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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: The User Interface - Part 1
This video tutorial takes you on a guided tour of the AutoCAD 2010 user interface. This is the best place to start for beginners. Running time: 3min 56sec Format: Video
Last visited: 5 minutes ago
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Adding Sunlight to your Drawings
This tutorial takes you through the steps required to add realistic sunlight effects to your 3D model. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 7 minutes 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: 7 minutes ago
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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
Last visited: 8 minutes ago
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Render Scene Dialog
The Render Scene dialog has many settings, only a number of which are commonly used. This tutorial uses the default Scanline Renderer as an introduction to the dialog and settings. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 13 minutes ago
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Map Modifying
Map modification takes place in one of two places: either on the Modify Panel with the use of one of two modifiers, or in the Material Editor as part of the material parameters. This tutorial guides you through the options. Format: Text/Image
Last visited: 14 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
Text Frame on Mtext
From: AutoCAD Productivity Articles #148
Originally published: October 2016
Yes, you can Enclose Text in Objects from Express Tools — See Michael's Corner, June 2004 — but when using the Text Frame property on Mtext, the frame adjusts when you size the Mtext or change the text content!

Just select your Mtext, open Properties [Ctrl 1], then set Text Frame to <Yes>.
To test it, change the size of your Mtext or edit the content and the frame automatically adjusts!
See all the articles published in October 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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30th March to 5th April 2026
This week's image is by Steven Leech
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Last week's image is by shift1313
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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
Keeping the UCS icon in its place
By default, AutoCAD always displays the UCS icon at the drawing origin (0,0) unless the origin is off screen, in which case, the UCS icon sits quietly in the bottom left-hand corner of the drawing area.
If you find the UCS icon distracting when it's floating in the middle of the screen, you can force it to be displayed in the bottom left-hand corner using the ucsicon command.
Enter an option [ON/OFF/All/Noorigin/ORigin/Properties] <ON>:
Use the "Noorigin" option to force the icon into the bottom left corner and the "ORigin" option to set it back to the default.
See the UCS Icon tutorial for more details.
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.