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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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Stage 8: Assign Materials and Sky background
When surface and edge modelling has been completed and the lighting has been setup correctly, materials can then be assigned to surfaces and edges. This tutorial guides you through the process. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
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Editing and Saving Materials
Once materials have been created and edited in the Material Editor to suit a particular scene they no longer need to be kept in the Materials Editor. Materials can be saved in material libraries and retreived for use in any other scene. This tutorial shows you how. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
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User Co-ordinate Systems
This tutorial describes what UCSs are, why we need them and how to use them. The correct use of UCSs with AutoCAD is the key to producing good 3D models and they can also help with 2D work. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
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AutoCAD to Photoshop
This tutorial demonstrates a number of workflows from quick and simple to high quality. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
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Entering Survey Data using AutoCAD
These techniques apply to basic CAD programs such as AutoCAD, IntelliCAD, etc. If you have a civil/survey program or add-on, such as Land Desktop, SurvCADD, Eagle Point, etc., then there are built-in tools for entering lines and curves. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 1 minute ago
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Drawing Objects
Getting to grips with AutoCAD's basic drawing tools. This is an ideal start for the AutoCAD beginner. 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.
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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
‘Sign Language’
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #136
Originally published: October 2014

For the last few versions we have seen icons next to the cursor for Geometric Constraints (left) and Selection Cycling (right), as well as the little icon for a Locked layer and the Match Properties paintbrush.
Those icons are displayed when the related feature is enabled.
Cursor Badges
But AutoCAD 2015 now has included a ‘cursor badge’ for several editing commands, such as Rotate and Erase (see figures below), along with Measure and even the Window and Crossing selection direction badges.

Some of you, however, may prefer not to see the new badges beside the cursor. If so, set the variable CURSORBADGE to <1>, which will disable all badges.
See all the articles published in October 2014
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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5th – 11th January 2026
This week's image is by tutt
Software used: AutoCAD Architecture 2011
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Last Week's Image
Last week's image is by Alex Moiceanu
Software used: AutoCAD 2012
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Two Weeks Ago
This image is by Noahma
Software used: AutoCAD Architecture 2009
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Three Weeks Ago
This image is by lulumara
Software used: Solidworks 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
Oops is your friend
Most AutoCAD users know about the undo command, which allows you to step back through the command sequence. This is useful if you make a mistake and need to retrace your steps. But what if you deleted something a while back and in the meantime you did some useful stuff that you don't want to lose in order to recover your deleted stuff. Oops to the rescue!
The oops command recovers the last deleted selection set, without undoing everything in-between. It can also be used to recover objects removed after using block or wblock.
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.