1 Keyboard Shortcuts
1.1 General
- Popup selection (on PC only)
- Tools – F1
- Brushes – F2
- Strokes – F3
- Alphas – F4
- Textures – F5
- Materials – F6 (with cursor off canvas area)
- Show QuickMenu – Spacebar or Right Mouse click
- Show/hide floating palettes – TAB
- Assign custom hotkey – Ctrl+Alt+click on item (store hotkeys in Preferences> Hotkeys submenu)
1.1.1 Lightbox and Spotlight
- Show/hide Lightbox – , [comma key]
- load selected item – Double-click on Lightbox thumbnail (texture/alphas will be loaded into Spotlight if it is active)
- Turn on/off Spotlight – Shift+Z
- Show/hide Spotlight Dial – Z
1.2 Brush Palette
- Show Brush pop-up – B
- Standard Brush – B – S – T
- Smooth Stronger – B – S – S
- Move Elastic – B – M – E
- MPolish – B – M – P
- ClipCurve – B – C – C
- ClayLine – B – C – L
- Select Masking Brush – hold Ctrl while selecting brush from popup
- Select Selection or Clip Brush – hold Shift+Ctrl while selecting brush from popup
1.2.1 InsertMultiMesh brushes
- show all meshes in brush – M
1.2.2 Change the Brush hotkeys (pop-up palette)
Here is what you have to do:
- Click B to bring up the brush palette.
- Then click the letter that you want to narrow down to, in this example click C.
- With C clicked all you will see is the brushes that start with C. This is when you will see the next letter that selects the brush.
- At this point you can hold CTRL+ALT to change the shortcut to whatever you want by just clicking on the brush and then click your new shortcut.
NOTE: Keep in mind that when you do this ZBrush automatically replaces the shortcut of another brush if you select a shortcut that is already assigned.
1.3 Color Palette
- Select Color under cursor – C
- Switch Color – V
- Fill Layer – Ctrl+F
1.4 Document Palette
- Actual Size – 0 [zero]
- Antialiased Half Size – Ctrl+0
- Zoom In – + [plus sign]
- Zoom Out – – [minus sign]
1.5 Draw Palette
- Draw Size – S
- Focal Shift – O
- RGB Intensity – I
- Z Intensity – U
- Perspective – P
- Floor Grid – Shift+P
1.6 Edit Palette
- Undo – Ctrl+Z
- Redo – Shift+Ctrl+Z
1.7 File Palette
- Open Project – Ctrl+O
- Save Project – Ctrl+S
1.8 Layer Palette
- Clear Layer – Ctrl+N
- Fill Layer – Ctrl+F
- Bake Layer – Ctrl+B
1.9 Marker Palette
- Markers will only show when Edit is turned off
- Remove Marker – Ctrl+M
1.10 Movie Palette
- Snapshot to Movie – Ctrl+ Shift+! (US) Shift+Ctrl+PageUp (UK)
- Timeline
- Go to Previous Camera key frame Dot – LEFT ARROW
- Go to Next Camera key frame Dot – RIGHT ARROW
1.11 Preferences Palette
- Configuration
- Store Configuration File – Shift+Ctrl+I
- Load User Interface Configuration File – Ctrl+L
- Save User Interface Configuration File – Shift+Ctrl+Alt+I
- Lightbox
- Show/hide Lightbox – , [comma]
1.12 Render Palette
- Best Preview Render (BPR) – Shift+R
- Render All – Shift+Ctrl+R
- Cursor Selective Render – Ctrl+R
1.13 Stencil Palette
- Stencil On – Alt+H
- Hide/Show Stencil – Ctrl+H
- Coin Controller – Spacebar
1.14 Stroke Palette
- Lazy mouse – L
- Replay Last Stroke – 1
- Record Stroke – 3
- Replay All Recorded Strokes – 2
1.15 Texture Palette
- Turn on/off Spotlight – Shift+Z
- CropAndFill – Shift+Ctrl+F
- Grab Texture From Document – Shift+Ctrl+G
1.16 Tool Palette
- Save Tool – Shift+Ctrl+T
- Geometry
- Divide – Ctrl+D
- Lower Res – Shift+D
- Higher Res – D
- Edge Loop – Ctrl+E (partially hidden mesh)
- Remesh Dynamesh sculpt – in Edit > Draw mode Ctrl+Drag Background
- HD Geometry
- Toggle in/out of HD Sculpting mode – A (cursor over mesh)
- Render all HD Geometry – A (cursor over background)
- Masking
- View Mask – Ctrl+H
- Invert Mask – Ctrl+I
- Mask All – Ctrl+A
- Visibility
- Grow mesh portion – Ctrl+Shift+X
- Shrink mesh portion – Ctrl+Shift+S
- Grow All mesh portion – Ctrl+Shift+A
- Outer Ring visibility – Ctrl+Shift+O
- Polygroups
- Group Masked and Clear Mask – Ctrl+W
- ZSpheres
- Preview Adaptive Skin – A
- ZSketch
- Activate ZSketch Edit mode – Shift+A (with a ZSphere armature in Edit mode)
- Preview Unified Skin – A
