3D Coat Keyboard Shortcuts: Complete List for Windows & Mac (2026)

The most essential 3D Coat shortcuts are: Ctrl+Z (Undo), Ctrl+S (Save), B (Color Picker popup), Ctrl+Shift+N (Add New Layer), Spacebar (Show Tools Panel), and Ctrl+P (Edit All Layers in External Editor). On Mac, replace Ctrl with Command. These six shortcuts cover the actions most artists trigger dozens of times per session.

3D Coat (also written as 3DCoat) is a professional digital sculpting and texturing application developed by Pilgway. It is widely used by game artists, concept artists, and VFX professionals to sculpt organic and hard-surface 3D models, create UV maps, paint PBR textures, and retopologize meshes. 3D Coat works alongside tools like Blender, ZBrush, Autodesk Maya, and Adobe Substance Painter via its Applinks plugin system.

Learning 3D Coat keyboard shortcuts eliminates the need to navigate menus for actions you perform constantly switching brushes, adjusting opacity, toggling layers, or jumping to the external editor. Professional 3D artists who master hotkeys can cut repetitive navigation time by 30–50% per session. This guide covers every keyboard shortcut in 3D Coat for both Windows and Mac, including shortcuts specific to the Sculpt Room, Retopo Room, UV Room, and Paint Room.

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Two shortcuts that 3D Coat users search most often: the Color Picker shortcut is B (opens the color picker popup) or V (picks color directly from the canvas). In the Paint Room, you can also hold Alt and click on any surface to sample a color identical to the eyedropper in Photoshop. To send your current layer to an external editor like Photoshop, press Ctrl+P on Windows or Command+P on Mac.

File menu shortcuts

Edit menu shortcuts

View menu shortcuts

Layer operations shortcuts

Freeze operations shortcuts

Popup panels shortcuts

Slider controls shortcuts

Camera & navigation shortcuts

General operations shortcuts

Hide operations shortcuts

Splines shortcuts

Smoothing shortcuts

Color & specularity shortcuts

Mouse & tablet navigation shortcuts

How to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts in 3D Coat

3D Coat allows you to reassign almost any keyboard shortcut to any tool, brush, or menu action directly inside the application without editing config files. This is done using the built-in END key method, which works in every room including Sculpt, Retopo, UV, and Paint. Custom shortcuts are saved per-user and persist across sessions when exported correctly.

1. Open 3D Coat and navigate to the tool you want to reassign

You do not need to open any settings menu. The shortcut assignment system works directly in the main interface. Navigate to the room (Sculpt, Paint, Retopo, or UV) where the tool lives shortcuts are room-aware in 3D Coat, meaning the same key can do different things in different rooms.

2. Hover your mouse over the tool, button, or menu item

Position your cursor over the item you want to assign a shortcut to. This works for toolbar buttons, panel icons, brush names in the brush list, and menu entries. The item does not need to be active hovering is enough to trigger the assignment prompt in the next step.

3. Press the END key on your keyboard

With your cursor hovering over the tool, press END. A dialog box will appear showing the tool’s name and asking you to press the key you want to assign. If you are on a laptop without a dedicated END key, use Fn + Right Arrow (on most laptops) or remap via Edit → Preferences → Keyboard.

4. Press your desired key or key combination

When the prompt appears, press the shortcut you want to assign for example Q, Ctrl+1, or Alt+B. If the key is already assigned to another action, 3D Coat will present two options:

Reassign: replaces the existing shortcut with your new one.
Stack: adds your tool to the same key, so pressing it cycles between both assigned tools. This is useful for grouping similar brushes under one key.

5. Confirm the assignment and test it immediately

After pressing your key combination, the dialog will close and the shortcut is live immediately no restart required. Test it by pressing your new key while in the correct room. If it does not work, check that you are in the right room (Sculpt, Paint, etc.) and that the key is not being intercepted by a system-level shortcut on your OS.

6. Save your custom shortcut layout

3D Coat does not always auto-save custom hotkeys between sessions. To permanently save your layout, go to Edit → Save/Load Hotkeys → Save Hotkeys and save the file somewhere you can access it. This also lets you:

• Back up your shortcuts before reinstalling 3D Coat.
• Share your hotkey layout with teammates or across machines.
• Load a preset layout when switching between projects with different workflow requirements.

