Essential Keyboard Shortcuts to Master Nuke

Speed up your Nuke workflow using these essential keyboard shortcuts

Visual effects for cinema and television have reached such levels of realism that, often, make us question what is real and what is an illusion. We owe those incredible and magical universes to the hard work of visual effects designers and software tools like Nuke, a node-based digital compositing and visual effects application.

To make you an expert in the use of Nuke, we have compiled a list of the most used shortcuts. They'll save you time and numerous clicks. Check them out:

Note: Use the Ctrl key on Windows, Command key on Mac.

Global

Backspace/Delete → Delete selected clips or folders
F12 → Clear buffers and playback cache
Ctrl+A → Select all
Ctrl+C → Copy selected item(s)
Ctrl+X → Cut selected item(s)
Ctrl+V → Paste clipboard content
Ctrl+D → Duplicate selected item(s)
Ctrl+F → Save current window layout.
Ctrl+N → Create a new project or script, depending on environment
Ctrl+O → Open a project or script, depending on environment
Ctrl+S → Save current project or script, depending on environment
Ctrl+Q → Exit the application
Space Bar (short press) → Maximize current pane
Space Bar (long press) → Open right-click menu
Shift+S → Open preferences panel
Ctrl+T → Cycle through tabs in the current pane. Note that this does not work if the focus is on the input pane of the Script Editor
Ctrl+W → Close the current project or script, dependent on environment
Ctrl+Z → Undo last action
Ctrl+Shift+A → Select none
Ctrl+Alt+→ Goto next pane
Ctrl+Shift+[ → Goto next tab
Ctrl+Shift+] → Goto previous tab
Ctrl+Shift+S → Save current project or script, depending on environment, and specify name (Save As)
Shift+F1..F6 → Switch workspace
Ctrl+Shift+Z → Redo last action
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+ → Goto previous pane

Timeline Viewer

+/- → Zoom In / Zoom Out
A → Alpha
B → Blue
C → Razor selected
E → Clipping Warning
F → Zoom to Fit
G → Green
H → Zoom to Fill
I → Mark In point
J → Play Backward
K → Pause
L → Play Forward
O → Mark Out point
R → Red
V → Display the version selector
W → Wipe
Y → Luma
PgUp → Next layer
PgDn → Previous layer
Back → Switch A/B points
Left Arrow → Previous frame
Right Arrow → Next frame
Ctrl+Shift+1 → Zoom to Actual Size
Ctrl+Shift+2 → Zoom to Half Size
Ctrl+Shift+F → Full Quality 1:1
Ctrl+Shift+P →Ignore Pixel Aspect
Ctrl+Shift+S →Save current project and specify name (Save As)
Shift+I → Go to In Point
Shift+O → Go to Out Point

Nuke Studio's Timeline

D → Enable or disable the selected shot(s)
E → Cycles between the Slip Clip and Slide Clip tools
1 → Display in the A input buffer
2 → Display in the B input buffer
F5 → Render all Comp containers
F7 → Render selected Comp containers
U → Mark clip
Q → Cycles between the available move tools: Multi, Move/Trim, and Select
R → Cycles between the available edit tools: Ripple, Roll, and Retime
T → Cycles between the available razor tools: Razor, Razor All, and Join
V → Display the version selector
W → Cycles between the available selection tools
Ctrl+I → Import files

2D Compositing Viewer

. → Increase Gain
, → Decrease Gain
+/- → Zoom in / Zoom out
[/] → Toggle left/right toolbar
A → Toggles between the Alpha channel and RBG
B → Toggles between the Blue channel and RBG
End → Go to the out point in the time slider
F → Zoom to Fit
F12 → Clear buffers and caches
Q → Toggle overlays
Tab → Switch 2D/3D
R → Toggles between the Red channel and RBG
Ctrl+P → Toggle Proxy
Shift+[ → Toggle top toolbar

3D Compositing Viewer

C → 3D Top view
S → Display Viewer Settings
V → 3D Perspective view
X → 3D right-side view
Z → 3D front view
Ctrl+Click → Rotate viewer on x,y axis
Alt+Click → Translate viewer on y,z axis
Shift+C → 3D Bottom view
Ctrl+Shift+LMB → Rotate viewer on z axis
Shift+X → 3D Left-side view
Shift+Z → 3D Back view

Properties Panel

/ → Search by node name or class
Tab → Move to next control in the Properties panel
Ctrl+Shift+A → Close all open Properties panels
Shift+Tab → Move to previous control on properties

Curve Editor

A → Frame all keyframes
C → Interpolation (Cubic)
F → Frame all selected keyframes
H → Interpolation (Horizontal)
K → Interpolation (Constant)
L → Interpolation (Linear)
LMB → Select single point
LMB drag on blank space → Select region of points
Alt+` → Display Curve Editor
Ctrl+E → Copy Expressions
Ctrl+L → Copy Links
Alt+LMB and drag → Pan
Ctrl+C/Ctrl+X/Ctrl+V → Copy/Cut/Paste

Script Editor

Tab → Increase indentation
Ctrl+[/Ctrl+] → Load previous/Next script
Ctrl+Backspace → Clear output window
Ctrl+Return/Enter → Run script in editor
Shift+Tab → Decrease indentation
Ctrl+Shift+]/Ctrl+Shift+[ → Increase / Decrease indentation of selected text

Roto/RotoPaint

C → Toggle Clone tool
D → Toggle Dodge/Burn
E → Increase feather on selected point(s)
I → Pick color
N → Toggle Brush/Eraser
Backspace → Close shape
Ctrl+A → Select all points
V → Toggle Bezier/B-Spline/Ellipse/Rectangle tools
X → Toggle Blur/Sharpen/Smear tools
Z → Smooth selected points

Node Graph

Ctrl+B → Toggle node buffer for selected nodes
. → Insert Dot node
/ → Search by node name or class
\ → Snaps all nodes to grid
B → Insert Blur node
C → Insert ColorCorrect node
Backspace → Delete selected nodes
D → Disable/Enable node
F12 → Transparent caps
F5 → Render all Write nodes
N → Rename selected node
R → Insert Read node
O → Insert Roto node
P → Insert RotoPaint node
S → Display Project Settings
T → Insert Transform node
M → Insert fusion node
K → Inset node as copy
L → Automatic Node selection
J → Jump to marked node
U → Splay first
W → Insert Write node
X → Command entry mode
Y → Show last
Tab → Tab node search menu

Learn the entire process for developing a VFX plan–from the original idea to filming and post-production–, and all you need for compositing using Nuke, in Ramon Cervera's Domestika course Creation of Shots with VFX in Nuke.

English version by @angeljimenez.

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