1.17 Transform Palette
- Activate Symmetry – X
- Draw Pointer – Q
- Move – W
- Scale – E
- Rotate – R
- Edit – T
- Center mesh in canvas (when in Edit mode) – F
- Draw Polyframe – Shift+F
- Point Selection Mode – Shift+Ctrl+P
- Set Pivot Point – Ctrl+ P
- Clear Pivot Point – Shift+P
- Snapshot object – Shift+S
- Show/hide Spotlight Dial – Z
1.18 ZPlugin Palette
- Misc Utilities
- Increase Draw Size by set units – ]
- Decrease Draw Size by set units – [
- (set increment in the Zplugin>Misc Utilities>Brush Increment slider)
- Projection Master
- Projection Master – G
1.19 ZScript Palette
- Load ZScript – Shift+Ctrl+L
- Reload ZScript – Ctrl+U
- Hide ZScript – H
2 Mouse Actions
- Toggle ZAdd and ZSub – Alt (hold down)
- On Layer thumbnail, toggle all layers on/off – Shift+Click
- Select layer on which clicked pixol resides – ~+Click canvas (US) @+Click canvas (UK)
- Move layer contents up/down/sideways (X & Y)- ~+drag (US) @+drag (UK)
- Show item description (when Popup Info is switched on) – Ctrl+cursor over item
- Move item to custom interface position – Ctrl+Alt+drag (when Enable Customize is switched on)
- Remove item from custom interface position – Ctrl+Alt+drag to Canvas (when Enable Customize is on)
3 Edit Mode Actions
3.1 Navigation
with a 3D mesh in Edit mode –
- Free Rotate – Click & drag Background
- Move – Alt+Click & drag Background
- Constrain to 90-degree rotation – Click+drag, press Shift
- Scale – Alt+Click, Release Alt, drag Background
- Rotate around Z-axis – Shift, Click, release Shift, drag
(For best results turn off RightClick Navigation in the Preferences>Interface menu.)
3.1.1 Right-Click Navigation
(Turn on RightClick Navigation in the Preferences>Interface menu.)
- Move – Alt+Right-click & drag (can be over the model)
- Scale – Ctrl+Right-click & drag (can be over the model)
- Rotate – Right-click & drag (can be over the model)
3.2 Masking
- Paint mask on object (alphas/strokes can be used) – Ctrl (hold down)
- Delete or paint reverse mask – Ctrl+Alt (hold down)
- Reverse mask – Ctrl+Click Background
- Clear Mask – Ctrl+Click+ drag Background
- Constant-intensity mask – Ctrl+Click, release Ctrl, drag (starting off mesh)
- Alpha-intensity mask (using MaskPen or MaskRect brush) – Ctrl+Click & drag
(select alpha while holding Ctrl)
3.3 Topological Masking
- in Move, Scale or Rotate mode – Ctrl+click+drag the action line on the model
3.4 Partial Mesh Visibility & Clip Brushes
- Show mesh portion – Shift+Ctrl+Click, release keys & drag (green selection area)
- Hide mesh portion – Shift+Ctrl+Click, release keys & drag – press Alt (red selection area)
- Move selection or clip area – ‘press Spacebar without releasing mouse/pen
- Show entire mesh – Shift+Ctrl+Click Background
- Show only selected Polygroup (on fully visible mesh) – Shift+Ctrl+Click
- Hide selected Polygroup (on fully visible mesh) – Shift+Ctrl+Click twice
- Hide selected Polygroup (on partially visible mesh) – Shift+Ctrl+Click
- Reverse visibility – Shift+Ctrl+Click & drag Background
- Hide edge loop – with Lasso option selected, Shift+Ctrl+click on edge that crosses loop
- ClipCurve add soft direction change – click Alt once
- ClipCurve add sharp direction change – click Alt twice
- reverse clip area – Alt (hold down)
4 Transpose
- with a 3D mesh in Edit mode, click W, E, R and draw the orange action line
- click on the mesh to reposition the action line aligned to the surface normal
- to align to an axis, click the end of the red, green or blue axis line
- To move action line while drawing – hold Spacebar
- To move action line after drawing – click+drag orange line or center orange ring
- To change action line end point position – click+drag orange end ring
- Quick tip: in Move/Scale mode, Alt+click+drag on the mesh (not on action line) to move or scale mesh
4.1 Inner (red/white) ring actions
These actions apply to the inner red or white rings of the action line. The terms center or end refer to the position on the line.
