Essential 3DS Max Keyboard Shortcuts

Learning keyboard and mouse shortcuts will greatly speed up your work in 3DS Max. Although 3DS Max has gazillions of shortcuts, this article only lists the most common/ important ones. You’ll find yourself using most of these shortcuts without even thinking about it.

The most important 3DS Max shortcuts are preceded by an exclamation mark {!} .

1/4 Absolutely Essentials Hotkeys

! M – Material Editor {}
! Alt+W – maximize, minimize current viewport   (works like the {} button}

! Z – zoom in on selection    (works like the “Zoom Extents” {} button}

2/4 Mouse+Keyboard combinations

These are probably the most useful shortcuts. You’ll find yourself using them more often than anything else
! ALT+Middle Button - Orbit {}
! CTRL+Middle Button -Pan {}
Shift+Middle Button – Pan on Restricted Axis – this will restrict the pan axis to either x or y.
! Scroll Wheel - Zoom In/ Out – Add the ALT key to this to zoom in in smaller increments {}
! ! Ctrl+Left click on sub-object icons will transfer your current selection to the sub-object you clicked.
For example, if you’ve selected 20 edges and ctrl+click on the polygon icon, it will convert the edge selection to a polygon selection.

3/4 Viewport

! P – switch to the Perspective view
! Q – Select {}

! W – Move {}

! E – Rotate {}

! R – Scale {}

F - switch to front view
L – switch to left view
T – switch to the Top view
B – Switch to the Bottom view
C – switch to a Camera view
F – switch to the Front viewport
! 7 – Polygon Count
8 – Environment & Effects Window
F2 – Shade selected faces
! F3 – switch between smooth and wireframe
! F4 – edged faces

Ctrl+C – Create camera from view
ALT-Q – Isolate Object
X – Toggle Transform Gizmo
G – Hide or show Grid
Alt+B – Viewport Background
Space – Selection Lock / Unlock

4/4 Workflow

! Sub-Object Selection Keys – These are active when you’re working on an Editable Poly/ Mesh object. If your using primitives, the keys will switch to the Modify Tab {}.
1 - Vertex
2 – Edge
3 – Border

4 – Polygon
5 - Element
! Ctrl+Backspace – remove selected edge and associated vertices