Tornado user guide

Friday, 4pm. The set goes out Monday. Nobody has opened a single drawing to check it.

This guide takes you from that folder to one report, one row per drawing, with the problems flagged before the client sees them. Each section covers one part of Tornado, in the order you will use it.

Before you start

Tornado needs a full AutoCAD 2018 or newer on the same Windows PC. It reads every drawing through AutoCAD's own console engine, so the results are what AutoCAD itself sees. It opens each drawing read-only and never saves it.

The first time you open Tornado it runs a short engine check against your AutoCAD. The badge in the toolbar shows the result, for example AutoCAD 2018 · 80/80 modules. Click the badge to check again, for example after you upgrade AutoCAD. Tornado also checks again on its own when you pick a different engine.

A check your AutoCAD cannot run shows a lock and n/a in the module list. Hover it to see why, for example Needs AutoCAD 2019 or newer.

DWG TrueView is a viewer, not AutoCAD, and cannot run scans. If the badge says viewer, cannot scan, open the gear menu and pick your AutoCAD under AutoCAD engine. With several versions installed, Automatic (recommended) picks a full AutoCAD over a viewer.

Choose your drawings

Click Choose folders… in the toolbar and pick a folder of drawings. Once a folder is set, the same button opens Scan sources: add more folders with Add folder, remove one with its ×, or Clear them all.

recursive (on by default) includes every subfolder. The button shows how many drawings Tornado found, for example C:\Projects\Tower · 312 dwg · recursive. Your folders are remembered for next time.

Import list scans an existing file list (.lst or .txt) instead of a folder, for example one exported from Hurricane. It opens in Hurricane's list folder when Hurricane is installed, keeps every line that is an existing .dwg file, and starts the scan straight away.

Build a report chain

The module palette on the left holds the checks, sorted into 12 categories. Type in Find in 80 modules to search names and descriptions, or a system variable such as LTSCALE.

Hover a module and click + to add it to the end of the report chain, or drag it onto the chain. Drop it on a card to put it there. Each module adds one or more columns, and the chain order is the column order. The letters on the right of each card show its columns, for example A or B to D.

Each module sits on a card with its options: an expected value, a warning threshold, a list of names, a toggle. Drag the grip to reorder the cards. Hover a card for Disable (keep it but leave its columns out), Duplicate and Remove.

Some modules can explode. Click the aggregate pill on the card to switch it. Aggregate gives one cell per drawing, for example 14 layers. Explode gives one row per item, for example every layer of every drawing on its own row. Explode two modules and their items sit side by side.

The Row menu sets what one row is:

Row: per file gives one row per drawing (the default).
Row: per layer gives one row per layer of each drawing, with the layer name in the first column. Layer checks fill in for that layer.
Row: per xref gives one row per xref of each drawing.

With per layer or per xref rows, every module shows its aggregate.

Before you run anything, the table at the bottom shows a Live preview with sample drawings, so you can see the report take shape as you build it.

The checks

Every module, by category. A module that needs a value (a layer, a block, a tag) tells you so on its card.

File and document

File name: The drawing's file name, with an optional full path column.
DWG version: The format the drawing was last saved in. Set a minimum version to flag older saves.
File size: Size on disk in MB.
Bloat ratio: Bytes per object. A high number suggests a purge or regapp cleanup.
File dates: Created and modified dates from Windows.
Total edit time: Time spent editing inside the drawing (TDINDWG).
Drawing properties: One DWGPROPS field: Title, Subject, Author or Comments.
Custom properties: Name one custom property (a project number, a client) to pull its value, or leave it blank to count them. Explode lists every pair.
Protection flags: Password protection and digital signatures.

Units and extents

Drawing units: INSUNITS. Set the expected unit to flag the rest.
Measurement system: Metric or imperial (MEASUREMENT).
Linear unit format: LUNITS and LUPREC, as you would read them.
Angular unit format: AUNITS and AUPREC.
Drawing limits: LIMMIN and LIMMAX.
Drawing extents: EXTMIN and EXTMAX.
Linetype scales: LTSCALE and PSLTSCALE, flagged when LTSCALE is not your expected value.
Current UCS: World, or the name of the UCS the drawing was saved in.

