Adam Szalai's Blender First step (industrial compatible keymaps) questions (and hopefuly answers :))

Hey there!

I started testing out blender if i can switch from modo to this dcc with amazing features and more amazing addons.

I was convinced to (hopefully) switch DCC because of midpoly hard surface modeling, and i already have very good experiences with custom vertex normals in blender.

I already tortured my ex collegue who is using blender :smiley: with the ā€œancientā€ blender keymaps, but i still got some questions unanswered.

Instead of creating lots of topic with questions one by one, i would like to give a summary of questions with number id, so maybe a bit easier to follow the flood :slight_smile:

I would like to get answers from blender users who are using industrial compatible keymaps, because as i compared the functioning of original keymap and the industrial one, they are basically two different universe.
Of course if Your explains are not shortcut heavy, and can explain where or how can i get that feature in the IC mode, then You have more then very welcome to answer some of those questions :slight_smile:

I assume later iā€™ll expand this list in newer post in this topic, with keeping the increasing number ids to get an easier trackability.

Thank You for your answers in advance!

So lets unleash the hell :smiley:

1-is there any way to make a face delete with one keypress? also disolve to be lovely to get on one keypress

2-how can origin also get not just the cursor position, but also the rotation values? like when i add a new object and i can set the align to 3d cursor then the new object takes also the rotation of the cursos.

3-in vertex paint mode, i canā€™t select face selection that bounds the painting into the face area instead the " more gradient like" vertices mode.

4-how can i turn on the display of boundary edges on my 3d view?

5-how can i get and toogle partial selection on off? now in ā€œnon xray modeā€ i have partial selection, but i canā€™t toogle it, and in ā€œnon xray modeā€ i canā€™t select my back faces (faces at the other side of my object)
in x ray mode i can select the back faces, but i donā€™t have partial selection mode. in x ray mode i can select faces if i get over the dot at the center of the face

6-at interactive mirror is there any way to change the mirror axis during the mirroring (like in modo for example), plus is there a way to the interactive mirror not just mirroring the selected object, but first duplicate it, then mirror the duplication, then flip itā€™s normals? because mirroring means mirroring, not just flip over on an axis. if the mirrored object destroyed, then thatā€™s not a mirroring but transfering over an axis. (btw i really love the mirror modifier with itā€™s uv offset!)

7-is there any way to duplicate faces with copy paste? i would use the hotkey to something else, and copy+paste (ctrl+c and v) are already free to that feature

8-with extrude spin, how can i set the rotation axis of my circle. now the ā€œworking planeā€ of spin is the view plane.

9-how can i set extrude spin not to place my last ā€œextrudeā€ element on the same location as the original element is?
i know i can divide the 360 with the number of the elements, and substract the number from 360 to get the proper rotation value, but is that normal to behave like this?

10-why of the normals of the duplication of extrude spins are all fliped out? why i have to press use duplicates to get the proper normal directions on the duplicates?

11-is there a way to get lattice already with the size of my mesh?

12-can i define somehow key esc to quit from tools instead of press q which is going to select mode?

13-is there a way to create loopcut with symmetry attibute? like a loop cut tool with 2 cuts but when i change factor the 2 cuts is getting closer or far away to each other, instead of moving together.

14-how can i get an extrude mode that extrude only faces instead of all of my selections (to avoid creating non manifold edges with extrude)
even Face :arrow_forward: Extrude Faces is extruding also the edges, creating non manifold edges

15-if i get non manifold edges how can i delete only the non manifold edges after selected by 3d-print check all mesh checking.
now i can delete those unwanted edges only if:
-i press delete edges. it gives bad resultā€¦
-but if i undo the operation blender gets back my selection only with the top edges of my non manifold edges.
-i press delete edges again. now it deletes the top edges
-press check all again, and select non manifold edges again (gives less edges because i already deleted the top ones)
-delete edges and now i deletes all my non manifold edges
bug or operating as designed?

16-can i get a toogle mode between box and circle select? now i have four selection mode, and i have to keymap both box and circle select to avoid the other two (tweak and lasso)

17-if my selection is in radius mode, i canā€™t make loop cut, even if i click the tool on the mesh.

18-is there a way to convert my selection into another type, but keep the original selection area at the original selection type?
like i select 3 faces, then i convert them to point, deselect some of the points, but if i change back to face selection then i still have the 3 faces as selected. very useful to creates ā€œquick temporary selection setsā€

19-how can i apply a catmull clarks subdivision not as a modifier, but as a display mode, with one key (or anyhow but not as a modifier)?
if i put it as a modifier and i have modifier bevel above my subdiv modifier, then i canā€™t turn of the control mesh display, and canā€™t select any of the control vertex, edge, face ā€œprojectedā€ as subdivided surface.

