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Industry Compatible Keymap: Questions, suggestions and answers

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#1

On developer.blender.org we have had a task related to the Industry Compatible Keymap here: https://developer.blender.org/T54963

That task became quite noisy and too forum-like for that place. So, here’s a thread instead.

However, here’s a small list of general notes about the keymap that may answer potential questions:

FAQ

  • The keymap is not meant to include all the same shortcuts as the default keymap. It is intentionally meant to be much simpler and lighter. The expectation is that users will make more use of the context menus for invoking commands, which means every single command doesn’t need a shortcut. This makes the keymap easier to maintain and expand, and also means users have more free keys available to map their favourite commands to.
  • The keymap can not add entire new features to Blender, so the feature set is limited to the features that are currently inside Blender. So any suggestions to improve the underlying toolset is not relevant here
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Industry standards and keymaps
#2

@MaxPuliero @DanPool maybe I’m wrong, but I think you two have experience from other apps to be able to express some advice

#3

Hi,
The first thing I noticed is that zooming is inverted compared to other major softwares: in Maya (for instance) you zoom in by moving the mouse towards the bottom / right, while currently in Blender it’s the other way around.
This is not a really big issue, but it can be a bit annoying: since the keymap is really close to what I’m used to, my brain has a bit of trouble remembering this specific difference (e.g. as soon as I do something else, my habits come back, I forget that I’m in Blender and when I want to zoom, I always zoom in the wrong direction once :p)

Anyway, just wanted to say this. I hope it’s the correct place for it. And good job with this keymap, I’m sure it will really be appreciated by a lot of people out there :slight_smile:

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#4

You can invert zoom direction:
Preferences --> Navigation --> Invert Mouse Zoom Direction

#5

Unfortunately with this keymap it’s impossible to use the knife tool.

#6

The Knife tool should now be fixed.

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#7

When using the Bevel active tool, it’s possible to increase/decrease the number of segments with the mouse wheel while holding down LMB. Can the same be enabled for the number of cuts in the Loop Cut tool?

[EDIT] A shortcut for Select shortest path in edit mode would be nice in the keymap. That’s not something you want to go into a menu for as it needs a lot of clicks.

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#8

I just tested the Graph Editor.
Here are a few notes how I think it should work:

  • LMB click drag on the empty area - box select (consistent with the 3D View)
  • LMB click drag on selected keys/handles - transforms (it’s how it works in Maya, After Effects, etc.)
  • MMB click drag - transforms selected keys/handles (consistent with the 3D View)
  • LMB click on an empty area - deselect (consistent with the 3D View)

In general this is how Maya works and it will also be consistent with the 3D View.
I’m not sure if it can be achieved only with modifying the keymap or it needs some new features to be added.

#9

@billrey there were many comments in the task page requesting to revert the way object and edit mode switching (and component selection mode switching) is mapped back to the way it works in the default Blender keymap: Tab to toggle object and edit mode, then 1, 2, 3 to switch between vertex, edge, and face selection when in edit mode (at least for meshes). This would remove object mode from the number keys and avoid all of the disagreements around what number it should be assigned to. This would in turn mean mapping Operator Search to a new key, but that can be a separate discussion.

I counted at least 12 different people requesting this change since the initial implementation of the keymap was released, and nobody really disagreed with them, other than yourself. Given the feedback you have received from multiple people, can you consider this again please?

#10

At the very least, deselecting by clicking in an empty area is already supported. I’ll take a look at the other things.

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#11

Re modes: there seems to be a misunderstanding. In this keymap, the modes are switched using the number row. Tab is used for operator search.

Using tab to switch to edit mode doesn’t fit with this concept, and it’s worse for switching to all other modes, other than Edit mode.

Some people have requested the order of the modes to be different, although that has some issues for object types other than meshes.

#12

So where is the “select everything between where I click” shortcut in this mode?

Control clicking doesn’t seem to do anything at all (which was the old shortcut).

(Also, have 2 be edit mode AND vertex select mode is taking some getting used to… and pressing 1 kicks you back out to object mode… in Max, 1 is vertex, 2 is edge, 3 is open loop, 4 is face, 5 is linked… so not only is the toggle key killed, but it doesn’t really conform to muscle memory either…)

#13

It requires support inside Blender, but is on the todo:

https://developer.blender.org/T63989

#14

Thanks, but sorry, I meant in actual edit mode this time. As in, I select 1 vertex, and the control click used to select all other vertices in the shortest path to my new click.

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#15

That’s called “Select shortest path” and I would like to see this as well:

#16

Updated the keymap for Graph Editor and Dopesheet to follow your suggestion.

Edit: NLA and Sequencer too.
Edit2: And Nodes.

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#17

Added Pick Shortest Path to the keymap. Currently set to Ctrl-Shift-click.

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#18

Thanks! Can I ask, what is control-click? I didn’t get any visible feedback from Blender last time I tried it.

#19

That’s great! They work really nice!

I’ll drop a few other suggestions:

Node Editor
In Maya, when you are in the Node Editor, pressing TAB pops up an equivalent of the Add->Search… from the menu. For creating new nodes.
Personally I think is more likely to use this in the Node Editor, than creating new objects or executing operators.

UV Editor & Image Editor
ALT + R/M mouse button navigation (maybe on your list already)

#20

Alt-key navigation is now set correctly for the UV/Image Editor.

Todo: Support dragging to box select while the Transform tool is active.

As for the Node Editor request, currently the Operator Search is set on the Window Manager level, meaning it applies to the whole window. But I should be able to move it to be per-editor, which means we could then make exceptions for things like the Node Editor.

Edit: done

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