System variables

Report a sysvar: Any system variable saved in the drawing, by name. Add an expected value to flag drawings that differ. Add this module more than once for more variables.
DIMSCALE: Overall dimension scale, flagged when it is not your expected value.
Point display: PDMODE and PDSIZE.
CTB or STB: Color-dependent or named plot styles (PSTYLEMODE).
Current layer: The layer that was current when the drawing was saved. Layer 0 is flagged unless you name the layer it should be.

Layers

Layer count: How many layers the drawing has.
Layer table: Every layer with its color, linetype and state. Explode for one row per layer.
Non-standard layers: Layers that are not on your standard list. Separate names with commas or new lines.
Empty layers: Layers with nothing on them, counted the way PURGE sees it (a layer used inside a block counts as used).
Xref-dependent layers: Layers that come from xrefs.
Objects on 0 and DEFPOINTS: How many objects sit on layer 0 and on DEFPOINTS.
Layer states: How many layers are frozen, off and locked.

Blocks and attributes

Block definition count: Block definitions, not counting layouts and anonymous blocks.
All blocks in the drawing: Every inserted block with its count. Blocks with attributes come first, so this is how you find what your title block is called.
Block insert counts: Inserts per block, for quantity takeoffs. Set a minimum count to hide the rare ones.
Title block attribute: One attribute value from a block, such as the revision. Add fallback tags (REV, REVISION, REV1) and the first one found wins. Leave the block name blank to match any block.
All attributes of a block: Every tag and value. Leave the block blank to see them all and discover your title block's tags.
Dynamic blocks: How many dynamic block definitions the drawing has.
Anonymous blocks: How many anonymous blocks the drawing has, often left over from exploded arrays.
Max block nesting: The deepest block inside a block inside a block.
Unresolved blocks: Block references whose definition did not resolve.

A dynamic block counts under its own name, the way the Explorer shows it, even where AutoCAD stores a changed copy under an anonymous name.

Xrefs and underlays

Xref count: How many xrefs are attached.
Xref health: Every xref with its path, whether it was found, attach or overlay, and how deep it is nested.
Missing xrefs: Xrefs whose saved path does not resolve, with their names.
Xref path types: Absolute against relative paths. Absolute paths break when folders move.
Circular references: Xref loops, where A attaches B and B attaches A.
PDF and DGN underlays: PDF, DGN and DWF underlays, and how many of their files cannot be found.
Raster images: Attached images, and how many of their files cannot be found.

Text and fonts

Text style table: Every text style with its font and height.
Missing fonts: Text styles whose SHX, big font or TrueType font is not on this PC.
Text object counts: TEXT and MTEXT counts.
Full text dump: Every text with its layer. Set Contains to find a note, a tag or a spec reference across the whole folder (wildcards work).

Dims and annotation

Dimension styles: Every dimension style and whether it is used.
Dimension count: How many dimensions the drawing has.
Exploded dimensions: Lines, arrowheads and text sitting on your dimension layers: the sign someone exploded a dimension. Set the pattern to match how your dimension layers are named.
Annotation scales: Annotative scales and how many objects use each one.
Multileader styles: Multileader styles, how many are used, and the multileader count.
Revision clouds: Revision clouds left on the sheet.
Wipeouts: Wipeout count. They plot unpredictably on some drivers.
Fields: Fields in the drawing, and how many still show ####.
Hyperlinks: Objects with a hyperlink, and the links on request.

Layouts and plotting

Layout count: Layout tabs and their names.
Page setups: Paper size, plotter and scale per layout.
Plot style table: The CTB or STB per layout, flagged when the file is missing.
Plotter config: The plotter per layout. A layout set to none is flagged.
Viewports: Viewport count, or one row per viewport with its scale and lock. Odd scales such as 1:48.73 are flagged.
Named views: How many named views are saved.

Entity census

Entity count: Every object in model and paper space.
Count by entity type: LINE, LWPOLYLINE, INSERT, HATCH and every other type. Set one type to count just that (wildcards work).
Proxy objects: Objects from other applications that plain AutoCAD cannot edit.
Zero-length objects: Zero-length lines and other near-zero leftovers.
3D content: Solids, surfaces and meshes in a set that should be 2D.