How to reset 3D Coat shortcuts to default

If your custom shortcuts cause conflicts or you want to start fresh, go to Edit → Save/Load Hotkeys → Load Default Hotkeys. This restores all shortcuts to the factory settings that shipped with your version of 3D Coat. Your previously saved custom layout file is not deleted you can reload it at any time from the same menu.

Shortcuts that cannot be reassigned

A small number of 3D Coat shortcuts are reserved and cannot be overridden using the END key method. These include:

• Ctrl+Z / Command+Z — Undo (system-level in all rooms)
• Ctrl+S / Command+S — Save (system-level)
• Mouse button assignments (these are changed via Edit → Preferences → Navigation)

All other shortcuts including brush names, panel toggles, and tool selections are freely reassignable.

FAQs

What is the color picker shortcut in 3D Coat?

3D Coat has two color picker shortcuts depending on how you want to pick a color. Press B to open the color picker popup panel, where you can select any color manually. Press V to pick a color directly from the canvas surface without opening a panel this is the faster option during active painting. In the Paint Room, you can also hold Alt and click on any part of the model to sample that color, working exactly like the eyedropper tool in Photoshop. On Mac, the same keys apply: B, V, and Alt+click all work identically.

How do I use the Edit in External Editor shortcut in 3D Coat?

To send your current layers to an external editor like Photoshop or GIMP, press Ctrl+P on Windows or Command+P on Mac. This opens all visible layers as a flattened file in whichever external application you have configured in 3D Coat’s preferences. To edit only the projection (not all layers), use Ctrl+Alt+P on Windows or Command+Option+P on Mac. After editing in the external app and saving the file, 3D Coat automatically updates the texture you do not need to re-import manually. To set or change your external editor, go to Edit → Preferences → External Editor and browse to your application.

How do I customize keyboard shortcuts in 3D Coat?

3D Coat lets you assign a custom shortcut to almost any tool or function using the END key method:

1. Hover your mouse over the tool or menu item you want to assign a shortcut to.
2. Press the END key on your keyboard. A prompt will appear asking you to enter your desired shortcut.
3. Press the key combination you want to assign.
4. If the key is already in use, 3D Coat will ask whether to reassign it or stack it (cycling between tools with one key).
5. Go to Edit → Save/Load Hotkeys to save your custom layout so it persists across sessions.

This method works for brushes, tools, panels, and most menu actions making 3D Coat one of the most customizable 3D applications for hotkey configuration.

What is the shortcut to undo and redo in 3D Coat?

The undo shortcut in 3D Coat is Ctrl+Z on Windows and Command+Z on Mac. To redo, press Ctrl+Y on Windows or Command+Y on Mac. These shortcuts work across all rooms in 3D Coat Sculpt, Retopo, UV, and Paint. Note that the undo history depth can be adjusted in Edit → Preferences → Undo History increasing this is recommended for complex sculpting sessions where you may need to step back many actions.

How do I navigate and orbit in 3D Coat without a numpad?

By default, 3D Coat uses number keys for camera views: 2 (Front), 8 (Back), 4 (Left), 6 (Right), 7 (Top), 1 (Bottom). To orbit the view with a mouse, hold the middle mouse button and drag. To pan, hold Alt and drag with the middle mouse button (or use the right mouse button depending on your navigation preset). To zoom, scroll the mouse wheel or hold Alt and drag the right mouse button. If you are on a laptop without a numpad or middle mouse button, go to Edit → Preferences → Navigation to remap camera controls to keys that work for your setup.

Are 3D Coat shortcuts the same on Windows and Mac?

Almost all 3D Coat shortcuts are identical between Windows and Mac, with one consistent rule: wherever Windows uses Ctrl, Mac uses Command. Where Windows uses Alt, Mac uses Option. Single-key shortcuts like B for Color Picker, S for Symmetry, Spacebar for the Tools Panel are exactly the same on both platforms. The function keys (F1–F12) and numpad camera shortcuts are also platform-identical. The only area where shortcuts may differ is in system-level conflicts for example, Ctrl+P on Mac may conflict with macOS system shortcuts depending on your OS version, in which case you can reassign using the END key method.

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