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
-
Modifying Objects
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
-
Multi/Sub-Object materials
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
-
Advanced Selection
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
-
Entering Survey Data using AutoCAD
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
-
Basic 3D and Surface Modelling
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
-
Object Snap
Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute 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
Selection Set from block entities... what am I doing wrong...
by Steven P
8 replies
Last post: 3 hours ago
Replace only the numbers at the end in the text
by Nikon
14 replies
Last post: 3 hours ago
(foreach lay (layoutlist) - Does not work
by ILoveMadoka
8 replies
Last post: 4 hours ago
Helix Along a Path
by GP_
44 replies
Last post: 10 hours ago
Need a routine lisp
by oliver
4 replies
Last post: 10 hours ago
Cable Tray Section for Cable Spacing
by exceed
5 replies
Last post: 14 hours ago
This Week's Hot Topics
Replace only the numbers at the end in the text
by Nikon
14 replies
Viewed: 435 times
Selection Set from block entities... what am I doing wrong...
by Steven P
8 replies
Viewed: 289 times
(foreach lay (layoutlist) - Does not work
by ILoveMadoka
8 replies
Viewed: 127 times
paste text from clipbard
by Emmanuel Delay
6 replies
Viewed: 293 times
Export xy of mleader with text value in csv in sorting number
by Ish
4 replies
Viewed: 269 times
Need a routine lisp
by oliver
4 replies
Viewed: 198 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
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.
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
Trim Up
Often, you find yourself using the Trim command to tidy up loose ends of lines. If this is the case, don't bother selecting cutting edges, just use the "select all" option.
Start the Trim command, TRIM from the command line. At the prompt, simply hit the Enter key to accept the <select all> option.
from the pull-down menu orNow, just pick the line ends you want to remove.
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.