Blender Hotkey/Key binds Tutorial and Cheat Sheet

All you need to know about the keyboard shortcuts. Blender keyboard shortcuts are absolutely necessary to maximize your workflow efficiency. It'll seem daunting at first, but just start using Blender, reference this guide when working, and you should have them down!

Intro and Background

A little about myself. I have been using Blender since version 2.5, starting about 3 or 4 years ago if I remember correctly. I was first irritated at Blender's steep learning curve. I finally got past it, I realized its full potential, and starting following every decent tutorial I could find to sharpen my skills. Ever since then I've follen in love with Blender and its community. I was told today (April 26th, 2015) that Blender was on Steam.

I remembered my frustration and want fewer people to have to go through what I went through, so here I am, writing this guide on the couch, hoping my laptop won't die on me. The one thing that helped me get started on Blender was I found a key cheat sheet for Blender. I printed it out and taped it on the wall next to my monitor. Ever since then I have most Blender keys memorized, and if I don't I just hit my spacebar, type in what I'm trying to do, and memorize that shortcut (no I don't sit there and go "hmm merge... Alt+m, merge, alt+m, merge, alt+m..."; I eventually memorize it by just repeating the process, since I normally am doing the process multiple times (aka merging vertices together to optimize a mesh for Source SDK).

Please let me know if I missed a key that would be helpful for users. I'm going to be making a guide on how to USE blender and not just the keys to use it. Also I am stil making this guide, however I want to help you guys out as soon as possible, so please be patient as I roll this guide out along with finished projects from school, as it is near the end of the semester and finals are coming up :O

Absolute Basics

These are the absolute basics of Blender. You'll be using these keys almost everywhere in Blender, so be sure to get these down.

Key	Description
G	Move. Use this button to move your objects/clips/nodes/etc. around
R	Rotate. Use this button to rotate your objects.
S	Scale. Use this button to scale your objects.
Ctrl	Moves/rotates/scales/adjusts by snapping to common simple values (e.g. Move cube 1 unit on the z axis exactly)
Shift	Moves/rotates/scales/adjusts by slowing down movement speed, allowing for precision adjustments (e.g. Rotate cube my 14.54 degrees on the Z axis)
Middle Mouse Button	Moves view in 2D view (menus, toolbars, video sequencer, etc.). Orbits in 3D views around your viewpoint (see 3D Viewport "." key for more information about your viewpoint)
Scroll Middle Mouse	Zoom

Look for more detailed controls in their specific section.

3D Viewport

Key(s)	Description
Tab	Switches viewport from Object mode to Edit mode or vice versus. Edit mode allows you to edit the mesh's geometry (vertices). Object mode allows you to move, scale, and rotate the entire object along its origin.
Shift + Middle Mouse Button	Allows you to truck or move your view around.

Animation

Key(s)	Description
i	Creates a keyframe of the current object in the timeline at your current position. Multiple options are given when you press "i". You select what you want to keyframe, like Location, Rotation, Scale, or a combination fo those. You can also keyframe slider values (e.g. Material sliders)

[idiot 3]

https://youtu.be/uvaoWPARmRA

[Ein]

all edit mode: ctrl r for insert edge loop, ctrl b for bevel or chamfer, j for join vertexes, k for knife, alt s scale based on normals, e extrude, ctrl x dissolve edge or vert
Master those and u can do anything. Also with booltool (Free and already able to activate in blender) or Hard Ops (paid addon) u cant ctrl - (the numpad -) u can boolean an object from another one.

[Sidney]

Where are the hotkeys? Complete list of hotkeys: https://download.blender.org/documentation/BlenderHotkeyReference.pdf

[FreedonianArrow]

i found a hotkey list but only with short descriptions
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/blender-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

[Chiki]

This is missing Alot of keys besides the basic ones

[The solar flare.]

how do change color of an object?

[JacksonML]

@BLOATEDPOOPFUNGUS Have you tried to reset your key configuration? That would be the easiest possible solution. Go to File->User Preferences->Input and then under the Presets drop down on the left, choose Blender.

[Recovering from depression]

How do I reconfigure the view button? When I try to use the middle mouse button to look at my model, its always getting stuck and wont move correctly.