Reference

Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures

On this page

Everywhere
Viewport camera
Views and snapshots
Selecting and transforming
Objects
Panels
Esc in the main window
Poly edit
Sculpt, cage and pen
Metaballs and spline tubes
Scene Wizard, command palette and WELCOME
Sheets
Editors

Menu shortcuts such as ⌘S work in Orbit 3D even while you type in a field. The other keys of the main window do nothing while the cursor is in a text field, such as the name field in the INSPECTOR.

After typing in a field, click in the viewport before you press a key. That click selects what is under the pointer, or clears the selection if you click empty space. During a drag in the viewport, ⌘Z, Delete and the keys Q, W, R, O, H and I have no effect, and neither does E outside poly edit.

⌘ is the Command key, ⌥ is Option and ⇧ is Shift. In the tables, ⌥-drag means hold Option while you drag, and ⇧-click is a click with Shift held.

The strip at the bottom left of the viewport lists the drags and keys for the pen, sculpt mode, cage edit mode and poly edit, and the camera gestures while a scene has no objects. GESTURE HINTS in the VIEWPORT HUD section of SETTINGS turns the strip off.

The strip at the bottom left of the viewport in a scene with no objects, reading ⌥DRAG ORBIT, MIDDLE DRAG PAN, SCROLL ZOOM and 1 2 3 4 CAMERA VIEWS

Everywhere

Each of these also appears in a menu in the menu bar.

Key	Action
`⌘N`	Start a new scene. With unsaved changes, Orbit first asks whether to save them.
`⇧⌘N`	Clear the stage and open the SCENE WIZARD
`⌘O`	Open a scene, after the same question about unsaved changes
`⌘S`	Save the scene. A scene that has never been saved asks for a name and a place.
`⌥⇧⌘S`	Save the scene under a new name
`⇧⌘E`	Open EXPORT TURNTABLE
`⌘K`	Open or close the command palette
`⌘,`	Open the app settings in a separate window
`⌘Q`	Quit. Orbit asks first when there are unsaved changes.

Viewport camera

Key or gesture	Action
`⌥`-drag	Orbit the camera. In a flat view such as TOP, the view changes to perspective as you drag.
`⌥⇧`-drag sideways	Tilt the horizon, up to 45 degrees either way
Drag with the middle mouse button	Pan
Scroll	Zoom
`⌥`-drag with the right mouse button	Zoom
`F`	Frame the selection, or the whole scene when nothing is selected. The camera then orbits around what it framed.
Double-click the ROLL slider in the controls panel	Level the horizon
Right-click ORBIT in the controls panel	Choose how fast ORBIT turns the camera

Only a middle mouse button pans. With a trackpad, select an object and press F to center the view on it. The CAMERA section of SETTINGS sets the speed of orbiting, panning and zooming. Its INVERT ORBIT X, INVERT ORBIT Y and INVERT ZOOM switches reverse the direction of orbiting and of scroll zoom.

Views and snapshots

Key	Action
`1`	Switch to the perspective view
`2`	View from the top. Press again to look from the bottom.
`3`	View from the front. Press again for the back.
`4`	View from the right side. Press again for the left.
`⇧⌘S`	Save the camera angle as a snapshot, up to nine per scene
`⌘1` to `⌘9`	Fly to a snapshot, numbered in the order of the SNAPSHOTS strip
`⌘0`	Hide the column of object buttons and the panels on the right so the viewport fills the middle of the window, or bring them back
`⌘J`	Hide or show the dock along the bottom of the window

The P, T, F and S chips at the top left of the viewport switch views the same way as 1 to 4.

Selecting and transforming

Key or gesture	Action
Click an object	Select it alone
`⇧`-click an object	Add it to the selection, or take it out
Click empty space	Deselect everything. With `⇧` held, the selection stays.
Double-click an object in a group	Select the group
Drag on an object	Select it. In the viewport, objects move only by the gizmo.
`Space`	Deselect everything
`Q`	Hide the gizmo, so that clicks only select
`W`	Show the move gizmo
`E`	Show the rotate gizmo. On a spot or area light, it aims the light.
`R`	Show the scale gizmo. Lights cannot be scaled.
Drag an arrow, ring or handle of the gizmo	Move, rotate or scale along that axis. The center handle of the scale gizmo scales evenly.
Hold `⇧` while dragging the gizmo	Snap during this drag when SNAP is off, or drag freely when it is on. Lights never snap.
Right-click an object	Open its menu. An object outside the selection is first selected alone.
Right-click empty space	Open the menu for adding an object at that point on the ground. It also has FRAME SCENE and SAVE CAMERA SNAPSHOT.
Click a row in OBJECTS	Select that item alone
`⌘`-click a row	Add the item to the selection, or take it out
`⇧`-click a row	Select the rows from the last row you clicked without `⇧` through this one

Clicking the Q, W, E or R chip at the top left of the viewport does the same as pressing that key outside poly edit.

