Universal 3D Shortcuts is a collection of keyboard shortcuts, scripts, and plugins designed to unify your experience with 3D programs. With over 200-300 modified/considered keyboard shortcuts per program, Universal 3D Shortcuts aims to unify the navigation and hotkeys of various 3D programs, allowing you to focus on your work without the distraction of switching between different interfaces. Whenever possible, the original hotkeys are preserved to minimize disruption to your workflow.
⚡️Supported: Blender, Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D
The document containing the list of keyboard shortcuts can be used as a command reference to find the same command across different 3D programs. Additionally, if you prefer to customize your own navigation or keyboard shortcuts, you can easily change them in each program to better suit your workflow.
This project was made and tested by me alone, so mistakes are possible. The most complex and problematic integration of hotkeys was in Blender, so the probability of errors there is the highest.
The keyboard shortcuts are tested on the following program versions:
- Maya 2023.2
- 3DS Max 2023
- Cinema 4D 2023
- Blender 3.4 & 3.5 (probably won't work on older versions)
- Copy files in downloaded "Marking Menus" folder and paste them to
Documents\maya\YOUR MAYA VERSION\prefs\markingMenus - In Maya go to: Windows -> Settings/Preferences -> Hotkey Editor
- Click on
icon and then "Import" - Select "Universal.mhk" in downloaded folder
- Go to File -> Preferences -> Interaction Mode. Select “Maya” and click Ok.
- Drag and drop "Universal.ms" into the 3DS Max viewport
- In 3DS Max go to: Customize -> Hotkey Editor
- Click on
icon and then “Load from file”
- Select “Universal.hsx” in downloaded folder
- Copy files in downloaded "Scripts" folder and paste them to:
%AppData%\Maxon\YOUR CINEMA 4D VERSION\library\scripts - (Optional) Install Drop to Floor by Alpha Pixel
- In Cinema4D go to: Windows -> Command Manager -> File -> Load
- Select "Universal.res" in downloaded folder
In this case, the missing functionality of Blender is augmented with the help of the third-party addons.
- Copy the files in the "With Addons" folder and paste them to:
Win: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\YOUR BLENDER VERSION
Mac: Users/*USERNAME*/Library/Application Support/Blender/
⚠️ WARNING. This method will overwrite your Blender preferences. And restarting some addons may break shortcuts associated with the addon. You might want to create a backup before replacing files.
In this case, no addons will be used for installation.
- In Blender go to: Blender Preferences -> Keymap -> Import
- Select "Universal_WO_Addons.py" in downloaded folder
The version with addons contains the following addons:
- Align Tools (Built-In)
- Pie Menus (Built-In)
- AutoDelete by Darcvizer
- Drop It by AndreasAustPMX
- MACHIN3tools by machin3
- MaterialUtilities by ChrisHinde
- Merge Tool by Stromberg90
- Separate Objects by Me
- Toggle Hide by K-410
- X-Ray Selection Tools by Cirno
Note: If you are the developer of any of these add-ons and do not wish for them to be used, please reach out to me.
You can update add-ons, but you may need to configure their corresponding keyboard shortcuts in order for them to function properly.
❌ The following commands and keyboard shortcuts are missing in the version without addons:
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Assign New Material | Alt-A |
| Group | Ctrl-G |
| Ungroup | Shift-G |
| Drop It | Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Z |
| Assign Default Material | Ctrl-Alt-Shift-L |
| Set Pivot to Bottom | Ctrl-Shift-C |
| Mirror | Alt-Shift-M |
| Merge Tool | Ctrl-W |
| Sculpting menu (Sculpt Mode) | W |
♻️ These shortcuts hanged to built-in commands:
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Select | D |
| Delete | X |
| Hide | H |
| Clean Up | Shift-Alt-D |
| Separate | Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S |
❤️ Appreciate any feedback and suggestions. And if you know how to export Blender addon settings or easily write a script to install them, that would help ✨