Keyboard shortcuts

Working from the keyboard

VanPlot's editor is built to be driven Figma-style: one-key tools, arrow-key nudging, and modifiers for the exceptions. The key pills below adapt to your platform — on a Mac you'll see ⌘ symbols, on Windows and Linux the same shortcuts show Ctrl.

You never have to memorize this page — the app teaches it as you go:

1. Press ? in the editor or the designer to open the shortcut cheatsheet right where you're working.
2. Watch the shortcut bar at the bottom of the canvas — it shows the most useful keys for whatever you have selected.
3. Hover any toolbar button — its tooltip carries the shortcut after the description.

Editor · General

⌘K — Command palette — search everything

? — This cheatsheet

E — Explain mode — hover any control

Editor · Tools

M — Measure tape

B — Van body inspector

T — Toggle top view

⇧T — Toggle roof view

O — Open / close doors

P — Photo mode

W — Walk mode (first person)

Editor · View

Space — Hold: drag pans instead of orbiting

⇧1–4 — Camera angles: ¾ front · side · ¾ rear · top

F — Frame selection (or the whole van)

⇧F — Frame the whole van

H — Toggle auto-hide walls

X — Peek inside — body hidden while held

⇧X — Toggle see-through floor

I — Focus on the selection (fade the rest)

⇧H — Hide / show selection

Editor · Edit

R — Rotate item 90°

[ / ] — Fine-rotate 15° (hold Shift: 45°)

⌥ — Hold while dragging the rotate gizmo: free angle instead of 15° steps

⌘D — Duplicate item

Del — Delete item

←→↑↓ — Nudge 2 cm (hold Shift: 25 cm)

PgUp / PgDn — Raise / lower 2 cm (hold Shift: 25 cm)

U — Placement: under the floor ⇄ back (tanks, diesel heater, gas bottle, storage box, custom parts)

⌘G — Group selection

⇧⌘G — Ungroup

Editor · Selection

⌘A — Select all items

N / ⇧N — Select next / previous item

Esc — Deselect / exit mode

Editor · Measuring

Click — Click two points to measure between them

⇧Click — Hold while clicking: keep adding points — or extend the selected measurement

Enter — Finish the path (or double-click)

⌫ — Take back the last point of the path

⌥ — Hold: place or drag a point without snapping

Drag — Drag a point to adjust it

⌥Click — On a corner of a path: remove it

+ — On the line of the selected measurement: insert a point and drag it

Esc — End the path in progress (placed points stay), then deselect, then close the tool

Editor · Wiring & plumbing

Enter — Finish the run

⌫ — Undo last point

Editor · History & file

⌘Z — Undo

⇧⌘Z / ⌘Y — Redo

⌘S — Save + quick snapshot (rename it in History)

Editor · While dragging

Two modifiers change how a drag behaves: hold ⌥ to disable snapping for that drag, and ⌥-drag a grouped item to move it out of its group on its own. Holding ⇧ with the arrow keys nudges in 25 cm steps instead of 2 cm. The rotate gizmo turns in 15° steps — hold ⌥ while dragging its ring for a free angle, and type an exact number into the inspector's Rotation field any time.

The arrow keys move in plan; PgUp and PgDn raise and lower the selection by the same steps (on a laptop: Fn with the up / down arrows). N and ⇧N step through your components in list order — the quick way to reach a tank under the floor or anything hidden behind furniture. On keyboards where [ and ] need AltGr, the two keys to the right of P do the same job.

Component designer · Tools

1 — Free move (drag)

2 — Transform gizmo (move · rotate · resize)

3 — Rotate gizmo

4 — Scale gizmo

Space — Hold: drag pans instead of orbiting

Component designer · Edit

R — Rotate part 90°

⌘D — Duplicate part

Del — Delete part

Esc — Deselect

Component designer · History & file

⌘Z — Undo

⇧⌘Z / ⌘Y — Redo

⌘S — Save to library

? — This cheatsheet

Designer notes

The editor has two tools — 1 Free move and 2 the transform gizmo, which moves, rotates and resizes on its own — while the designer keeps four: 1 through 4 select Free move, Move, Rotate, and Scale. Its undo history is separate from the editor's, so experiments on a component never touch your layout's history. ⌘S in the designer saves the component to your library.