My Favourite 3ds Max Short-cut keys

Hi All

Short-cut keys are something I could not live without in 3ds Max. Like in any application, It’s incredible to think how much time these little keys save me throughout a working day (and working night).

So here’s my list of the keys which have become my friends over the years. I’m sure many of these you already know, but my personal top 5 have to be:

• The most used for me has to be ALT+W for maximising and minimising my viewports. This one simple combination gets used so much that the text is missing off these keys on my home keyboard.
• A very close second is F4, F3 for Show edges in the viewport and Smooth & Highlights >Wireframe toggle, respectively.
• For years I used the quad menu, in its ‘standard’ mode without releasing that you can bring up different quad menus for the take your performing. This is an incredible time saver, and one I highly recommend trying. Below are the shortcuts for the tailored options available:
  • V=Viewports mode
  • Ctrl+Right Mouse Button=Modelling mode
  • Shift+Right Mouse Button=Snap mode
  • Alt+Right Mouse Button=Animation mode
  • Alt+Ctrl+Right Mouse Button=Lighting and Rendering
• F1=HELP!!! the most important and underused key in 3ds Max. There is a wealth of information within the help files, and this continues to be an overlooked area. On many occasions, when contacted for help from customers, my “impressive and intellectual” responses are simply copied from the help files. But shush, don’t tell anyone that I’m a fraud and aren’t as intelligent as I appear.
• N=autokey mode toggle for creating animations. This is by far one of my most used shortcut keys in 3ds Max.

 

 

Now let’s have a look at some of the others I commonly utilise, and have come to rely on:

F9=render last

F10=open render dialogue window

o=toggle render to texture window

m=open/close material editor windows

Shift+f=show safeframes

7=show statistics

8=toggle environment and effects dialogue window

6=open/close particle view window

Alt+6=Show main toolbar

/=animation playback (slash key)

Alt+Ctrl+Q=open last used scene explorer

h=select by name

w=move selection

e=rotate selection

r=scale selection

c=camera view

p=perspective view

t=top view

l=left view

g=toggle the viewport grid on/off

s=snaps toggle

a=angle snaps toggle

Ctrl+c=create camera from perspective view

F5/F6/F7=lock movement along X,Y and Z axis respectively

Ctrl+i=select inverse

Ctrl+d=deselect

Ctrl+a=select all in scene

Ctrl+v=create clone of selection

Ctrl+x=expert mode toggle

home=jump to start of animation timeline

end=jump to end of animation timeline

Ctrl+R=arc rotate mode in the viewport

Middle Mouse Button= Viewport Pan

Alt+Q=Isolate selection

d=disable viewport

Alt+x=display object as see-through

Ctrl+n=create new scene

Ctrl+s=save file

Spacebar=lock selection

Shift+c= hide/unhide cameras

Shift+s=hide/unhide shapes objects

Shift+w=hide/unhide space warps

Shift+g=hide/unhide geometry

Shift+h=hide/unhide helper objects

Shift+l=hide/unhide light objects

Page up=Select parent

Page down=Select child object

i=pan viewport whilst drawing a spline

scroll middle mouse wheel=viewport zoom

z=zoom selected object

Ctrl+Alt+z=zoom extents

F11= open MAXScript listener window

and last but not least,whilst in edit poly mode:

1=Vertex mode 2=edge mode 3=border mode 4=poly mode 5=element mode

There are many more short-cut keys in 3ds Max than I have listed above, so I recommend once you’ve grasped the ones above that you explore the others which exist. Also, bear in mind that many of the keys are also context sensitive and will be dependant on the task or mode your in. By spending some time learning these keys you will certainly gain this time and more back throughout your projects.

Of course, the flexibility of 3ds Max allows you to customise any of the keys to behave how you prefer them to. For me, I generally leave them as standard out of the box, however will customise the quad menu and interface. This ensures I can stay productive when using someone else’s machine for a short while.

As always, please feel free to add some comments below regarding the keys you rely on and would recommend to other users…..

You may also be interesting in having a look at Gary’s excellent dark UI package. Click here to explore.

Happy Max’ing