Cinema 4D Keyboard Shortcuts: Complete List for Windows & Mac (2026)

Cinema 4D keyboard shortcuts are key combinations that trigger commands instantly, letting you skip the menus and keep your hands on the keyboard while you model, animate, and render. Learning even a handful of them is the single fastest way to speed up your workflow in Maxon’s Cinema 4D.

This page lists every essential Cinema 4D shortcut, organized by category File, Modeling, Animation, Rendering, and more with the keys for both Windows and Mac. You’ll also find the 15 most-used shortcuts to learn first, how to create your own custom shortcuts in the Command Manager, and a free downloadable PDF cheat sheet you can keep beside your workspace.

The 15 Most-Used Cinema 4D Shortcuts

If you only memorize a handful of Cinema 4D shortcuts, make it these. They cover the move, rotate, scale, and selection actions you reach for in almost every session the fastest way to stop hunting through menus and stay in your workflow.

File Shortcuts

Rendering Shortcuts

View Shortcuts

Object Manager Shortcuts

Animation Timeline Shortcuts

Editor Shortcuts

Modeling Shortcuts

Picture Viewer Shortcuts

Structure Manager Shortcuts

How to Customize Keyboard Shortcuts in Cinema 4D

Every command in Cinema 4D is fully customizable. If a default key doesn’t suit your workflow, you can reassign it or add a second shortcut to a command through the Command Manager. According to Maxon’s official documentation, every Cinema 4D command, including those added by plug-ins, can be assigned any number of keyboard shortcuts here.

Assign a custom shortcut

1. Open the Command Manager with Shift + F12 (Window → Customization → Customize Commands).
2. Use the search filter to find the command you want, then click it in the list.
3. Click inside the Keyboard Shortcuts field and press your desired key combination it appears in the field but isn’t assigned yet.
4. Click Assign to replace the selected shortcut, or Add to give the command an extra shortcut without removing the existing one.

To remove a shortcut, select it in the list for that command and click Delete. The Execute button runs the selected command, which is a quick way to confirm you picked the right one out of the thousands available.

Restrict a shortcut to one manager

The same key can mean different things in different parts of Cinema 4D. Using the Restrict to menu, you can limit a shortcut to a single manager so, for example, pressing 1 can move the camera globally but create a new material when your cursor is over the Material Manager. A restricted shortcut takes priority over a global one whenever the cursor is over that manager’s window.

Create hierarchical shortcuts

Cinema 4D also supports hierarchical shortcuts, triggered by pressing two or more keys in sequence rather than together. In the Keyboard Shortcuts field, press the keys one after another (a tilde appears between them, e.g. A~A) and click Assign. This lets you build deep, organized shortcut sets without running out of key combinations.

Save and reuse your shortcut set

Custom shortcut sets are saved as .res files in your Maxon preferences folder (on Windows, typically Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Maxon\C4D-Version\prefs\shortcuts). You can duplicate, rename, load, or delete sets from the Command Manager’s preset controls which means you can back up your shortcuts or carry them over from an older Cinema 4D version. The default set that ships with Cinema 4D cannot be deleted or renamed, so you can always return to it.

Tip: avoid assigning operating-system combinations such as Ctrl + Alt + Del, and remember that on Mac, Ctrl maps to Cmd and Alt maps to Option.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most-used Cinema 4D shortcuts?

The most-used Cinema 4D shortcuts are E (Move), R (Rotate), T (Scale), and C (Make Editable). These four cover the actions an artist performs in nearly every session, along with Ctrl + S to save and Shift + Z to undo the last action.

Are Cinema 4D shortcuts the same on Mac and Windows?

Cinema 4D shortcuts are nearly identical on Mac and Windows, with the modifier keys swapped: Ctrl becomes Cmd and Alt becomes Option. Single-key shortcuts like E, R, and T, as well as function keys, work the same on both platforms. On some Mac keyboards you may need to hold the fn key to use the F1–F12 shortcuts, depending on your system settings.

Can I customize keyboard shortcuts in Cinema 4D?

Yes, Cinema 4D lets you assign a custom shortcut to any command through the Command Manager, opened with Shift + F12. Each command can have any number of shortcuts, and the same key can be assigned to different commands in different managers. Custom shortcut sets are saved as .res files in your Maxon preferences folder, so you can back them up or reuse them across versions.

Where can I download a Cinema 4D shortcuts PDF?

You can download a free Cinema 4D shortcuts PDF from this page using the download button above. The PDF lists every shortcut by category for both Windows and Mac, so you can keep a printable cheat sheet next to your workspace.

What is the difference between a shortcut and a hotkey in Cinema 4D?

In Cinema 4D, a keyboard shortcut is a key or key combination that instantly triggers a command, while a hotkey is a key you hold down while moving the mouse to perform an action. For example, pressing C makes an object editable (a shortcut), whereas holding 1 to pan the camera is a hotkey. Maxon makes this distinction in its official documentation.

How do I move, rotate, and scale objects in Cinema 4D?

Press E to move, R to rotate, and T to scale objects in Cinema 4D. These three single-key shortcuts switch between the core transform tools and are identical on Windows and Mac.

Do Cinema 4D shortcuts change between versions?

The default Cinema 4D shortcuts stay largely consistent between versions, though Maxon occasionally adds or reassigns keys as features change. Because shortcuts are fully customizable, the most reliable reference for your install is the Command Manager (Shift + F12), which shows the exact key assigned to each command. The shortcuts on this page were verified for the current Cinema 4D release.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to memorize all 90+ Cinema 4D shortcuts at once. Start with the move, rotate, and scale keys (E, R, T) plus Make Editable (C), and let the rest become muscle memory as you hit the tasks that need them. The goal isn’t to learn a list it’s to stop breaking your focus to hunt through menus, so modeling, animation, and rendering stay in one continuous flow.

When a default key doesn’t fit your workflow, remember that every shortcut in Cinema 4D is customizable through the Command Manager (Shift + F12), and your custom set saves with your Maxon preferences so it follows you across projects and versions.

Cinema 4D, developed by Maxon, is an all-in-one suite for 3D modeling, animation, and motion graphics. If you’re exploring other tools, Blender and Autodesk 3ds Max are the two most common alternatives.

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