Last updated July 27, 2026
Freehand is a free AutoLISP routine that makes AutoCAD linework look as though it was sketched by hand. It is aimed squarely at architectural presentation drawings: instead of the crisp, machine-perfect lines AutoCAD normally produces, you get lines with a slight wobble and corners where the strokes overshoot each other, the way they do in a pen sketch.
The routine was written in 2000 by TimeSavers for CAD (the author details are in the file header, which is why the spec table below says “See file”). It is plain AutoLISP in a single small file, so there is nothing to install beyond loading the .lsp.
What it does in practice
Freehand does not change a display setting; it modifies the geometry itself. Its selection filter accepts three entity types only: lines, lightweight polylines and old-style polylines. Any polylines in your selection are exploded into individual line segments first, and every segment is then given two treatments:
- Overlap — each line is lengthened slightly at both ends, so lines that meet at a corner extend past one another. The amount is driven by your chosen overlap setting, the freehand scale factor and the drawing’s DIMSCALE value.
- Wiggle — the straight line is deleted and replaced with a polyline whose vertices sit alternately a small distance either side of the original path, producing the hand-drawn wobble.
Layer, colour and linetype are carried across to the replacement polylines, so the drawing keeps its structure. Your scale, overlap and wiggle choices are stored in global variables (the concept is covered in Lesson 5 of our AutoLISP series), so they come back as the defaults next time you run the command in the same session.
One warning, straight from the author. The moment the file loads it pops up an alert: “Changes made by FREEHAND cannot be restored once you leave drawing.” The routine wraps its work in an undo group, so a single U will reverse the whole operation while the drawing is still open — but once you save and close, the original straight lines are gone. Run it on a copy of the drawing, or on a presentation version, not on your working file.
Command reference
The file defines one command:
- FREEHAND — applies the hand-drawn overlap and wiggle effect to selected lines and polylines.
How to load it
Unzip the download and load Freehand.lsp with the APPLOAD command (Tools, Load Application). If you expect to use it regularly, add it to the Startup Suite in the same dialog so it loads with every drawing. If you are new to loading LISP files, our AutoLISP guide walks through the options, and the free LISP routine library has plenty more to load alongside it.
Step-by-step usage
- Load the file. Note the alert about changes being permanent once you leave the drawing.
- Type FREEHAND at the command line.
- At “Freehand Scale”, enter a scale factor or accept the default (1.0 on first use). This scales both effects, on top of the drawing’s DIMSCALE.
- At “Line OVERLAP amount [1 small-5 large, 0 none]”, enter 0 to 5. The default is 3; 0 skips the corner overshoot entirely.
- At “Line WIGGLE amount [1 small-5 large, 0 none]”, enter 0 to 5 the same way; 0 leaves the lines straight.
- Select the lines and polylines to convert. The filter ignores everything else, so a crossing window over the whole elevation is fine.
- The routine reports “FREEHAND in progress…” while it works and “Freehand complete.” when done. If the result is too tame or too wild, U once and run it again with different numbers.
Compatibility notes
Freehand was written for Release 14-era AutoCAD. The code checks the AutoCAD version and builds lightweight polylines on R14, falling back to old-style heavy polylines on other releases. Being plain AutoLISP with no DCL dialog files and no Express Tools (acet-) calls, there is nothing in it that demands full AutoCAD specifically. AutoCAD LT gained AutoLISP support in LT 2024, so it may run there too, though it predates LT’s LISP support by more than two decades and should be treated as untested on LT — see what runs on AutoCAD LT for the background. As always with routines of this vintage, test on a throwaway drawing first.
Download
| Name: | Freehand |
| Description: | This lisp is more for architectural drawings that you want to present. This gives the drawing the affect that it was drawn by hand by putting a little bit of a “squiggle” to the lines and extends the ends of lines past each other. |
| Type: | AutoCAD AutoLISP Routine |
| Author: | See file |
| File Size: | 3 Kb |
| Cost: | Free |
| Worked on: | AutoCAD |
| Download File: | Freehand.zip |
Related routines
- Draw architectural walls LISP routine — draw the wall linework Freehand can then rough up.
- Door LISP routine — another architectural drafting helper for plans and elevations.
- Best of LISP collection — a grab-bag of general-purpose routines worth keeping loaded.