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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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Site Layout Exercise 2
This exercise is designed to progress your skills in 2D drafting and to test your understanding of layouts and printing to scale from paper space. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
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Site Layout Exercise 1
This exercise is designed to help you test out your basic AutoCAD skills. You'll need an understanding of the Draw and Modify tools and how to use co-ordinates. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 2 minutes 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: 2 minutes ago
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Drawing Aids
All about drawing aids. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 7 minutes ago
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Loft Mapping
This tutorial follows on from the simple Loft tutorial in Options for Creating Objects and demonstrates how to map a material along a lofted object. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 7 minutes ago
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Render Scene Dialog
The Render Scene dialog has many settings, only a number of which are commonly used. This tutorial uses the default Scanline Renderer as an introduction to the dialog and settings. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 8 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.
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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
Tool Palette Basics
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #144
Originally published: February 2016
I learned something new about tool palettes last year — thanks to Nate at Wellcare in Tampa — and I wanted to pass it along. It's a trick that I should have thought of and can be used in a number of situations in AutoCAD. Specifically, the Ctrl key!
Short version: Rather than doing a right-click Copy / right-click Paste — which always put the copy at the bottom of the tab — simply hold down Ctrl, then drag & drop.
How to Copy Tools Onto and Between Tabs on a Tool Palette
Open the Tool Palette (Ctrl + 3). [For future reference, if you're new to palettes, I have a sample palette on my website, complete with a block source drawing and instructions.]
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To copy a tool below itself, hold down Ctrl, select the tool, then drag it down a smidge and release. You should see a very small plus-sign at your cursor indicating that you are making a copy.
To copy a tool between tabs, hold down Ctrl, then drag your cursor onto another tab and hold it there. You will initially see a No-Can-Do sign, but then it will flip over to that tab.
Drag your tool to the desired location — you will see the same plus-sign at your cursor — then release!
See all the articles published in February 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
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22nd – 28th July 2024
This week's image is by boofredlay
Software used: SketchUp with Twilight Render
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Last Week's Image
Last week's image is by papagyi
Software used: 3ds Max & V-Ray
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Two Weeks Ago
This image is by shift1313
Software used: Solidworks 2009
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Three Weeks Ago
This image is by boofredlay
Software used: SketchUp & Twilight Render
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
Repeat for Efficiency
Sometimes, you may find yourself having to use the same command repeatedly. This can be a pain, unless you are aware that the previous command can always be repeated by hitting the Enter key on the keyboard or by using the right-click mouse button and selecting the name of the command you just used. Both these methods are more efficient than repeatedly finding a command on a toolbar or from a pull-down menu.
What's more annoying than having to repeat a single command (and more common) is having to repeat a sequence of maybe two or three commands. Obviously, you can't use the "Enter to repeat" trick. However, the right-click menu has another option that can help in these situations. Below the name of the last command used, is a menu option that says
. If you select this option, you will see a list of all the commands used in the current drawing session, with the most recently used at the top.Using this method, you can repeat any sequence of commands without having to return to a toolbar or pull-down menu.
Note: This function is controlled by the inputhistorymode variable.
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.