BONUS CHAPTER 2

3ds Max 2012 Keyboard Shortcuts

The key to working efficiently with Max is learning the keyboard shortcuts. If you know the keyboard shortcuts, you don't need to spend time moving the mouse cursor all around the interface; you can simply press a keyboard shortcut and get instant access to commands and tools.

Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Most of the major dialog boxes, such as the Material Editor and Track View, have their own set of keyboard shortcuts. When the Keyboard Shortcut Override toggle button on the main toolbar is enabled, keyboard shortcuts work for both the main interface and the separate dialog boxes. If there is a conflict, the dialog box's shortcut takes precedence.

For example, in the main Max window, the A key toggles the Angle Snap feature on and off, but in the Track View-Curve Editor window, the A key enables Add Keys mode. If the Curve Editor is open and the Keyboard Shortcut Override toggle is enabled, then the Add Keys mode is enabled. If the Keyboard Shortcut Override toggle is off, then the Angle Snap is activated.

If you want to change any of the keyboard shortcuts, the Customize User Interface dialog box includes a Keyboard panel for making changes. You can open this dialog box using the Customize Customize User Interface command.

Using the Keyboard Shortcut Map

In the Help menu, you can find the Keyboard Shortcut Map menu command that opens an interactive window, shown in Figure 1, and displays all the current keyboard shortcuts for the main interface.

Moving the mouse cursor over the keyboard displayed in the lower-right corner of the Keyboard Shortcut Map window highlights the respective section of the keyboard and displays all keyboard shortcuts associated with those keys. The icon in the upper-right corner refreshes the interface, and the arrow icon in the lower-right corner cycles through all the keys.

FIGURE 1 The Keyboard Shortcut Map window displays keyboard shortcuts interactively.

Main Interface Shortcuts

Tables 1 through 17 present the shortcut keys for the main interface.

TABLE 1 Menus

TABLE 2 Main and Floating Toolbars

TABLE 3 Viewports

TABLE 4 Key and Time Controls

TABLE 5 Viewport Navigation Controls

TABLE 6 Walk Through Mode

TABLE 7 Quadmenus

TABLE 8 Virtual Viewport

TABLE 9 Subobjects

TABLE 10 Hierarchies

TABLE 11 Editable Mesh

All commands in Table 12 that are listed in bold can be used as press-and-release keyboard shortcuts. These enable you to access a different command by pressing and holding the keyboard shortcut; when you release the keyboard shortcut, Max returns to the previous mode. Press-and-release commands are activated only if the Overrides Active option in the Keyboard panel of the Customize User Interface dialog box is enabled.

The following commands can be accessed using press-and-release keyboard shortcuts if you define a keyboard shortcut for them: Bridge, Constrain to None, Constrain to Normal, Paint Deform Push/Pull/Relax, Paint Soft Selection, and Turn.

TABLE 12 Edit Poly Modifier

You can use press-and-release keyboard shortcuts, highlighted in bold in Table 13, with Editable Poly objects.

TABLE 13 Editable Poly

TABLE 14 NURBS

TABLE 15 Free-Form Deformations

TABLE 16 Edit Normals Modifier

TABLE 17 Hair Styling

Dialog Box Shortcuts

Tables 18 through 26 show shortcut keys that work with the various dialog boxes. The dialog box must be selected for these shortcuts to work. It is possible for modeless dialog boxes to have the dialog box visible but not selected.

TABLE 18 Compact Material Editor

TABLE 19 Slate Material Editor

TABLE 20 Track View

TABLE 21 Schematic View

TABLE 22 Video Post

TABLE 23 Unwrap UVW

TABLE 24 ActiveShade

TABLE 25 Particle Flow

TABLE 26 MAXScript Editor

Character Studio Shortcuts

Tables 27 and 28 show shortcut keys that work with the Character Studio modules.

TABLE 27 Biped

TABLE 28 Physique

Miscellaneous Shortcuts

In addition to specific shortcuts for the main interface and the dialog boxes, Max provides several general shortcuts that can be used in many different places, as listed in Table 29.

TABLE 29 General Shortcuts