Quit Blender: Ctrl + Q

• Edit Menu:

  • Undo: Ctrl + Z

  • Redo: Ctrl + Y

  • Repeat Last Action: Shift + R

  • Menu Search: F3

  • Rename: F2

• Render Menu:

  • Render Image: F12

  • Render Animation: Ctrl + F12

  • View Image: F11

  • View Animation: Ctrl + F11

• Window Menu:

  • Next Workspace: Ctrl + Page Down

  • Previous Workspace: Ctrl + Page Up

Understanding the Tool Shelf and its Shortcuts

The Tool Shelf is the vertical panel on the left side of the Blender window, housing Blender basic controls and tools essential for any workflow. This gives you access to a different set of tools depending on which Workspace you’re in. After all, the tools you use for modeling are different from tools for sculpting.

If you’re actively working on a model, you don’t need to move to the left side of the screen each time you want to change a tool. Just hold down Shift + Space and this will bring up a mini version of the Tool Shelf right where your mouse is. You’ll even see what letter you can press as a shortcut to choose any of the tools from the list. When working with tools like the 3D cursor, mastering shortcuts can significantly improve your efficiency and precision.

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Customizing Your Workflow

Blender keyboard shortcuts are great, but as you gain more experience, you might want to explore advanced techniques like UV mapping that can further enhance your workflow. Personalizing hotkeys is one such tip. Let’s get into how you can do that.

Creating and Assigning Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts

If you find certain Blender shortcut keys to be inconvenient or you'd prefer something easier to remember, you can use the Keymap Editor to customize them.

1. Click on the Edit menu from the topbar.

2. Choose Preferences.

3. Select Keymap.

4. You’ll see tens of collapsible tabs at the bottom, and these hold hundreds of actions whose key mappings you can view and change.

Tips for Managing and Personalizing Hotkeys

You might be unsure where to start when creating your own Blender keyboard shortcuts. Here are some tips you can follow.

• Familiarize yourself with the defaults that you use the most. Identify the ones that work for you and the ones you’d like changed.

• Get an idea of the actions that you use the most and prioritize changing those first.

• Watch out for key binding conflicts. Since there are hundreds of preset shortcuts, you want to make sure that you don’t cancel an existing one out.

• Adding modifier keys like Ctrl, Shift, or Alt will give you more possible key combinations than if you didn’t use them.

Key Shortcuts for Enhanced Productivity

If you’re a more experienced user, like one who is already applying CGI materials and needs to see how they look from all angles, some quick Blender modeling shortcuts and Blender commands can really optimize your workflow in the program.

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Tools in the Menu and Their Shortcuts

There are certain Blender controls that you can access from the Tool Shelf, but they tend to be used so often that not learning their Blender shortcut keys will make it incredibly difficult to speed up your workflow. Below are a few of these essential tool shortcuts:

• Move (or Grab) Object: G

• Rotate Object: R

• Scale Object: S

• Open the Add Menu: Shift + A

• Rotate View: Press the middle mouse button and drag.

• Pan View: Shift + Middle Mouse Button

• Zoom View: Mouse Scroll Wheel

• Duplicate: Shift + D

• Switch Between Edit Mode and Object Mode: Tab

The Importance of Hotkeys in Edit Mode

Using Tab, you can switch between Edit Mode and Object Mode, making it one of the most essential Blender Edit Mode shortcuts to remember. When in Edit Mode, you can start modifying the structure of the model. Many tools in this mode allow you to manipulate a model into your desired shape. Reaching for each one manually can slow you down, so hotkeys are important here.

• Extrude: E

• Fill: F

• Bevel: Ctrl + B

• Loop Cut and Slide: Ctrl + R

• Select Linked Vertices: L

• Deselect Linked Vertices: Shift + L

• Unwrap Mesh: U

• Enable Proportional Editing: O

Enhancing Productivity with Blender Shortcut Add-Ons

Blender's open-source nature allows for the integration of add-ons that can further streamline your workflow by enhancing shortcut capabilities. Here are some popular add-ons to consider:

• Copy Attributes Add-On: This add-on enhances Blender's copy and paste functionality, allowing you to copy various attributes between objects efficiently. It simplifies complex procedures and can be customized with specific shortcuts for quick access.

• Pie Menu Add-On: A built-in add-on that provides a context-sensitive radial menu, making tool selection faster and more intuitive. Assigning shortcuts to these pie menus lets you access multiple tools with minimal keystrokes.

Take advantage of these add-ons to boost productivity and build a workflow that aligns perfectly with your creative process in Blender.

