Material Editor Toolbar and Shortcuts
Introduction
This guide walks through the various toolbar buttons available in Material Editor, and lists all keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac.
In Lens Studio you can find the Material Editor window under Window > Panels > Material Editor, if it's not already shown in your layout.
Toolbar
The Material Editor toolbar provides some useful tools for creating custom materials.
Add Node Button (Tab)
Opens the Add Node menu, which allows you to browse through all available nodes and add them to your graph. This menu can also be opened using the Tab hotkey. Typing a node name while this menu is open will filter the results and let you quickly find the node you're looking for.
Snap to Grid Button
Enables or disables grid snapping, which snaps node positions to a grid when moving them around. This can make it easier to lay nodes out in an organized way.
Sub-Graph Button
Creates a new Sub-Graph encapsulating all selected nodes. Note that this feature is only available when at least one node is selected, and all selected nodes are allowed in Sub-Graphs. Parameter nodes and the Shader node are not allowed in Sub-Graphs.
Comment Button
Creates a comment group around any selected nodes. This is useful for documenting or organizing a graph.
Reset View Button
Resets the zoom level to 100% and positions the view to center on all nodes.
Mini-View Button
Toggles the Mini-View window, which shows a zoomed out view of the full graph and can be used to quickly navigate.
Preview Button
Toggles the Preview view, which shows a preview of how the material looks on a primitive mesh.
Graph Navigator
Provides a quick way to switch between graph materials and the sub-graphs inside them. The leftmost dropdown box shows a list of all graph materials in the project, and selecting any of them will switch to that graph. Any sub-graphs present in the current graph will show up in a dropdown to the right, and selecting one will jump into that sub-graph. This continues recursively for any sub-graphs nested within sub-graphs.
Basic Editing
| Mac | Windows | |
|---|---|---|
| Copy | ⌘+C | Ctrl+C |
| Paste | ⌘+V | Ctrl+V |
| Cut | ⌘+X | Ctrl+X |
| Duplicate | ⌘+D | Ctrl+D |
| Create Sub-graph | ⌘+G | Ctrl+G |
| Select All Nodes | ⌘+A | Ctrl+A |
| Create Comment Block | ⌘+B | Ctrl+B |
| Show/Hide Node Preview | P | P |
| Show Information | Q | Q |
| Show/Hide Miniview | M | M |
| Center Graph (Home) | H | H |
| Fit All Nodes to View | F | F |
| Fit Selected to View | Shift+F | Shift+F |
| Delete selected nodes | Delete, Backspace | Delete, Backspace |
| Delete selected nodes and Auto-reconnect | Shift+Delete, Shift+Backspace | Shift+Delete, Shift+Backspace |
| Select all connected nodes to the left | ← | ← |
| Select all connected nodes to the right | → | → |
| Iterate through node view modes (selected node) | ↑ / ↓ | ↑ / ↓ |
| Zoom to cursor | Scroll Wheel | Scroll Wheel |
| Zoom to center | Shift + Scroll Wheel | Shift + Scroll Wheel |
| Pan View | Right Mouse Drag | Right Mouse Drag |
| Pan View (alt method) | Middle Mouse Drag | Middle Mouse Drag |
Node Creation & Sub-graph Navigation
| Mac | Windows | |
|---|---|---|
| Create a new node | Tab | Tab |
| Enter Sub-graph | Return or I | Return or I |
| Exit Sub-graph | Escape or Shift + Return or O | Escape or Shift + Return or O |
Auto-Connect & Connection Editing
| Mac | Windows | |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-connect the selected node to the shader output node | ⌘+E | Ctrl+E |
| Auto-connect between two connected nodes (node is not yet connected) | Shift + Left Mouse Drag the node over the existing connection | Shift + Left Mouse Drag the node over the existing connection |
| Auto-disconnect node while restoring the original connection (node already connected) | Shift + Left Mouse Drag the connected node | Shift + Left Mouse Drag the connected node |
| Cut node connection | Shift + Left Mouse Drag over the connection | Shift + Left Mouse Drag over the connection |
| Create passthrough node | Left Mouse Drag over the connection | Left Mouse Drag over the connection |
| Create passthrough node (alt method) | Left Mouse Click on the connection | Left Mouse Click on the connection |
Duplicate via Mouse
| Mac | Windows | |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate selected nodes | Hold Space + Left Mouse Click and Drag the selected nodes | Hold Space + Left Mouse Click and Drag the selected nodes |
See keyboard shortcuts to see other available keyboard shortcut.