Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for TVPaint Animation

Discover the keyboard shortcuts of one of the most popular 2D illustration and animation programs around

TVPaint Animation, with After Effects and Toon Boom Harmony, is one of the most complete and used 2D illustration and animation programs on the market. The program allows you to make storyboards, character designs, and boasts other tools that will help you create two-dimensional animations in the best way possible.

A good animator needs to be fast and efficient and, as you use TVPaint Animation, you will realize the amount of time it can save you knowing these useful keyboard shortcuts. Here we compile some of the basic shortcuts on TVPaint Animation:

TVPaint shortcuts for Windows

Note: Mac uses can just substitute Ctrl for Cmd for the same commands.

- Ctrl + O → Hide other projects
- Ctrl + P → Show other projects
- Ctrl + 1 → Show the Timeline tab
- Ctrl + 2 → Show the XSheet tab
- Ctrl + 3 → Show the Project tab
- Ctrl + C → Copy
- Ctrl + V → Paste
- Ctrl + X → Cut
- Ctrl + Shift + ↑ / Ctrl + Shift + ↓: Rotate workspace

- A → Shake tool
- B → Toggle CutBrush tool
- C → Rotate
- D → Freehand tool
- E → Next
- F → Flood Fill tool
- G → Toggle tool
- H → Reduce by half
- I → Add images
- J → Exchange tool
- L → Line tool
- M → New Zoom window
- N → Invert A/B
- O → Outline tool
- P → Open Panel Toggle palette
- Q → Spline tool
- R → Add rectangle
- S → Freehand Dot tool
- T → Add text
- U → Last action/undo
- V → Full screen
- W → Flip Book tool
- X → Horizontal flip
- Y → Vertical flip
- Z → Scale

- Shift + A → Open Panel Toggle Tools
- Shift + B → Open Panel Toggle Background
- Shift + C → Set tools
- Shift + D → Open Preferences Panel
- Shift + F → Layer: go to Image
- Shift + G → Open Grid Panel
- Shift + H → Double size
- Shift + I → Insert images
- Shift + J → Copy to...
- Shift + K → Clean
- Shift + L → Load
- Shift + N → New...
- Shift + O → Toggle Handler Corner tool
- Shift + P → Set tool
- Shift + Q → Close
- Shift + S → Save
- Shift + U → Multi Redo tool
- Shift + V → Show full screen
- Shift + W → Close tab
- Shift + X → Double width
- Shift + Z → Rotate 90 degrees

If you want to learn more about TVPaint, discover Kultnation’s online course, Introduction to 2D Animation with TVPaint, where you can learn the basics of traditional animation to create animated, fresh, and 100% digital clips.

English version by @harry_davies.

You may also like:

- 2D Animation with Toon Boom Harmony, a course by Sunshine Animation Studio
- 2D Animation with a Comedic Tone, a course by Alexis Moyano
- Basics of Character Animation with After Effects, a course by Yimbo Escárrega