Advanced Techniques and Shortcuts

If you’re an enthusiast, you might consider what we’ve covered already to be Blender tips for beginners. At this point, you’re more concerned with productivity-boosting add-ons, Blender all shortcut keys, and more advanced Blender hotkeys. Let’s get into some shortcuts that are more useful for your skill level.

Customizing Shortcuts for Vertex, Edge, and Face Selection

As a pro, you know that using 1, 2, and 3 on your keyboard’s number row can switch between the vertex, edge, and face select modes respectively.

However, you can change these Blender Edit Mode shortcuts to something else if the numbers aren’t convenient for you. Here’s how:

1. Click on the Edit menu near the top-left corner of the window.

2. Select Preferences.

3. Choose Keymap from the left side of the window.

4. Expand the 3D View menu.

5. Expand Mesh, and then Mesh (Global).

6. You’ll see several Select Mode options, but the first three, with the keys 1, 2, and 3, mapped, are the ones that align with Vertex, Edge, and Face Select Mode.

7. Modify them as you please.

Advanced Editing with Keymap Library

The Keymap section in Preferences contains the mappings for every Blender shortcut, making it an excellent reference for learning new hotkeys and customizing them.

If you’re an advanced user, you might be able to make things more efficient by diving into this library and personalizing your shortcuts.

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Additional Shortcuts from the Blender Community

Thanks to the insights shared in our Reddit discussion, we've included additional shortcuts that have proven to be game-changers for many Blender users. These shortcuts help speed up common tasks, improve modeling precision, and simplify animation workflows.

Modeling & Sculpting

• Alt + S – Scale along normals (inflate/deflate surface)

• Ctrl + Shift + B – Bevel vertices instead of edges

• Shift + Ctrl + B – Bevel with more control (adjusting width)

• V (in Edit Mode) – Split selected vertices

• Shift + E – Crease edges for subdivision modeling

• Alt + X (in Sculpt Mode) – Mirror strokes for symmetrical sculpting

• Shift + D (in Sculpt Mode) – Duplicate a mesh while sculpting

• Alt + F – Fill a face with existing geometry

• J – Connect two selected vertices with an edge

Selection & Editing

• Shift + G – Select similar elements based on properties (area, material, etc.)

• Ctrl + + / - (Numpad) – Expand/contract selection

• Shift + Alt + S – Spherify selection

• L (in Edit Mode) – Select linked geometry

• Ctrl + L (in Object Mode) – Select linked objects

• Alt + Click (on edge loop) – Select edge loop

• Ctrl + Shift + Alt + C – Reset object origin

• Alt + D – Create a linked duplicate of an object

Animation & Keyframe Shortcuts

• Alt + I – Delete keyframes

• Shift + E (Graph Editor) – Extrapolate keyframe motion

• Ctrl + Tab (Timeline) – Toggle between Dope Sheet and Graph Editor

• T (Graph Editor) – Change keyframe interpolation mode

• Shift + S (Graph Editor) – Snap keyframes to the nearest frame

• I (in Timeline or Dope Sheet) – Insert keyframe for active selection

• Ctrl + Alt + P – Parent object while maintaining transformation

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Conclusion

Blender is one of the most versatile tools for 3D artists, and learning its shortcuts can make a huge difference in efficiency. From essential functions to hidden gems and advanced techniques, mastering hotkeys will transform how you work.

We created our Reddit discussion specifically to collect and share these valuable shortcuts. If you have a shortcut that has changed the way you use Blender, we’d love for you to contribute! Join the conversation here and let us know your best finds!

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FAQs:

1. What are the most essential Blender shortcut keys for beginners?

   • Understanding the basic Blender shortcut keys is crucial for beginners to streamline their workflow and get familiar with the software’s interface.

2. How can I customize Blender hotkeys to fit my workflow?

   • Customizing Blender hotkeys is a great way to make the software more intuitive and suited to your personal preferences.

3. What are the key Blender shortcuts for Edit Mode?

   • Blender Edit Mode shortcuts are essential for manipulating models efficiently. Learn the key shortcuts to enhance your modeling process.

4. Why should I use Blender shortcut keys instead of menus?

   • Using Blender shortcut keys can significantly speed up your workflow by reducing the time spent navigating through menus.

5. How do I find a complete list of all Blender shortcuts?

   • Blender provides a comprehensive list of all shortcuts within its Keymap Editor, which can be customized to fit your needs.

6. What are the best Blender hotkeys for advanced users?

   • Advanced users benefit from specific Blender hotkeys that enhance productivity, particularly in complex modeling and animation tasks.