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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
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AutoCAD 2010: The User Interface - Part 1
This video tutorial takes you on a guided tour of the AutoCAD 2010 user interface. This is the best place to start for beginners. Running time: 3min 56sec Format: Video
Last visited: less than one minute ago
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ISO Paper Sizes
There has alwas been some confusion over the size of standard ISO drawing sheets with AutoCAD.The stated sizes in the plot dialogue box are not the true ISO sizes. This tutorial explains why and how to plot to scale from Model Space. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
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Volumetrics
This tutorial describes how to use Key TERRA-FIRMA to calculate volumes from ground models (.KGM files) and how to calculate cut and fill volumes between ground models. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
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Stage 3: Create Surfaces
Production of seamless surfaces for roads, pavements, grassed areas and planting beds is probably the most important stage in the creation of a 3D landscape scene. This tutorial shows you how. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
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Importing AutoCAD Meshes to Bryce
This tutorial describes how to create a triangular ground model using Key Terra-Firma and AutoCAD and how to import this ground model into Bryce. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
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Animation
Design visualisation animation generally involves animation of cameras in walkthrough, panaround or flyover movies to give the client a much richer and more informative view of the design. This tutorial covers the basics. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 2 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
Hello everyone! Please take a look at this.
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MLEADER WITH FIELDS FOR COORDINATES
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[LISP] BPDF - Batch export Model Space title block frames to individual PDFs
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Hello everyone! Please take a look at this.
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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
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23rd – 29th March 2026
This week's image is by shift1313
Software used: SolidWorks 2009
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Last Week's Image
Last week's image is by f700es
Software used: SketchUp
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Two Weeks Ago
This image is by H_3dmax
Software used: 3ds Max 2008
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Three Weeks Ago
This image is by Lazer
Software used: Inventor and Solid Edge
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
Do you want to turn it into one? <Y>
When using PEDIT and selecting an object which is not a polyline you will get a message asking if you want to turn it into a polyline. This can be quite annoying if you're having to create closed polylines from a bunch of lines. To stop getting this message, type PEDITACCEPT and press Enter. Then type 1 and press Enter. This will automatically answer "yes" to the question in future.
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.