20-is there a way to get poly island selection with easy like double left mouse click?

21-how can i display how many vertex is selected? would great to check vertex merge, or just get feedback as diagnostic

22-is there a way in select circle mode to get an active element at first press. because it give active element only with double click, but that means also a loop selection.

23-in this video i donā€™t get how the newly created bevels get their own vertex normals (around 15:30) iā€™m talking about the bevels those are connecting the sphere and the cylinder.

i understand the transfer normal from the sphere and the cylinder, but how the newly created bevel vertex normals are fit to those already transfered vertex normals?
He is using bevel modifier to make the already made bevel to a more dense one, and at 17:01 he set the Limit Method to weight.
Is that the key moment when the newly created bevel faces are get a proper vertex normal that aligns to the transfered one? If yes, then the Limit Method is considering the already defined vertex normals created with data transfer (transfer normals)?

24-is there a way in default uv editor to see all the uvs, not just the selected one in 3d view?

25-also is there a way to select a face in uv, and show only that face in 3d view

26-iā€™m using uv editor in a new window on a secondary display. if i try to switch back to 3d and navigate, first i get back my mouse without my navigation key (alt in this case), then i get back my alt key tĆ³ and can start navigate with my camera in the 3d view.
is there a way to switch back to 3d view to get back my camera navigation at once with the switching window? of course i have the same problem with the opposite direction, if i want to switch to uv editor, first i get back my mouse without the navigation key (alt) and then i can get back my navigation too.
big problem, because instead of navigation i get back selection (left mouse button) moving selected items (middle mouse button), or contect menu (right mouse button) instead of navigaton

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Welcome to BA! :slight_smile: Iā€™m going to answer some of your questions fairly concisely since Iā€™m on mobile. Please donā€™t misinterpret this as curtness, my fingers just hurt :sweat_smile:

X

Set the Transform Orientation in the header to Cursor instead of Global

Thereā€™s an option in Viewport Overlays (two circles icon in the header) called outline

If you have a mirror modifier, loop cuts will do this

You can do it as a modifier with Ctrl 2- you can do it destructively by Pressing W and choosing Subdivide

Viewport Overlays > scene statistics

Click on the icon in the header that looks like two diagonal arrows

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Press X, Y, or Z

If youā€™re using default Blender, esc will already cancel whatever operation youā€™re doing. I may be misunderstanding you here though

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First at all thank You for the fast reply!

X means key X or zip, zilch, nada? :slight_smile: because my key X is snapping :slight_smile: can You tell me the command so i can search after it in quick search.

"

my question was not specified enough. I really want to get the mesh transformation get not just the position of the cursor, but also the rotation.
If i set the Origin to the 3D cursor the transform of the object sets the position, but even if i c
hange the orientation, the rotation of the object stays in 0,0,0.
I need the object transform (rotation) get the values of the 3DCursor.

Outliner was already set, and i found also an outline selected option, but neither do the job i want (displaying the boundary edges)

My question was sloppy. I need the symmetry within the loop cut, not related to the object, but to the center ā€œaxisā€ of the loop cut. For example i have a loop cut with number of segments 2, and should get a symmetry mode when the 2 segments are not moving with each other, but gets closer or far away from each other but along the ā€œaxisā€ of the loop cut. Itā€™s would be a very fast way to support the edges of a subdivived model.
shot is from modo :stuck_out_tongue:


itā€™s also good if i can get this with some addon, but please then tell me the name of it.

crtl+2 is not doing anything on my side. Can You please tell me the command behind ctrl+2 so i can search that out with quick search?

my bad again. i meant not just the direction fo the axis, but also the position, like i want to move the pos of the axis to somewhere else (rotation would be also cool, but letā€™s stay at changing the pos during the process)

Sorry but on my side esc is doing nothing. For example iā€™m in loop cut, i can select the edge where the loop should be, pressing esc and tool still stays in.
Also tried Extrude Region. Still esc does nothing.
Also i tried 3DCursor, then press esc, and itā€™s still in 3DCursor mode, which is a bigger problem 3Dcursor doesnā€™t have undo, so i can screw that up really easy.

Thank You for the answers!

1 - https://maxivz.gumroad.com/l/ynJmIV
It have ā€œSmart Deleteā€ function. In case of Vertices - it will delete them. In case of face - delete them and in case of edges - dissolve them.
Ofcourse you will need to assign some hotkeys and so on.

