From BlenderWiki

This chapter gives an overview of the general mouse and keyboard usage in Blender and the conventions used in this Manual to describe them, as well as tips on how to use non-standard devices.

Input configuration

Blender's interface is designed to be used with the following recommended input configuration:

• A three-button mouse with a wheel
• A full keyboard with a numeric keypad
• NumLock should generally be switched on.

If you do not have the recommended configuration (i.e., you are using a laptop), it is possible to change the Blender user preferences to emulate it.

Read more about Blender configuration »

Conventions in this Manual

This manual uses the following conventions to describe user input:

• The mouse buttons are called:

LMB - left mouse button

MMB - middle mouse button and

RMB - right mouse button.

• If your mouse has a wheel

MMB - refers to clicking the wheel as if it were a button, while

Wheel - means rolling the wheel.

• Hotkey letters are shown in this manual like they appear on a keyboard; for example,

G - refers to the lowercase ''g''.

⇧ Shift,Ctrl and Alt are generally specified as modifier keys

CtrlW or ⇧ ShiftAltA - indicates that these keys should be pressed simultaneously

0 NumPad to 9 NumPad, + NumPad - and so on refer to the keys on the separate numeric keypad.

Other keys are referred to by their names, such as Esc, ⇆ Tab, F1 to F12. Of special note are the arrow keys, ←, → and so on.

General Usage

Because Blender makes such extensive use of both mouse and keyboard, a golden rule has evolved among Blender users: Keep one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard. The most frequently used keys are grouped so that they can be reached by the left hand in standard position (index finger on F) on the English keyboard layout. This assumes that you use the mouse with your right hand.

If you normally use a keyboard that is significantly different from the English keyboard layout, you may want to think about changing to the English or American layout for your work with Blender. Note that you can also change the Blender default keymap and change the default hotkeys. However this manual is based on the default keymap.

Read more about Blender configuration »

Mouse Button Emulation

If you do not have a 3 button mouse, you'll need to emulate it by checking the option in the User Preferences (unchecked by default).

The following table shows the combinations used:

3-button Mouse	2-button Mouse	Apple Mouse
LMB	LMB	LMB (mouse button)
MMB	AltLMB	⌥ OptLMB (Option/Alt key + mouse button)
RMB	RMB	⌘ CmdLMB (Command/Apple key + mouse button)

All the Mouse/Keyboard combinations mentioned in the Manual can be expressed with the combinations shown in the table. For Example, ⇧ ShiftAltRMB becomes ⇧ ShiftAlt⌘ CmdLMB on a single-button mouse.

NumPad Emulation

Read more about NumPad Emulation on User Preferences page »