Controls

This section describes the controls of Gaia Sky.

Keyboard controls

To check the most up-to-date controls go to the Controls tab in the preferences window. Here are the default keyboard controls depending on the current camera mode. Learn more about camera modes in the Camera modes section.

Keyboard mappings

The keyboard mappings are stored in an internal file called keyboard.mappings (link). If you want to edit the keyboard mappings, copy the file it into $GS_CONFIG/mappings/ (if it is not yet there) and edit it. This overrides the default internal mappings file. The file consists of a series of <ACTION>=<KEYS> entries. For example:

# Help
action.help                                 = F1
action.help                                 = H

# Exit
action.exit                                 = ESC

# Home
action.home                                 = HOME

# Preferences
action.preferences                          = P

#action.playcamera                          = C

The available actions are the following:

• action.exit – Exit application

• action.preferences – Show preferences

• action.loadcatalog – Load catalogue

• action.log – Show log

• action.runscript – Show run script dialog

• action.playcamera – Show play camera dialog

• action.toggle – Toggle {0}

• action.visibility – Toggle visibility of {0} on and off

• action.forcelabel – Always display the label of {0}

• action.expandcollapse.pane – Expand/collapse {0} pane

• action.dividetime – Slow down time

• action.doubletime – Speed up time

• action.pauseresume – Pause/resume time

• action.incmag – Increase limit magnitude

• action.decmag – Decrease limit magnitude

• action.resetmag – Reset limit mag

• action.incfov – Increase field of view angle

• action.decfov – Decrease field of view angle

• action.togglefs – Toggle fullscreen

• action.screenshot – Take screenshot

• action.search – Search dialogue

• action.globalpause – Stop the update and render threads

• action.switchstereoprofile – Switch stereoscopic profile

• action.gotoobject – Instantly travel to focus

• action.starpointsize.inc – Increase star point size

• action.starpointsize.dec – Decrease star point size

• action.starpointsize.reset – Reset star point size

• action.fisheye – Toggle fisheye transform

• action.help – Help

• action.home – Back to Earth

• action.resettime – Reset time

• action.forward – Forward

• action.backward – Backward

• action.right – Right

• action.left – Left

• action.keyframe – New keyframe

• action.slave.configure – Configure replica instance

• action.ui.reload – Reload UI (debug)

Find the current keyboard mappings associations in the controls tab of the preferences window within Gaia Sky.

The controls settings in Gaia Sky

Default camera controls

These are the default keyboard controls that apply to the focus, free, game, and Gaia FoV modes.

Key(s)	Action
↑	camera forward
↓	camera backward
→	rotate/yaw right
←	rotate/yaw left
Ctrl + g	instantly move to focus object
Home	back to Earth (or any other home object)
Tab	toggle minimap
Ctrl + r	reset time to current
Num 0 or 0	free camera
Num 1 or 1	focus camera
Num 2 or 2	game mode
Num 3 or 3	spacecraft mode
Num 4 or 4	gaia FOV1 camera
Num 5 or 5	gaia FOV2 camera
Num 6 or 6	gaia FOV1 and FOV2 camera
Ctrl + m	toggle camera mode
Ctrl + c	toggle cinematic camera behavior
hold down z	multiply camera speed
Ctrl + w	new keyframe
Ctrl + k	panorama mode
Space	pause/resume time
F1	help dialog
F5	take screenshot
F6	start/stop frame output mode
F11	toggle fullscreen/windowed mode
Ctrl + f or f	search dialog
Esc or q	quit application
p	open preferences dialog
h	open help dialog
r	run script dialog
c	run camera path file dialog
-	decrease limiting magnitude
+	increase limiting magnitude
,	halve time warp (hold for smooth decrease)
.	double time warp (hold for smooth increase)
Ctrl + .	reset time warp to 1
Shift + b	toggle constellation boundaries
Shift + c	toggle constellation lines
Shift + e	toggle ecliptic grid
Shift + g	toggle galactic grid
Shift + l	toggle labels
Shift + m	toggle moons
Shift + o	toggle orbits
Shift + p	toggle planets
Shift + q	toggle equatorial grid
Shift + s	toggle stars
Shift + t	toggle satellites
Shift + v	toggle star clusters
Shift + h	toggle meshes
Shift + r	toggle recursive grid
Shift + u	expand/collapse control panel
Ctrl + u	toggle UI completely (hide/show user interface)
Ctrl + d	toggle debug info
Ctrl + s	toggle stereoscopic mode
Ctrl + Shift + s	switch between stereoscopic profiles
Ctrl + k	toggle 360 panorama mode
Ctrl + Shift + k	switch between 360 projections
Ctrl + p	toggle planetarium mode
Ctrl + Shift + p	switch planetarium projections
Ctrl + j	toggle orthosphere mode
Ctrl + Shift + j	switch between orthosphere profiles

Default spacecraft controls

These controls apply only to the spacecraft mode.

