One day, Christophe SYREN reached out to me after using my HotKeyboard Blender addon, which shows all the shortcuts in the viewport in real time. He liked it, but his message ended with something unexpected:
“I’m French… this doesn’t really work with my keyboard.”
That was the moment I first truly realized something important:
Not everyone uses QWERTY.
The Discovery Moment 
As I talked more with him, I learned that many French artists use AZERTY keyboards, and for them, copying Blender keyboard shortcuts from tutorials is a real struggle.
Shortcuts don’t sit where tutorials say they should. Muscle memory breaks. Learning becomes slower.
Christophe asked a simple question:
“Can you convert HotKeyboard to AZERTY?”
At first, I thought:
“Sure… this should just be a simple conversion.”
I was wrong. Very wrong 
When “Easy” Turns Into a Nightmare 
Once I started working on it, things quickly went downhill.
- My French knowledge is very limited
- I had to rely on virtual keyboards
- Windows, macOS, and Linux all show different AZERTY layouts
- Some special characters change position depending on the OS
- Blender’s keymapping behaves differently than expected
Testing became painful.
Even after 50+ test versions, I still couldn’t achieve a stable, reliable AZERTY version.
Honestly… this was the give-up moment.
Breaking the Problem Down 
Instead of quitting, I decided to break the problem into smaller failures and solve them one by one.
Problem 1: Virtual Keyboards
Solution?
I built my own virtual keyboard system, so I could control accuracy instead of guessing.
Problem 2: Blender Keymapping
This was even harder.
Understanding how Blender internally handles keymaps—especially across layouts—took time, patience, and many failed tests.
The Breakthrough 
After breaking everything down and rebuilding it properly…
I finally managed to create a stable HotKeyboard AZERTY addon.
An addon that:
- Actually matches real AZERTY layouts
- Helps French users learn shortcuts visually
- Removes the frustration of translating QWERTY tutorials
- Works inside Blender, in real time
Why I’m Sharing This
This addon exists because one user spoke up.
It reminded me that small feedback can uncover big, overlooked problems—especially in global communities like Blender’s.
If you’re an AZERTY user, this one’s for you.
Addon Link:
https://superhivemarket.com/products/french-keyboard-shortcuts---hotkeyboard-azerty
Alternate link
I’d love to hear feedback from other AZERTY users, and yes, I now have huge respect for non-QWERTY layouts 