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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.
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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.
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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
Avoid Using ‘Standard’ in Text & Dimension Styles
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #141
Originally published: August 2015
In addition to Layer 0, every single drawing on the planet has a Text style called ‘Standard’, and a Dimension style called ‘Standard’. They're the defaults.
When developing company standards, it's best to not modify the Standard styles; leave 'em alone and make your own.
And here's why. Let's say you have text you added to Drawing A (using your modified ‘Standard’ text style to use the Trebuchet font), and you drag that text into Drawing B where the Standard text style uses the TXT.SHX font.
Since Drawing B already has a ‘Standard’ text style—see opening sentence, above—who do you think will "win" when it comes to how the text looks? The text in Drawing B will use the font which is already assigned to the Standard text style.
In the illustration, you see the result when I drag the text from Drawing A into Drawing B. Questions?
See all the articles published in August 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.
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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
Moving vertically in 3D
Moving objects vertically always used to be a bit of a chore with AutoCAD, usually involving some relative coordinate entry for the Z direction or maybe the .XY filter. Fortunately, AutoCAD 2007 introduced a new command that makes moving objects vertically a snap.
You'll find the 3D Move button on the Dashboard or
from the pull-down menu.As with the normal Move command, you're first prompted to select objects. Once a selection is made, the cursor changes to the move grip tool. Now, pick any point on the base plane to fix the move grip tool at that elevation. Next, hover your cursor over the blue axis handle (Z axis) until it changes to a gold colour and left-click. This has the effect of constraining movement in the z direction. All you need do now is enter the distance you want the object to be moved or use the mouse to pick a distance.
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