Substance Painter Hotkeys

For a full list of all the hotkeys, and more information on every hotkey, take a look at the Official Adobe Hotkey List.

Peripherals, Stylus mapping & Navigation

For Substance Painter, I use a keyboard as well as either a display tablet with a stylus that has 2 buttons or a mouse.
Front Stylus Button ➡️ MMB Back Stylus Button ➡️

Substance Painter’s navigation hotkeys aren’t usable with a tablet and stylus, so they need to be remapped.

(Edit>Settings>Shortcuts) Camera rotate ➡️ MMB Camera snap rotate ➡️ Alt + MMB Camera translate ➡️ Shift + MMB Camera zoom ➡️ Ctrl + MMB Auto focus ➡️ Ctrl + Alt + Shift + MMB (this one as well, as it would be in the way of another hotkey)

Function	Key
Rotate	MMB
Snap Rotate	Alt + MMB
Pan	Shift + MMB
Zoom	Ctrl + MMB or Scroll

Situationally dependent hotkey helper

Holding Alt, Ctrl, or Shift will show a list of hotkeys, that work with that key.

General §

Function	Key	Notes
HDRI / Light rotation	Shift + RMB
Toggle Camera Depth	F5 & F6	F5 enables perspective view, which shows depth (object farther from the camera are smaller). F6 enables orthographic view, which has no depth (objects will be a constant size, no mater how far from the camera they are).
Switch Between Channels	C & Shift + C
Switch Between Baked Channels	B & Shift + B
Material Mode	M
Switch Texture Sets	Ctrl + Alt + RMB
Center Mesh	F

UI & Menus §

Function	Key	Notes
Hide UI	Tab
3D & UV View	F1
3D Only View	F2
UV Only View	F3
Swap between 3D & UV View	F4
Context Menu	RMB	A portable version of the properties window.
Switch to Painting Window	F9
Switch to Rendering Window	F10

Painting §

Function	Key	Notes
Brush	1
Eraser	2
Lazy Mouse	D
Symmetry	L
Pick Material	p	Sort of works like a color picker, just with more capabilities. Doesn’t replace the need for the normal color picker.
Resize	Ctrl + RMB + Drag Left / Right
Hardness	Ctrl + RMB + Drag Up / Down
Rotate	Ctrl + LMB + Drag Up / Down
Flow	Ctrl + LMB + Drag Left / Right
Straight Line	Shift + LMB	Ctrl + Shift + LMB to snap the straight line to rotation degrees.
Polygon Fill	4
Smudge	5
Clone Tool	6
Set Clone Tool Source	V + LMB	Great for removing seams and fixing small mistakes.
Switch to Alternate Toolbar Tools	Ctrl + 1 / 2 / …	Most of these tools are particle simulated version of the base tools.
Pause & Resume Particle Animation	Space
Invert Grayscale Slider (Tools)	X	For inverting the color in masks.

Masking & Hiding §

Function	Key	Notes
Reveal Layer Mask	Alt + LMB on mask
Toggle Layer Mask	Shift + LMB on mask
Toggle Geometry Mask	Alt + H
Isolate Texture Set	Alt + Q
Quick Mask	Y & U	Y activates/ deactivated quick mask. U switches between toolbar tools and quick mask edit. Ctrl + Shift + I inverts quick mask (only works in quick mask edit). X switches between white and black in quick mask edit. Deactivating quick mask with Y will reset the mask.

Layer & Properties §

Function	Key	Notes
Group Layer	Ctrl + G
Duplicate Layer	Ctrl + D
Copy & Paste Layer	Ctrl + C & V	A slower version of duplicate layer, but allows moving layers between texture sets.
Paste Layer Instance	Ctrl + Shift + V	Instanced layers can’t be modified and are a live link to the original layer. Good for sharing material setups between texture sets.
Disable all other Material Channels	Ctrl + LMB on channel
Cycle Through Blend Modes	Arrow Up + Arrow Down

Other §

Function	Key	Notes
UV Space Manipulator	➡️	Q hides/ shows the manipulator. Ctrl scale, scales from origin point. Shift scale, keeps aspect ratio intact while scaling (Ctrl and Shift scale can be combined). Shift rotate, snap rotates. Shift move, locks movement to U / V axis. All other options are in the top bar.

Material §

Function	Key	Notes
Drag Material	RMB drag on to object	Ctrl + Drag to add material to selected mesh parts.

Projection §

Function	Key	Notes
Projection	3
Move Projection	W
Rotate Projection	E
Scale Projection	R
Hide Projection	Q
Rotate Projection	S + LMB
Zoom Projection	S + RMB
Pan Projection	S + MMB
Group Selected	Ctrl + G

🚧 ToDo §

• Stencil hotkeys
• Finish projection hotkeys