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
-
AutoCAD 2010: 3D Move & 3D Rotate
This tutorial introduces two of the most useful Modify tools for 3D, 3D Move and 3D Rotate and demonstrates how powerful 3D Rotate can be when combined with Polar Tracking. Running time: 6min 35sec Format: Video
Last visited: 1 minute ago
-
Creating a Walkthrough
This tutorial shows how to create an animated walkthrough of your AutoCAD 3D model using 3DS MAX 5. All you need to start is an AutoCAD drawing with some 3D content. The end result will be a .AVI file which can be viewed on any Windows PC. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
-
Advanced Selection
After you've mastered the basics of selection, this tutorial shows you some powerful methods for making complex selection sets. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
-
AutoLISP Quick Start
This tutorial is designed to help AutoCAD users get to grips with AutoLISP quickly. It demonstartes how to create AutoLISP routines from a standing start. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 2 minutes ago
-
Multi/Sub-Object materials
A Multi/Sub-Object material is a container for a number of sub-materials. This type of material is used when you need to assign different materials to different parts of an object and is used in infrastructure and environment projects mainly for objects such as benches, tables, lamposts, buildings etc. This tutorial works through a number of examples. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 2 minutes ago
-
Stage 6: Lighting and Shadows
Lighting outdoor scenes involves the setup of a Sunlight or Daylight system, together with ambient light. This tutorial uses Quickscape Sunlight and Shadows to automatically setup a Sunlight System with some environment settings and including the use of a Quickscape Light Dome for added natural ambient light. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 3 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
Insert a copy of the block at the specified point. CopyRenameBlockV1-5.lsp /Lee Mac/
by Nikon
5 replies
Last post: 1 hour ago
Batch print to pdf
by marshrunner757
22 replies
Last post: 13 hours ago
Retro Error Backtrace
by Cliff
9 replies
Last post: 15 hours ago
Having a dumb issue here that Im hoping someone can fix
by TimC
4 replies
Last post: 27 hours ago
MycadHELPER
by ACADUI
2 replies
Last post: 28 hours ago
Incremental Numbering Suite
by Lee Mac
307 replies
Last post: 37 hours ago
This Week's Hot Topics
Retro Error Backtrace
by Cliff
9 replies
Viewed: 0 times
Insert a copy of the block at the specified point. CopyRenameBlockV1-5.lsp /Lee Mac/
by Nikon
5 replies
Viewed: 0 times
Having a dumb issue here that Im hoping someone can fix
by TimC
4 replies
Viewed: 0 times
TurboPlot v1.1: Standalone, Multi-threaded Batch Plotter (Auto-detects Frames!)
by vudungcom
2 replies
Viewed: 0 times
MycadHELPER
by ACADUI
2 replies
Viewed: 0 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
Text Frame on Mtext
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #148
Originally published: October 2016
Yes, you can Enclose Text in Objects from Express Tools — See Michael's Corner, June 2004 — but when using the Text Frame property on Mtext, the frame adjusts when you size the Mtext or change the text content!

Just select your Mtext, open Properties [Ctrl 1], then set Text Frame to <Yes>.
To test it, change the size of your Mtext or edit the content and the frame automatically adjusts!
See all the articles published in October 2016
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
-
8th – 14th June 2026
This week's image is by Jay C
Software used: Revit
-
Last Week's Image
Last week's image is by khama
Software used: AutoCAD 2006
-
Two Weeks Ago
This image is by Steven Leech
Software used: AutoCAD 2009
-
Three Weeks Ago
This image is by JRevit
Software used: Revit 2009
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
AutoCAD's Spell Checker
You can spell check one or more blocks of text using AutoCAD's in-built spell checker. Select from the pull-down menu or just type SPELL at the command line. When prompted, select as many blocks of text as you like and then hit the Enter key. What you get is the Check Spelling dialogue box, which works in exactly the same way as the spell checker in Microsoft Word.
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.