2 - When you create new object check the undo panel* There would be a setting called - Align.
By default it set to World, if you change in to 3D Cursor you object will rotate and match you 3D cursor rotation.
*undo panel - its a panel which you can see on the bottom left corner of 3d viewport after you create object, use some tool and so on.

3 - First of all you need to enable Face mask mode. Its a 2 buttons with a face and vertices icons on top left menu of vewport. Right to the dropdown menu where would be written - Vertex paint mode.
Only after you enable you Face or Vertex mask, the Selection tool will appear in toolshelf.
Also: you can select any face/vertices in Edit mode and when switch to Vertex Paint and enable face/vertex mask button.

11 - Only with addons. https://github.com/Shulito/fit_lattice
Thereā€™s also some paid one like: https://blendermarket.com/products/fit-lattice

18 - Nope. Blender doesnt have selection sets feature. https://www.blendermarket.com/products/zen-sets
Or if you under Blender 3.x you can use free addon with selection sets feature: Forgotten tools

20 - Im not sure but if ā€œpoly islandā€ = loose parts, i.e. if you have 2 objects joined together (but meshes and NOT connected, i.e its 1 object with 2 meshes which doesnt share any single vertices) and you want to select all faces on one of them, then the answer is - not really.
Select > Select Linked will select obly loose part (and other types) but assign this specifically to double click? I guess its can be achieved with PieMenuEditor addon (Im really highly recommend this one) but i cant guaranty that. https://blendermarket.com/products/pie-menu-editor

23 - Im not really understand you question, but anyway: limit method are doesnt do anything with vertex normals at all, its just a way to tell the modifier which edges should be beveled.

Just a personal recomendation: if you doesnt want to use vanilla blender hotkeys and want to customize blender a bit - PieMenuEditor addon can really be you best friend.
Im personally heavily dislike blender vanilla hotkeys and generally UI related stuff (i was came from 3ds max) so i customize it pretty heavily.
PieMenuEditor are not only provides you pie menues. It capable of creating regular menues (like the one on the RMB), creating some macros. You can put one pie inside another pie. And you also able to run different commands with 1 single hotkey depends on context.
Like one menu when you in object mode, another one when you in Edit mode, and even if you want 3 different pie menues for Vertex, Edges and Face mode - you can do it easilly and all of that would be called with one single hotkey.

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Hey SoundsDifferent!

First, Thank You for the answers!

1-I downloaded the maxivz tool and there is a refering i donā€™t understand

Super Smart Create

ā€œIf you select one vert or two verts that share the same edge and are on a border it will invoke f2(make sure you have f2 enabled)ā€
What is it mean f2? F2 like the key? Btw i tried to activate that script, and it gives error, so i guess i donā€™t have f2 enabled :slight_smile:

2-Is this the undo panel?


Can i get it back after i created the object, or executed a tool?
Now as i can understand i can get the 3Dcursor rotation values on my Origin only if i create a new object?
But i want to align the Origin later to the 3DCursor

11-i installed the addon but i canā€™t find it. Is there a general way to find an addon if it doesnā€™t have any gui by default? itā€™s in the add-on list, so itā€™s installed.
i searched in the keymaps after addon install, and also in the quick search menu in the 3d view.

23-ok, then i rephrase my question, and forget the Limit Method :slight_smile:
I would like to know how he defines the vertex normals on those newly created beveles.
He transfers the vertex normals from the sphere, to the edge of the sphere. He transfer the vertex normals to the boolean part created with the cylinder, from the cylinder.
But i donā€™t understand how He defines the vertex normals of the bevel part, which is neither the sphere, neither the substracted cylinder part.

That PieMenuEditor looks sweet. Seems a bit to big chunk for me at first glance, but if i still have some issues that i canā€™t solve without it, iā€™ll definitely try that out!

Thank You again, lots of useful info and link from You too!

1 - F2 is an addon, yup. Cant tell more cause tbh i use maxviz only for smart delete function :slight_smile:

2 - Yuop thats the so called undo panel. You can reopen it. Its on Edit > Adjust Last Operation.
Keep in mind what you ā€œlastā€ operation are always 1 step backwards. Its not like undo where you can ctrl+z multiple times, so if some other operration was used, after creation some object, you will no longer be able to change object creation settings.
Anyway, you always can orient something to match 3D Cursor rotation by set you Transform Orientation to 3d Cursor and use Object > Transform > Align to Transform Orientation

11 - Press TAB for search menu. Afaik in industry compatible mode it should call those menu.
If not, just check: Edit > Menu Search and type there - ā€œfit latticeā€ or something you try to find.
Keep in mind what at least on Blender 3.x+ those search menu are context dependent. I.e. if you didnt select any object, search results for ā€œfit latticeā€ would be - nothing. Only when you select some object it will appear on search results.
Its a common way to search some operators which doesnt create any UI with buttons.
For making like easier: when you search some operator you can RMB on it and assign shortcut or add it to quick favorites menu.
BTW looks like maxviz have the same ā€œfit latticeā€ function. Its Quick FFD button.

