While working on vertices, and wanting a bit more precision than I can get with a mouse, I use the transform panel of the properties shelf in the 3D viewport. But to do this, I have to move the mouse over to the panel, make my adjustments with the keyboard, and then mouse back over to the vertices I'm working with. Is there a shortcut or hotkey that could eliminate the mouse moves?
2 Answers
You can also use the keyboard shortcuts combined with the Arrow Keys.
For example: in top view pressing G and the up/down arrow keys will move the selected vertices on the vertical (Y) axis. The left and right arrows will move on the horixontal (X) axis.
On any side view, the up/down arrows will control movement on the Z axis.
You can still use constraints like GX, G Y, GZ to limit the movement to one axis
The precision of your movements will depend on how far you zoom in on the viewport.
For even smaller moves you can press Shift while pressing the arrow keys.
You can type the amount you want to transform the vertices when using G, S and R.
E.g. GX -3 will translate the selection -3
blender units on the X axis.
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$\begingroup$ I agree. But what I usually want is to move a vertex that has a dimension on the z axis of 31.873 to 30.742. It's quicker to use the z parameter in the transform panel to enter 30.742 than it is to calculate the difference (-1.131), and then use the key combination "GX-1.131". Achieves the same result, but not as fast or efficient as if there was a hotkey or hotkey combination, for example, "Z that would directly access that parameter. $\endgroup$– brasshatCommented Sep 4, 2014 at 19:28
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$\begingroup$ You can type in an expression if you press
=
, e.g.G X = 31.873-30.742
$\endgroup$– gandalf3Commented Sep 4, 2014 at 19:34 -
$\begingroup$ True, and that's a capability I use frequently in Blender (and in GIMP, too, which supports regular expressions), but not so much when using g, s, and r. Thanks for reminding me. $\endgroup$– brasshatCommented Sep 4, 2014 at 19:43
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$\begingroup$ Or to improve on the idea, "GZ might be a good hotkey combination for directly accessing the Z dimension in the translation panel in edit or object mode; "SY might similarly be a good combination to directly access the X dimension in the Scale panel in object mode, and "RX might be a good combination to access the amount to rotate the value around the x axis. $\endgroup$– brasshatCommented Sep 4, 2014 at 20:15