Objects

The active item is the object, light or group you selected last. ⌘L, O and Tab act on it alone.

Key	Action
`⌘D`	Duplicate the selected objects and lights. Move a copy and press `⌘D` again, and the next copy repeats the move.
`Delete` or `Forward Delete`	Delete the selection. A selected group is dissolved, and its members stay in the scene.
`⌘L`	Lock or unlock the active item
`⌘G`	Put the selected objects and lights that are in no group into a new group
`⇧⌘G`	Take the selected items out of their groups. A selected group is dissolved.
`H`	Hide the selected objects and lights
`⇧H`	Show everything that is hidden
`I`	Isolate the selected objects, so that only they show, or end isolation
`O`	Turn ORGANIC smoothing on or off for the active object
`Tab`	Make the active object editable and start poly edit, or leave poly edit. Nothing happens for an object that cannot become editable.
`⌘Z`	Undo.

The repeated move of ⌘D comes from DUPLICATE REPEATS OFFSET in SETTINGS, which is on by default. What undo covers lists the changes that ⌘Z takes back.

Panels

Key or gesture	Action
`M`	Open or close the MATERIAL BROWSER
`⌘E`	Open or close the ENVIRONMENT BROWSER
`P`	Show or hide a readout of drawing times, in milliseconds, at the bottom left of the viewport
Drag the title bar of a floating panel	Move the panel
Double-click the title bar of a floating panel	Roll the panel up to its title bar, or back down
Double-click a card in the MATERIAL BROWSER	Apply the material and close the browser

The floating panels are the two browsers, the SCENE WIZARD and the TERRAIN EDITOR. Pressing M or ⌘E while the SCENE WIZARD is open cancels the wizard, as its CANCEL button would.

Esc in the main window

Esc acts on the first of these that is open. It does not leave poly edit; press Tab for that.

Open	What `Esc` does
SCENE WIZARD	Cancels it, like CANCEL
Pen	Leaves the pen and discards its strokes
Sculpt mode	Leaves sculpt mode
Cage edit mode	Leaves cage edit mode

Poly edit

In poly edit, V, E and F choose between points, edges and faces, so E and F no longer pick the rotate gizmo or frame the view.

Key or gesture	Action	Where it works
`Tab`	Leave poly edit
`V`, `E`, `F`	Work on points, edges or faces
Click	Select a point, edge or face
`⇧`-click	Add it to the selection, or take it out
Double-click an edge	Select the loop it belongs to. With `⇧`, add the loop.	Edge mode
`Space`	Deselect the points, edges or faces of the current mode
`Delete` or `Forward Delete`	Delete the selected faces	Any mode
Drag a point or edge	Move it, together with the rest of the selection if it is selected	Point and edge modes
Drag a point or edge	Pull every point within the radius	Point and edge modes, SOFT MAGNET on
`[` and `]`	Make the radius smaller or larger	Point and edge modes, SOFT MAGNET on
Drag a face	Extrude it, or the selected faces	Face mode, EXTRUDE
`⌘`-drag a face	Inset	Face mode, EXTRUDE
Drag a face	Bevel	Face mode, BEVEL
`[` and `]`	One facet fewer or more for the bevel, from 1 to 8	Face mode, BEVEL, a face selected
Drag a face	Grow a tendril	Face mode, TENDRIL
Hold `⇧` while dragging	Snap to the grid	Moving, extruding, insetting and beveling
Drag across the mesh	Cut the faces along the line	Edge mode, after KNIFE, for one cut
`⌥`-drag	Orbit the camera

The strip at the bottom left of the viewport in face mode with EXTRUDE, reading DRAG EXTRUDE, ⌘DRAG INSET, ⇧ SNAP, ⌥ ORBIT and TAB EXIT

Sculpt, cage and pen

Sculpt mode starts from SCULPT in a MAGNET PULL deformer, and cage edit mode from EDIT CAGE in a CAGE deformer. PEN / LOFT in ADD OBJECT starts the pen. In all three, ⌥-drag orbits the camera and Esc leaves the mode.

