Keyboard Shortcuts

Spectralite Studio has the keyboard shortcuts below. To see them inside the app, open Window > Shortcuts (Cmd+/). To record a new key combination, click a shortcut in that dialog.

GlobalCopy Anchor Link

Node EditorCopy Anchor Link

TimelineCopy Anchor Link

PreviewCopy Anchor Link

Layout EditorCopy Anchor Link

3D AimCopy Anchor Link

Panel-scoped key reuseCopy Anchor Link

Some keys do different things in different panels. They do not conflict, because a key goes to one panel only.

• Cmd+G is used in node-editor, timeline, layout-editor, position-aim.
• Cmd+D is used in timeline, position-aim.
• S is used in timeline, layout-editor.
• L is used in timeline, layout-editor.

Which panel gets a keyCopy Anchor Link

A panel's shortcuts act in one panel at a time. Spectralite picks the panel in this order:

1. If the pointer is over a panel's work area, that panel gets the keys you press without Cmd or Ctrl. This holds even when a control in another panel still has focus from an earlier click. The work areas are the Timeline's lanes, the Layout Editor's viewport, 3D Aim's viewport, the Preview and the node editor's canvas.
2. If a control inside a panel has focus, that panel gets the key. A button in the panel's toolbar counts.
3. If nothing has focus, or the focus is in the top bar, the panel under the pointer gets the key.

While a dialog, menu or popover has focus, panel shortcuts do nothing. A text field always keeps the keys you type.

Moving between panelsCopy Anchor Link

Press F6 to move the focus to the next area of the main window. The order is the top bar, the Mapping Mode bar while it is on, each visible panel in turn, and then any notifications. Shift+F6 moves back. When the focus reaches a panel, that panel becomes the active one, and its shortcuts follow the focus from there. When you return to a panel, it gives the focus back to the control you last used in it. This does not happen if you hid the panel behind another tab, renamed it or popped it out in between. Popped-out panel windows have no F6 stops.

Copy and pasteCopy Anchor Link

Cmd+C, Cmd+X and Cmd+V copy, cut and paste what a panel has selected. Cut, Copy and Paste in the Edit menu do the same. Each panel copies one kind of item:

• The Node Editor copies the effect it shows.
• The Timeline and the Bumps panel copy the selected layer.
• The Layouts panel copies the selected layout.
• The MIDI Input window copies the selected mapping.

The keys go where Cmd shortcuts go. That is the panel that has focus. If no panel has focus, it is the panel under the pointer, and after that the panel you last clicked. A click in a panel counts as focus there until the focus moves again. This is also true on a canvas that keeps the focus where it was. The Edit menu in the menu bar acts on the panel or window you last clicked.

A text field keeps the ordinary text copy and paste. So does text that you select in the panel, or in the focused control, before you copy. This works only if you do not click anywhere between the selection and the copy.

A paste adds a new item and selects it. The new item has "(copy)" in its name, as with Duplicate. The items that were selected before stay as they were, and undo removes the new item. An item that you paste into another project loses its references to the effects, layouts, layers, fixtures and library colors that the project does not have. A notification says how many references it lost. A layer that loses its layout plays on the project's Stage layout.

An effect cannot be cut: remove it with Delete in the Node Editor's toolbar. A layer, a layout or a MIDI mapping can be cut, except a layout that a layer uses. While nodes are selected on the Node Editor's canvas, the keys leave the effect alone. The clipboard holds the item as text, so you can keep a copy in a file or a message and paste it back.

Key namesCopy Anchor Link

Shortcuts use the Mac key names. Cmd is the Command key (⌘ in the app's menus), Option is ⌥, Shift is ⇧, and Ctrl is Control (⌃).