Move mode – W
- Move – click+drag center
- Duplicate mesh – Ctrl+click+drag center
- Bend mesh – Alt+click+drag center or end point
- Stretch mesh – drag end point furthest from mesh
- Flatten mesh – drag end point next to mesh
- Inflate – Right-click+drag end ring furthest from mesh
- Create Edgeloop & extrude – with partially masked mesh, hold Ctrl and click+drag center point
Scale – E
- Scale – click+drag end point in line direction
- Scale along axis – click+drag center point
- Create Edgeloop and deflate/inflate – with partially masked mesh, hold Ctrl and click+drag center point
Rotate – R
- Rotate around end point – click+drag other end point
- Rotate around action line – Click+drag center
- Joint bend – Alt+click+drag end point (rotation around same point)
5 ZSphere Edit Actions
5.1 Draw mode
- Add a child ZSphere – drag ZSphere
- Delete ZSphere – Alt+Click ZSphere
- Add a child ZSphere at same size – Click+drag, press Shift
- Add a child ZSphere and scale Link Spheres – Click+drag to size new ZSphere, press Ctrl+drag
- Insert ZSphere – Click Link-Sphere
with Tool>Adaptive Skin>Use ClassicSkinning on:
- Sphere Define magnet/ break mesh – Alt+Click Link-Sphere
5.2 Move mode
- Move ZSphere – drag ZSphere
- Pose (Natural-linked move) – drag Link-Sphere
- Move Chain – Alt+drag Link-Sphere
5.3 Scale mode
- Scale Zsphere – drag ZSphere
- Inflate/deflate chain – Alt+drag Link-Sphere
- Scale chain – drag Link-Sphere
5.4 Rotate mode
- Spin chain – drag ZSphere
- Control twist – Alt+drag Link-Sphere
- Rotate chain – drag Link-Sphere
6 Timeline
- Place a new key frame – click on the Timeline
- Select an existing key frame – click on the key frame dot
- Zoom Timeline in/out – click on selected key frame dot
- Move selected key frame – click+drag dot to new position (dragging off end will delete)
- Store new data in existing key frame – Shift+Ctrl+click on the key frame dot
- Delete a key frame – click+drag dot off the Timeline
- Copy selected key frame – Shift+click on the Timeline at the point where you want the copy
- Copy multiple key frames – Shift+click on all the key frames dots to be copied, then Shift+click the Timeline
- at the point where you want the copies
- Create Transition key frame – Ctrl+click on an existing key frame dot
- Create Rigid key frame – Alt+click on an existing key frame dot
- Play the Timeline (will play as a loop) – Shift+click on the Timeline cursor
- Stop the Timeline playing – click Esc
- Record Timeline as a Movie – Shift+Ctrl+click on the Timeline cursor
- (set the cursor to the start first using the LEFT ARROW)
7 Custom UI and Configuration
- Move item to custom interface position – Ctrl+Alt+drag (when Enable Customize is switched on)
- Remove item from custom interface position – Ctrl+Alt+drag to Canvas (when Enable Customize is on)