If you’ve never browsed Appendix A of the KNK Studio, KNK Studio GE or the Design Master User Manual, then you should take an hour, sit down with your favorite “hot” beverage and play with these “hot” shortcuts! Note that it took 3 pages in each of those manuals to cover all of the hot keys in this program! That, in itself, should get you excited about the possibilities of finding some real jewels to make your designing and image manipulation life easier! 😛 Also note that there are plenty of unused keystrokes remaining that YOU can use to create any additional hot keys not covered already. I have a tendency to just add icons to my custom toolbar, as needed, but there is ONE very handy hot key that you might be interested in adding and it’s listed at the end of my list below.
My list contains the ones that have truly made my life better. Naturally everybody’s needs are different, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see YOU have a different list of favorites. The purpose of my list is to get you to check out these particular hot keys and see if they aren’t worth taking note and practicing. Remember that it only takes 3 weeks to make something a habit.
Ctrl-A : Used to select ALL objects (great when you’re not sure the marquis-select has truly captured the entire screen
Ctrl-D: Used to make a duplicate of whatever is selected. You can control where that duplicate is automatically located under Options>Klic-N-Kut Setup>General Preferences (or for those with DM, it’s Options>CraftROBO Setup>General Preferences)
Ctrl-F and Ctrl-B: Used to move objects to the very front or the very back. When dealing with paper piecing patterns and you have Fill turned on, it’s nice to be able to move the individual pieces to a location (an order) that matches how you would glue them to your layout. Note that Ctrl-U and Ctrl-L will move them one level, up or down, at a time when there are more than two objects involved.
L, R, T, B: I LOVE THESE FOUR…. no extra Ctrl or Alt or Shift keys involved. Simply select two or more objects and typing those keys will align the objects all to the Left, Right, Top, or Bottom, respectively!
Alt-7 : A BIG favorite since Ifirst got hooked on KNK Studio – this function, when applied to two or more objects, will center them. This is great when creating frames for welding.
Alt-S: Toggles Fill… useful when you forget there’s actually a spilling can icon up on your Smart Bar that does the same thing! lol But hey, I forget and find myself using it, so it’s worth listing. 🙂
Alt-W: A new one I had forgotten… toggles guidelines on and off… again, a great choice when you’re tired of viewing your guidelines, but not quite ready to just delete them all.
O: when in the node edit mode, select a node, and then type the letter “O”… it will turn the path for that node into a perfect circle! This is great when editing an auto-tracing and you receive slightly less than desirable results with small items such as eyes, wheels, button noses, flower centers, etc! Definitely test this if you’ve never tried it before.
I promised you my FAVORITE made-up key stroke and I think it might be “A : Unselect All Objects.” I’m frequently teaching new KNK owners how to “click away” and many don’t quite get it when I use that term. By setting the letter “A” to be the opposite of Ctrl-A, I keep it simple to comprehend, quick to remember, AND easy to execute. Note that Shift-F3 is also “Unselect All Objects”, however after a year, I just cannot seem to keep that keystroke at the tip of my fingers! Thus, i find a simple “A” to be MUCH easier! 🙂
Oh… and before I go… the instructions for how to set up a custom hot key are at the end of Appendix A. Think about what might make your KNK Studio experience much better! 🙂
