Shift for a change

SHIFT FOR A CHANGE

Howdy. It's been a while. With 3 kids in sports and a full time job, there's not much time left for blogging!

This week's (month's ?)  topic, the Shift key.

Did you know there is a whole other world of commands available by just holding down the shift key?

Here's a quick list to get you started.
- Shift + Right mouse button will bring up your OSNAPs during editing commands providing your Right Click options are set accordingly in Options > User Preferences > Right-click Customization.  See below.
These are not the default preferences, but they are what I think most people prefer, particularly us 'old timers'. Experiment to see what you like.

- Shift + Left mouse button will remove objects from your selection set providing you are selecting the objects before issuing a command (Noun/Verb mode). In otherwords, select a bunch of objects so you see their grips, then Shift+Left click on things to remove them from your selection set.  


TIP: Once in a while "Shift to add" option may have been changed. So if you find that when you pick on objects, the first object picked gets unpicked, take a look a Options > Selection and make sure Shift to Add is not selected. See below.

- If you want to FILLET or CHAMFER with a 0 distance, start the FILLET or CHAMFER command, pick your first line, hold down shift and pick the second line. It will fillet with a 0 radius without changing the radius you may have previously set.



- If you hold down SHIFT while using Trim or Extend it will perform the opposite command, so you can issue the TRIM command, trim a few lines, then hold down shift and when you pick lines, they will EXTEND to the 'trim' line.



- Shift + Middle mouse button (wheel) will do one of two things:



1. Hold Shift then Middle mouse button (wheel) and you will start a 3D orbit around your model as you move your mouse.



2. Hold Middle mouse button then hold Shift and you will Pan orthogonally vertical or horizontal when you move your mouse. I really like this when panning in viewports.


Kind of Unrelated TIP: To pan in viewports by a specific amount, use the -pan command line. For instance, in an unlocked viewport type -pan, pick a point, move the cursor a bit and just type in the amount you want to pan. This is great for plan and profiles if you're a civil kinda' person.


You can customize shift, ctrl, and alt clicks in the CUI as well. So, if you have a 5 or more button mouse, you can have all sorts of commands available at your fingertips. Literally.


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Shift in plain ol' Windows does some neat stuff too.


For instance pick on a file in Windows Explorer, Shift+Right click and you can select "copy as path". This is a great way to email someone in your company where a file is located on the network. This option is not available in the regular Right Click menu.


To sum things up:
It doesn't hurt to right click or shift + right click to see what happens. Even Ctrl+right click and Alt+right click do different things. Experiment! It doesn't hurt anything, and there's always Undo if it does! You just may want to save first though. ;-) As a coworker of mine always says, "When in doubt, right click it out."


Well, gotta get ready for a soccer game and lacrosse practice... see ya.


Lyle