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First Steps Tutorial

New to LightMonkey-HDR? Watch this quick walkthrough to get up and running.

Resources & Keyboard Shortcuts

Everything you need to master LightMonkey-HDR fast — a first-steps video, downloadable guides, and the complete keyboard-shortcut reference.

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Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

A clean two-page reference for creating and editing lights — transform modes, arrays, falloff, rendering and more. Print it, or keep it open on a second screen.

⬇ Download Cheat Sheet (PDF) 2 pages · PDF · A4
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Installation Guide

Step-by-step setup for Windows — including what to do about the Windows “unrecognised app” warning, the Blender bridge add-on, and activating your license.

⬇ Download Install Guide (PDF) 2 pages · PDF · A4

All Shortcuts

The full list — the same reference as the PDF, scannable right here.

◆ Exact angle
R then type 45 → rotate 45°. Also 90, −30. Enter to confirm.
◆ Array of lights
Shift+D then 1–9 → that many copies, drag to distribute.

Create Lights

Shift+A
Add a new light (popup at cursor)
Shift+D
Duplicate selected — then type 1–9 for an array, drag to distribute
Shift+X
Delete selected light(s)
Shift+S
Move selected light to Blender's 3D cursor
Del
Delete selected (= Shift+X; Ctrl+Shift+X keeps Blender objects)

Transform Modes

G
Move / grab selected light(s)
R
Rotate — type numbers for exact angle (45, 90, −30)
S
Scale light size
X/Y
During Move: lock to X or Y axis (press again to unlock)
S→X
Scale X axis only (S then Y = Y axis only)
D
Distance mode (3D lights — type a value)
Arrows
Nudge light(s) · Ctrl+Arrows = fine (1/10)
RMB
Confirm & exit transform mode
Esc
Cancel operation / exit mode

Light Properties

C
Open colour picker popup
Alt+C
Gradient bars popup (colour / alpha ramps)
F
Falloff curve selector (Linear / Smooth / Sharp / Soft / Amazing / Constant)
T
Light-type popup (Circle / Rect / Env / Scrim …)
P
Properties overlay (Light / PostPro)
B
Brightness / intensity mode (type a value)
+/−
Increase / decrease intensity by 10%
#
Toggle light isolation (solo) (= Shift+I)
F2
Rename selected light

Selection & Precision

A
Select all lights
Ctrl+Click
Add / remove light from selection
Shift+Click
Select a range of lights
Q
Light Lister popup at cursor
Shift+Drag
Precision mode (10× slower)
Ctrl+Drag
Super precision (100× slower)

View & Render Mode

O
Toggle overlay buttons (IS · BN · LN · PP · LQ · GPU)
Tab/Insert
Toggle LQ / HQ render mode
Ctrl+B
Toggle light boundaries
Home
Reset zoom (fit to window)
MMB+Drag
Pan canvas view
Scroll
Zoom canvas

Organise & Playback

Ctrl+G
Create folder from selected lights
Ctrl+Space
Maximize / restore panel
Space
Play / pause animation
L
Timeline scrub (hold & move mouse)

Animation & Keyframes

I
Add keyframe at current frame (popup: pick properties)
J
Jump to previous keyframe
K
Jump to next keyframe

File & Render

Ctrl+N
New canvas
Ctrl+O
Open project (.lmk)
Ctrl+S
Save project (.lmk)
Ctrl+Z
Undo (Ctrl+Shift+Z = Redo)
F1
Open Settings dialog
F12
Render high-resolution HDR
Ctrl+F12
Quick render (10K, auto-save)

Canvas-Only (Tiny) Mode — hold Alt

Alt+5
Toggle canvas-only mode on / off
Alt+7/9
Position: top-left / top-right corner
Alt+1/3
Position: bottom-left / bottom-right corner
Alt+8/2
Top-center / bottom-center edge
Alt+4/6
Left-center / right-center edge
Same 2×
Toggle between two remembered sizes (40% / 25%)
Alt++/−
Resize tiny canvas in 10% steps (10–100%)

Canvas Buttons (top-left)

IS
Persistent isolate — solo selected light
BN
Toggle light boundaries
LN
Toggle light names on canvas
PP
Post-processing (tone mapping) toggle
LQ
Low quality (8× downsample) — orange when ON
GPU
GPU acceleration toggle (30–50× faster)