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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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AutoCAD 2010: Extrude & Press/Pull
This tutorial introduces the AutoCAD extrusion tools, Extrude and Press/Pull. A good understanding of both tools is important for developing 3D modeling skills. Running time: 9min 53sec Format: Video
Last visited: less than one 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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Paper Space Exercise
AutoCAD's paper space mode is a bit like having a page in a scrapbook onto which you can paste different views of your AutoCAD drawing. This whole page can then be plotted. This exercise demonstrates how. Format: Text/Image
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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
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Standard none mapped materials
Standard none mapped materials are suitable for paint, plastics, metal and basic glass type objects. By choosing the correct shader, the most suitable parameters can be used to create the most appropriate effects. This tutorial shows you how. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 2 minutes ago
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Creating Selections from Image Masks
This simple 7-step tutorial describes the best method for using the images supplied in the CADTutor Image Bank. Format: Text/Image
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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
“Best of” Basics: Irregular Viewport
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #145
Originally published: April 2016
When you need a viewport shape other than a rectangle, the first order of business is to be able to view the objects in Model Space at the desired scale. From there, you can create a polyline to essentially ‘crop’ the objects in Model space, then turn it into a viewport.
The best drawing for testing this is in the path…
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20xx\Sample\Database Connectivity
If you have AutoCAD 2014 or prior, the drawing name is db_samp.DWG
If you have AutoCAD 2015 or later, the drawing name is Floor Plan Sample.DWG
How to Create an Irregular Shaped Viewport
Right-click on a layout tab and make a new layout with a large viewport.
Double-click in the viewport, then set the desired scale from the scale list on the Status bar. You may want to start with 1/64″ = 1′-0″ so you can see all of it.
Return to Paper space and create any closed polyline, spline or circle to be the viewport.
Note: If you are creating a Polyline, you must use the Close option if it is to be converted into a viewport. If you did not use the Close option, use Pedit and select the polyline, then use the Close option.
In this illustration, I created a polyline around the perimeter of the floorplan. (Ideally, this would be on a dedicated layer on which you typically create your viewports).
On the Layout tab, click Clip.
When prompted to select the ‘viewport to clip’, select the rectangular viewport.
When prompted to select the ‘clipping object’, select the polyline (or whatever object you created in Step 3, above).
AutoCAD will convert the polyline into a viewport and erase the original rectangular viewport!
See all the articles published in April 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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17th – 23rd February 2025
This week's image is by papagyi
Software used: AutoCAD 2008
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Last Week's Image
Last week's image is by Red333
Software used: AutoCAD Architecture 2009
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Two Weeks Ago
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Software used: 3DS Max and mr Proxy
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Three Weeks Ago
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Software used: AutoCAD 2010
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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
AutoCAD Alias Editor
If you're new to AutoCAD or even if you're not and you find it difficult to remember all the keyboard shortcuts to your favourite commands like L for Line and C for Circle or even 3DO for 3DOrbit, then you need to know about the AutoCAD Alias Editor.
Enter ALIASEDIT at the command line and AutoCAD will launch a tiny application window that lists all the shortcuts in alphabetical order. As this is a seperate application, you can keep it minimised on your taskbar until you need it for reference.
Essentially, this editor simply lists the contents of the acad.pgp file where all the command aliases are stored. Those of you who are a bit more adventurous, may even like to use the Alias Editor to create your own aliases or edit existing ones.
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.