Key(s)	Action
w	apply forward thrust
s	apply backward thrust
a	roll left
d	roll right
k	stop spaceship automatically
l	stabilize spaceship automatically
↑	pitch up
↓	pitch down
←	yaw left
→	yaw right
PgUp	increase engine power (x10)
PgDown	decrease engine power (x0.1)

Mouse controls

Here are the default mouse controls for the focus and free Camera modes. The other modes do not have mouse controls.

Focus mode

Mouse + keys	Action
L-MOUSE DOUBLE CLICK	select focus object
L-MOUSE SINGLE CLICK	stop all rotation and translation movement
L-MOUSE + DRAG	apply rotation around focus
L-MOUSE + Shift + DRAG	camera roll
R-MOUSE + DRAG	pan view freely from focus
M-MOUSE + DRAG or WHEEL	move towards/away from focus

Free mode

Mouse + keys	Action
L-MOUSE DOUBLE CLICK	select object as focus (changes to focus mode)
L-MOUSE SINGLE CLICK	stop all rotation and translation movement
L-MOUSE + DRAG	pan view
L-MOUSE + Shift + DRAG	camera roll
M-MOUSE + DRAG or WHEEL	forward/backward movement

Game mode

Use the mouse to look around and wasd to move.

Gamepad controls

Since 2.3.0

Gaia Sky supports Game controllers through SDL. This means that most controllers should just work out-of-the-box. The default controller mappings file, SDL_Controller.controller, should always be used initially. Should this file not work for your controller, you can create your custom mappings easily and interactively by going to the preferences window > controls and clicking on the “Configure” button next to your controller. Then, follow screen instructions.

Configuring gamepad controls in Gaia Sky

User mappings files (see here) can be added manually to $GS_CONFIG/mappings (see folders) folder, or set up automatically from within Gaia Sky. The controller mappings file contains the axis or button numbers for each input type. Below is an example of one such file.

#Controller mappings definition file for Wireless Steam Controller
axis.dpad.h=-1
axis.dpad.v=1
axis.lstick.h=0
axis.lstick.h.sensitivity=1.0
axis.lstick.v=1
axis.lstick.v.sensitivity=1.0
axis.lt=-1
axis.lt.sensitivity=1.0
axis.rstick.h=2
axis.rstick.h.sensitivity=1.0
axis.rstick.v=3
axis.rstick.v.sensitivity=1.0
axis.rt=-1
axis.rt.sensitivity=-1.0
axis.value.pow=4.0
button.a=2
button.b=3
button.dpad.d=18
button.dpad.l=19
button.dpad.r=20
button.dpad.u=17
button.lb=6
button.lstick=13
button.lt=-1
button.rb=7
button.rstick=-1
button.rt=-1
button.select=10
button.start=11
button.x=4
button.y=5

Default camera mappings

Gamepad annotated with axes and buttons

The following table lists the actions assigned to each of the gamepad axes and buttons.

Button/axis	Action
/	rotate around horizontally (focus mode), yaw (free mode)
/	rotate around vertycally (focus mode), pitch (free mode)
/	roll
/	forward/backward
(right trigger)	roll right
(left trigger)	roll left
	preferences
	toggle labels
	toggle asteroids
	toggle minimap
	toggle orbits
	hold to speed up time
	hold to slow down time
	start time
	stop time
(click)	stop time

Spacecraft camera mappings

In spacecraft mode, the actions mapped to the different gamepad axes and buttons are different. They are listed in the table below.

Button/axis	Action
/	spacecraft yaw
/	spacecraft pitch
/	spacecraft roll
/	thrust forward/backward
(right bumper)	spacecraft roll right
(left bumper)	spacecraft roll left
(right trigger)	thrust forward
(left trigger)	thrust backward
	toggle labels
	toggle orbits
	stop spacecraft
	level spacecraft
	increase engine power (x10)
	decrease engine power (x0.1)

Since 3.0.0

Gamepad UI

The gamepad UI allows access to some basic actions and settings directly using a gamepad. To open it, press .

The gamepad UI

There are seven tabs at the top that can be navigated with and . The tabs are the following:

• Search – provides a virtual keyboard to search for objects.

• Camera – camera parameters like the mode or the field of view.

• Time – controls to start and stop time, as well as to set the time warp factor.

• Types – visibility of elements in Gaia Sky.

• Controls – gamepad settings and mappings.

• Graphics – graphics options like post-processing effect parameters.

• System – system-wide settings. Also a button to quit Gaia Sky.

Close the gamepad UI with .

Since 3.3.1

GUI navigation

Gaia Sky supports the navigation of its GUI windows using the gamepad and keyboard mappings, additionally to the usual mouse clicks. Below are the most common actions and how to achieve them in a keyboard- or gamepad- centric workflow.

Action	Keyboard	Gamepad
Action (click focused button)	Enter
Move focus up	↑	/
Move focus down	↓	/
Move focus right	→	/
Move focus left	←	/
Move slider (when focused)	←/→/home/end	/
Move select box selection (when focused)	←/→/home/end	/
Check check box (when focused)	Enter
Cycle dialog bottom buttons	Alt
Close current dialog (with accept action)	/
Close current dialog (with cancel action)	Esc	/
Tab right	Tab
Tab left	Shift + Tab