23 - Vertex normals for beveled parts are default one. I.e simple interpolation as you would have by default. Cause data transfer modifiers are there, the vertex normals for sphere are not changed and they are transfered to the sphere only partially, i.e. they only apply to section of the mesh before bevel. It was done with vertex groups (the way you show modifiers which part of the mesh they should actually affect).
In this case when he create bevel with a Fuse command from MeshMachine (outstanding addon btw) the newly created vertices are doesnt added to vertex group. So we have our sphere with veretex normal transfered from original one and limited by bevel perimeter by vertex group, and bevel with normals calculated by default way.

Dont push you to use pie menu editor, just provide some info :slight_smile: Its also have ability to run external scipts directly from file. So in case you need some pretty specific stuff, you google how to do this and only thing which you find is RAW python script which you cant simply add as an addon, you can just copy&paste text of the script to txt file, rename it to somethingcool.py and run that script from pie menu button.
Vanilla way for doing that would be open a text editor in blender, create new, copy&paste text there and then run the script. Not fun at all in my opinion :slight_smile:

Thatā€™s a good one, but sadly i need my object to stay put, and rotate only the Orientation (that was my original question).
Like You move only the pivot, but not the object itself. So rotating my Object to the 3DCusors is not a solution (btw still a useful option if i want to align an object to something like a face)
So original question with an extension is: How can i not just move, but also rotate my Origin (not the Object) to a 3D cursor to get the rotation also in the transform values but the Object should stay put.
Or would be even better if i can Move and Rotate my Origin directly to a face vertex, center, and normal direction. Maybe is saw something like this in one of the addons You suggested, but if itā€™s possible i try to solve thing with default options (if itā€™s possible)

Strange but i still donā€™t find the fit lattice, even if i selected an object. Quick FFD would be perfect, but i canā€™t set the division of the lattice (number of the control points of the lattice)
Anyhow Quick FFD is better then nothing, and some of the cases is enough :slight_smile:

Question 27:
Is there a way to delete or deactivate the Annotate shortcut D?
I canā€™t find it in keymap neither searching after key D or Annotate?
Would be awesome to kick out that feature from key D

Question 28:
Is there a way to copy all my blender settings, not just the config and startu file, to make a ā€œghost fileā€ so if i reset blender, i can just simply copy it back?
i already found this, but iā€™t creates ā€œonlyā€ a json file, so i still have to get my addons on the same location.

is there a way, i donā€™t know, like copy the entire blender folder and zip it as a backup? :slight_smile:

That running external scripts tip is also very useful!

Thank You again for the answers!

FYI
one of my ex colleague (i have some, and they are hurt frequently since i started learning blender) show me this kit:

basically it is doing all the things with the Origin what i want.
It also works perfectly to question number 2: Align Origin(s) to selection, press button and bam! Origin is at the selection and not just the pos but also the rot values are stored in the transform.

question 29:
bridge with edge loop (and vertex merge)
how can i do this kind of bridge?


i checked maxivz tool and also the quick search, but i see only one kind of bridge which connects the non connected edges.

Grid Fill (I usually just do W > Grid Fill) will do this

13-is there a way to create loopcut with symmetry attibute?
my screenshot is not the above, so i made a new one:

13 - if we speak about already created edges, it looks like only way to achieve that is: create 1 loop between the two which was already created and when use this one: https://github.com/twinkelmann/niche-loops
ā€œAdjust Adjacent Loopsā€ function will ā€œshrinkā€ or ā€œspreadā€ the side loops with a center loop as a symmetry line.

Hey, thatā€™s better than nothing! :slight_smile: Thanks!

Just keep in mind what those addon are actually does. It may looks like its slide the edges around loop, but actually he simply change the length of the edge use central loop vertex as pivot point for transformation.

hmm, why should i keep that in mind? :slight_smile:
i mean, yeah sure, every operation is some kind of math operation.
iā€™m a 3d artist not a software engineer :slight_smile: i just need tools that are already exist in industry since 20 or more years :slight_smile:
but at least blender has a great community and lot of kind of addons so most of the features can be executed somehow :smiley:

also question number 5, 19, 26, 27, 28, 29 would be soo esential to use :slight_smile:

Thank You again for all the great help!

Thank You! Works perfectly fine!

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