Keyboard shortcuts every Maya user must know

Maya is one of the most popular Animation software widely used by studios and hobbyist. It has advanced features and tools sets that other software currently doesn’t offer making it the most preferred software in a pipeline.

Having many tools to work with can be sometimes very painful especially when you have to go through many menus resulting in a slower workflow.

Here are some keyboard shortcuts that can help you speed up your workflow(the keyboard shortcut may very depending on the Maya version you are using).

1. File Operations
   Ctrl (or Command)	n	File > New Scene
   Ctrl (or Command)	o	File > Open Scene
   Ctrl (or Command)	s	File > Save Scene
   Ctrl (or Command)	Shift + s	File > Save Scene As
   Ctrl (or Command)	q	File > Exit
   Ctrl	r	Create file reference

2. Selecting Objects and Components
   	F8	Select > Object/Component (Switch between object   and component editing)
   	F9	Select > Vertex
   	F10	Select > Edge
   	F11	Select > Face
   	F12	Select > UV
   Ctrl	i	Select next intermediate object
   Alt	F9	Select > Vertex Face
   		Shrink polygon selection region
   	>	Grow polygon selection region

3. Selecting Menus
   Ctrl	m	Show/hide main menu bar
   Shift	M	Show/hide panel menu bar
   Ctrl+Shift	M	Show/hide panel toolbar
   	h	With left mouse button for Menu Set marking menu
   	F2	Show Animation menu set
   	F3	Show Polygons menu set
   	F4	Show Modeling menu set
   	F5	Show Dynamics menu set
   	F6	Show Rendering menu set

4. Tool Operations
   	Return	Complete current tool
   	Insert	Enter tool Edit mode
   Shift	Q	Select Tool, or with left mouse button for  Component marking menu
   Alt	q	Select Tool, or with left mouse button for Polygon  marking menu
   	q	Select Tool, or with left mouse button for Selection  Mask marking menu
   	w	Move Tool, or with left mouse button for Move Tool  marking menu
   	e	Rotate Tool, or with left mouse button for Rotate  Tool marking menu
   	r	Scale Tool, or with left mouse button for Scale Tool  marking menu
   Ctrl	t	Show universal manipulator tool
   	t	Show manipulator tool
   	y	Selects the last used tool that is not one of Select,  Move, Rotate, or Scale
   	j	Move, Rotate, Scale Tool Snapping (press and  release)
   	=, +	Increase manipulator size
   	–	Decrease manipulator size
   	d	With left mouse button move pivot (Move Tool)
   	Insert	Switches between move pivot and move object  (Move Tool)

5. Displaying Objects (Show, Hide)
   Ctrl	h	Display > Hide > Hide Selection
   Shift	H	Display > Show > Show Selection
   Ctrl+Shift	H	Display > Show > Show Last Hidden
   Alt	h	Display > Hide > Hide Unselected Objects
   Shift	l	Show > Isolate Select > View Selected (in the  panel menus)

6. Tumble, Track, or Dolly
   Alt	Left mouse button	Tumble Tool (press and release)
   Alt	Middle mouse button	Track Tool (press and release)
   Alt	Right mouse button	Dolly Tool (press and release)

7. 2D Pan/Zoom
   +	Middle mouse button	2D Pan tool
   +	Right mouse button	2D Zoom tool
   \		Enable/disable 2D Pan/Zoom.

8. Hotbox Display
   	space	(When pressed down) Show the hotbox
   Alt	m	Default Hotbox Style (Zones and Menu Rows)

9. Edit Operations
   	z	Edit > Undo (also Ctrl+z/Command+z)
   Shift	Z	Edit > Redo
   	g	Edit > Repeat
   Shift	G	Repeat command at mouse position
   Ctrl	d	Edit > Duplicate
   Ctrl+Shift	D	Edit > Duplicate Special
   Shift	D	Edit > Duplicate with Transform
   Ctrl	g	Edit > Group
   	p	Edit > Parent
   Shift	P	Edit > Unparent
   Ctrl (or Command)	x	Edit > Cut
   Ctrl (or Command)	c	Edit > Copy
   Ctrl (or Command)	v	Edit > Paste

10. Modeling Operations
    	1	Default polygon mesh display (no smoothing)
    	2	Cage + smooth polygon mesh display
    	3	Smooth polygon mesh display
    Ctrl	F9	Convert polygon selection to Vertices
    Ctrl	F10	Convert polygon selection to Edges
    Ctrl	F11	Covert polygon selection to Faces
    Ctrl	F12	Covert polygon selection to UVs
    Ctrl	`	Proxy > Subdiv ProxyDisplays original mesh (proxy) and a smoothed version of the original.
    Ctrl+Shift	`	Proxy > Subdiv Proxy > (Box icon)Displays Subdiv Proxy options window
    	`	Toggles the display between the original (proxy) and the smoothed mesh.
    	~	Displays both the original (proxy) and the smoothed mesh.
    Alt	`	Modify > Convert > NURBS to Subdiv, Polygons to Subdiv
    Alt+Shift	~	Displays option window for Modify > Convert > NURBS to Subdiv > (Box icon)or Polygons to Subdiv > (Box icon)  (depending on whether NURBS or Polygons are selected).
    	Page Up	Increases Division Levels for Smooth Mesh Preview or Subdiv Proxy.
    	Page Down	Decreases Division Levels for Smooth Mesh Preview or Subdiv Proxy.
    	l	Lock/unlock length of a curve (press and hold)

    Thank you for reading,

Have a question? leave a comment below or discuss on Hacker News