Sculpt mode

Key or gesture	Action
Drag on the object	Pull the surface out or push it in, depending on the direction of the drag
Scroll	Change the brush radius, BRUSH R
`⇧`-scroll	Change the brush strength, BRUSH STR

Cage edit mode

Key or gesture	Action
Click a point	Select it. `⇧`-click adds or removes it.
Drag a point	Move the selected points parallel to the screen
Hold `⇧` while dragging a point	Move the points straight up or down
Drag empty space	Select the points inside a box. With `⇧`, add them to the selection.

Pen

Key or gesture	Action
Drag	Draw a stroke. While the pen is on, a drag that starts on an object draws a stroke too.
`⌥`-drag	Orbit to a new angle for the next stroke
`Esc`	Leave the pen and discard the strokes

Metaballs and spline tubes

Key or gesture	Action	Where it works
Click a blob	Make it the active blob	A selected METABALLS object
Drag a blob	Move it parallel to the screen	A selected METABALLS object
Scroll with the pointer over a blob	Make the blob larger or smaller	A selected METABALLS object
Drag in empty space	Add a blob. The length of the drag sets its size.	A selected METABALLS object
Click a spine point	Select it	EDIT SPINE on for a SPLINE TUBE
Drag a spine point	Move it parallel to the screen	EDIT SPINE on for a SPLINE TUBE
Drag an arrow of the gizmo	Move the selected spine point along that axis	EDIT SPINE on for a SPLINE TUBE

Scene Wizard, command palette and WELCOME

Key	Action	Where it works
`Return`	ROLL	SCENE WIZARD, including its WORD and SEED fields
`Esc`	CANCEL	SCENE WIZARD
`⌘K`	Open or close the palette
`↑` and `↓`	Move the highlight through the list	Command palette
`Return`	Run the highlighted command	Command palette
`Esc`	Close the palette. A click outside it closes it too.	Command palette
`Esc`	Close the sheet, as NEW SCENE does	WELCOME

Sheets

Key	Action	Where it works
`Return`	RENDER, then SAVE IMAGE once the picture is finished	EXPORT RENDER
`Esc`	CANCEL, which stops a render in progress or closes the sheet	EXPORT RENDER, until the picture is finished
`Esc`	Close the sheet, stopping an export in progress	EXPORT TURNTABLE
`Return` or `Esc`	Close the sheet	RENDER SETTINGS
`Return`	DONE	SETTINGS
`Return`	DONE	CURVE EDITOR
`Return`	COMMIT	DRAW SECTION
`Esc`	CANCEL	DRAW SECTION
`Return`	Close the sheet	EDIT TEXT, in the STRING field
`Esc`	Close the gallery	WAVE GALLERY
`Esc`	CANCEL	The DELETE FOLDER dialog of either browser

Editors

CURVE EDITOR

Key or gesture	Action
Drag a point or handle	Move it
Double-click empty space	Add a point there
Double-click a point	Delete it. A curve keeps at least three points.
Scroll	Zoom in or out around the pointer
Drag with the middle mouse button	Pan

TERRAIN EDITOR

Key or gesture	Action
Drag on the map	Paint with the chosen brush
Hold `⌥` while painting with RAISE	Lower the ground instead
Click the chosen brush again	Put the brush away. Drags on the map then do nothing.

Loop Studio

Loop Studio adds no keys, and the viewport gestures work there as they do on the SCENE tab. These gestures edit the curve of a lane set to CURVE.

Key or gesture	Action
Click empty space in the lane	Add a point there. Keep the button down to drag it into place.
Drag a point	Move it. It stays between its neighbors.
Double-click a point	Delete it. A lane keeps at least two points.

Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures

#Everywhere

#Viewport camera

#Views and snapshots

#Selecting and transforming

#Objects

#Panels

#Esc in the main window

#Poly edit

#Sculpt, cage and pen

#Sculpt mode

#Cage edit mode

#Pen

#Metaballs and spline tubes

#Scene Wizard, command palette and WELCOME

#Sheets

#Editors

#CURVE EDITOR

#TERRAIN EDITOR

#Loop Studio