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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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Setting up a PostScript Plotter
How to set up a PostScript Plotter. Format: Text/Image
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Options for Creating Objects
There are a number of ways of creating the three main elements of a landscape scene, surfaces, edges and objects, each one demending an understanding of the creation methods and tools at hand. This tutorial shows you how. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: less than one minute ago
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Modifying Objects
This tutorial runs through all of the modify tools, demonstrating practical examples in each case. Format: Text/Image
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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
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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
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The Interface
This tutorial gives a brief explanation of the MAX interface items commonly used and introduces you to the important areas of the interface. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 4 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
Use the INSERT Osnap on Blocks
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #134
Originally published: June 2014

In Michael's Corner February 2013 I covered the use of the Insert object snap for text. It also happens to be the Osnap you can use for Blocks.
When you need to snap to the insertion point of a block, I don't bother to set it as an Osnap since it's such a seldom-used feature. When the time comes, simply Shift + Right-click to display the Osnap shortcut menu, then click Insert or use the ‘INS’ keyboard shortcut.
See all the articles published in June 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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28th September to 4th October 2026
This week's image is by herdy1212
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Last Week's Image
Last week's image is by Dorian
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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
Lock your viewports!
The zoom factor of your viewports is crucial because it affects the plotted scale of your drawing. So, once you have set your viewport scale, it's a good idea to lock your viewport so that you don't inadvertently change it. To lock a viewport, select it in paper space by picking on its boundary and then right-click anywhere within the viewport. Select "Properties" from the right-click menu and the Properties panel will appear. In the "Misc" section, click on "Display locked" to activate the pull-down and set the value to "Yes".
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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.