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
-
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
-
Object Selection
This tutorial shows you the many ways AutoCAD objects can be selected. Covers the building of selection sets with implied windowing, fences etc. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 5 minutes ago
-
Stage 10: Add Play Equipment, Vehicles and People
Finally, Quickscape Model Objects dialog is used to add play equipment, cars and vans and Quickscape Image Objects dialog is used to add people. This brings the scene to life and further adds to the sense of scale for the design. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 5 minutes ago
-
Object Snap
A tutorial giving an overview of all the AutoCAD object snaps (osnaps) with some worked examples. The tutorial also covers the use of temporary tracking points and object snap tracking. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 7 minutes ago
-
Navigation Techniques
Gaining the skill to navigate efficiently around a scene and around objects and parts of objects (sub-objects) efficiently and with ease is of paramount importance to good modelling. Most new users of MAX / VIZ need to get over this first hurdle before feeling comfortable in the 3D environment. Fear not, MAX / VIZ has a host of tools for the purpose. This tutorial descibes the most useful navigation techniques. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 7 minutes ago
-
Transforming Objects
Transforming objects means changing the position, size or number of an object without altering the integrity of the geometry itself. MAX offers a host of transformation tools to do these tasks. This tutorial gets you started. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 7 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
Fillet or blend between two non-parallel cylinders
by Dale Grice
8 replies
Last post: 1 hour ago
Finding overlapping geometry without manually checking every line
by indiancad
3 replies
Last post: 4 hours ago
Aluminum composite panels parametric templates
by emosms
9 replies
Last post: 5 hours ago
[Free LISP] Auto-mark revision clouds for design changes — compare two regions in same DWG
by Beastt1992
4 replies
Last post: 29 hours ago
create transparent hatch with Python
by Danielm103
2 replies
Last post: 31 hours ago
Best Way to Protect Commercial AutoLISP Applications – High-Level Security and Licensing
by Sathar
9 replies
Last post: 82 hours ago
This Week's Hot Topics
Selecting viewport in a lisp
by DavidP
29 replies
Viewed: 933 times
Fillet or blend between two non-parallel cylinders
by Dale Grice
8 replies
Viewed: 199 times
Finding overlapping geometry without manually checking every line
by indiancad
3 replies
Viewed: 167 times
create transparent hatch with Python
by Danielm103
2 replies
Viewed: 132 times
Recover a drawing's original geometry from a distorted block using BURST?
by indiancad
0 replies
Viewed: 124 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
Original Dimension Value
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #143
Originally published: December 2015
Since the dimension text of an associative dimension is Mtext, double-click anywhere on an associative dimension and you can add additional information… or modify the value to what you want.

But what if you want to put the dimension back to the original value?
Insights:
If you reposition an extension line origin grip of a dimension and the value doesn't change, the original value was modified.
If you double-click a dimension and the edit box has a white background — not blue — the original value was modified.

Solution:
Double-click the dimension, then put the less-than and greater-than characters in the dimension box, like this… <>
The original value will be restored.
See all the articles published in December 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
-
2nd – 8th November 2026
This week's image is by arjun_samar
Software used: 3ds Max with V-Ray and Photoshop
-
Last Week's Image
Last week's image is by shift1313
Software used: SolidWorks 2010
-
Two Weeks Ago
This image is by Oppie
Software used: AutoCAD 2011
-
Three Weeks Ago
This image is by boofredlay
Software used: SketchUp and 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
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.