Learn AutoCAD with our Free Tutorials
Welcome to CADTutor
CADTutor provides the best free tutorials and articles for AutoCAD, 3ds Max and associated applications along with a friendly community forum. If you need to learn AutoCAD, or you want to be more productive, you're in the right place. See our tip of the day to start learning right now!
Free Tutorials and More…
The Tutorials section provides over 100 original tutorials for AutoCAD, 3ds Max and other design applications. Michael’s Corner is an archive of productivity articles that brings you the best AutoCAD tips and tricks. Our Forum is a lively community where AutoCAD users can ask questions and get answers. The Downloads area provides free AutoCAD blocks, free AutoLISP routines and free images.
Tutorials of the Moment
Recently viewed tutorials
-
Stage 1: AutoCAD Drawing
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
-
User Co-ordinate Systems
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 2 minutes ago
-
Setting up a PostScript Plotter
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 9 minutes ago
-
Direct Distance Entry
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 10 minutes ago
-
Landscape Materials
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 11 minutes ago
-
AutoLISP Quick Start
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 12 minutes ago
CADTutor Tutorials
Our tutorials are comprehensive but straightforward introductions to AutoCAD and related software. They are designed to help beginners get to grips with design workflows as quickly as possible. There are over 100 to choose from, some text/image based and others in video format. Whatever stage you are at in your learning, you should find a tutorial to help.
Forum Latest
Currently Active Topics
import data excel to autocad
by mohammadreza
6 replies
Last post: 1 hour ago
Properties window didn’t show the steel length or depth info. In AutoCad 3D
by Emboss 2014
1 reply
Last post: 2 hours ago
Connect welding corner in 3D AutoCad.
by Emboss 2014
1 reply
Last post: 2 hours ago
Save text in clipboard windows
by itacad
0 replies
Last post: 5 hours ago
Is there a way to simplify the "SSGET / SSNAME", perhaps with more modern commands?
by duke
11 replies
Last post: 6 hours ago
Move text to nearest object
by pmadhwal7
2 replies
Last post: 7 hours ago
This Week's Hot Topics
Is it possible to touch 2 or 3 points of a poly with more than 30 vertices, and have it draw a poly on top of the original poly?
by duke
12 replies
Viewed: 318 times
Is there a way to simplify the "SSGET / SSNAME", perhaps with more modern commands?
by duke
11 replies
Viewed: 288 times
Create a new polyline from two on a path of a Polyline
by mhy3sx
10 replies
Viewed: 657 times
is it possible, through a code, to obtain the 4 coordinates of an image inserted in a drawing within Autocad?
by duke
8 replies
Viewed: 481 times
Change attribute via lisp?
by nonifo
7 replies
Viewed: 646 times
import data excel to autocad
by mohammadreza
6 replies
Viewed: 243 times
CADTutor Forums
Our forum is a vibrant community of experts and beginners. The main focus is helping beginners get to grips with AutoCAD and to help more advanced users become more productive. The AutoLISP forum is one of the busiest out there, providing expert advice for busy professionals.
AutoCAD Productivity
Original Dimension Value
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #143
Originally published: December 2015
Since the dimension text of an associative dimension is Mtext, double-click anywhere on an associative dimension and you can add additional information… or modify the value to what you want.
But what if you want to put the dimension back to the original value?
Insights:
If you reposition an extension line origin grip of a dimension and the value doesn't change, the original value was modified.
If you double-click a dimension and the edit box has a white background — not blue — the original value was modified.
Solution:
Double-click the dimension, then put the less-than and greater-than characters in the dimension box, like this… <>
The original value will be restored.
See all the articles published in December 2015
Michael's Corner
Between 2003 and 2016, Michael Beall (and one or two guests) wrote almost 600 articles for CADTutor. The focus of these articles is AutoCAD productivity, and although some of them are now more than a few years old, most remain relevant to current versions of AutoCAD. The article above is just one example. Check out Michael's Corner for a full listing.
Image of the Week
Gallery of Work
Over the years, our forum members have contributed hundreds of images, showcasing their amazing work. The images above are just a small selection that demonstrate the wide range of project types our community is involved with. Take a look at our gallery to see all the images published in the last 12 months.
Tip of the Day
Command line in a window (F2)
The command line can be very useful, especially for beginners because AutoCAD often gives useful prompts which helps when learning how to use some of the more complicated commands. The command line is also used by AutoCAD to report information back to the user, but sometimes that information may run to several lines of text, and disappear from view. A good example of this is the Distance command (you can run this from the keyboard by typing DIST). The problem is that by default, the command line is only two lines high and so if you use the Distance command, you don't even see the distance reported to the command line.
One way round this problem is to increase the depth of the command line to show more lines but this takes up valuable drawing area. A better solution is to display the command window using the F2 key on the keyboard.
As you can see above, the command window also allows you to scroll back through the command line so that you can review your recent drawing history.
Missed a Tip?
Did you miss yesterday's tip? Maybe you forgot to drop by or maybe you don't visit over the weekend. If so, you can now see all the tips published during the past week. Also, if you have a tip you'd like to share with us, you can post it on our forum and if we like it, we'll publish it here.