Geometry and takeoff

Length on layer: Total line and polyline length on a layer, for pipe, wire and duct takeoffs.
Area on layer: Total closed-polyline area on a layer, for room and zone schedules.
Hatch area on layer: Total hatched area on a layer, or on every layer. It measures up to 400 hatches per drawing and says so when it stopped there.
Block quantity on layer: How many of one block sit on one layer, for fixture schedules.

Health and standards

Audit errors: Errors found by a read-only AUDIT. Nothing is fixed or saved. It adds a few seconds per drawing.
Unpurged items: Blocks, layers, linetypes and text styles that PURGE would remove right now.
Hardcoded properties: Objects with their own color, linetype or lineweight instead of ByLayer.
Standards: styles: Text and dimension styles that are not on your standard list.
Readability: Drawings that did not open cleanly and need RECOVER.
Drawing compare: What changed against a baseline copy of the set. See Drawing compare.

A long list stops at a safe size. When a drawing has more text or layers than a list can hold, the cell says so, for example (first 1800 texts only), instead of reading as complete.

Set your standard

Most checks report a value. Give them the value your office expects and the report becomes pass or fail:

an Expected value, such as the drawing units, LTSCALE or a system variable;
a standard list, such as your layer names or your text and dimension styles;
a Warn over threshold, such as more than 20 empty layers;
a Min version for the DWG format.

A cell that breaks the standard turns amber (a warning) or red (an error), and its row is flag. For any other condition, add a flag rule. Save the chain as a recipe and the same standard runs on every project.

Recipes

A recipe is a saved report chain: the modules with their options, the row type, the export format and your flag rules. Your folders and settings are not part of it.

Click the recipe button in the toolbar. Type a name under Save recipe and click Save (or press Enter). Pick a recipe under Load to switch to it, or hover it and click the trash to delete it. New empty chain starts over.

A * after the recipe name means the chain has changed since you saved it. Tornado asks before it replaces another recipe, deletes one, or throws away unsaved changes.

Run a scan

Click Run or press F5. Tornado scans several drawings at once and fills the table as each one finishes. The line above the table shows the progress, for example 44/44 · 0:13 · 199/min. Click Cancel to stop.

Each scan opens its own tab above the table, named by its start time and row count. The last 3 scans stay open; close one with its ×. Scans are not kept after you close Tornado, so export what you need.

The Status column says how each drawing went:

ok: read in full, nothing flagged.
flag: read in full, at least one cell is amber or red.
partial: AutoCAD stopped before every check finished.
timeout: the drawing took longer than 90 seconds.
failed or failed-to-open: AutoCAD could not read it. Try RECOVER.

Read the results

Type in Filter rows to keep the rows that contain a word, in any cell or in the file path. All, Flagged and Failed switch the view. Failed shows every drawing that did not read cleanly. Click a column heading to sort, again to reverse, and a third time to clear. Dates sort by day, and numbers sort as numbers.

Density (Low, Med, High) sets how tight the rows are. Drag the bar above the table to make it taller; double-click the bar to reset it.

The strip of chips above the table shows every column in order. Click a chip to jump to its card, or drag chips sideways to reorder the modules.

Click a cell to select it, and double-click to open the drawing in AutoCAD. Both are yours to change in the gear menu under Results grid clicks. Right-click a cell for the full menu:

Explore drawing: open it in the Drawing Explorer.
Copy cell value, Copy row (tab separated, ready for Excel), Copy file path.
Open drawing and Reveal in Explorer.
Filter to the cell's value.
Flag rule from this cell: flag every drawing with this value.

Preview opens a small floating window with the thumbnail saved in the drawing. Click any row to see it. It reads the thumbnail straight from the file, without AutoCAD. A drawing saved without one says No preview saved in this drawing.

Flag rules

Flag rules color cells on your own conditions. Flagged rows show in the Flagged view and keep their color in Excel exports.

Click Rules, then Add rule. Pick the column, the condition and the value, and choose warn (amber) or error (red). The conditions:

greater than and less than compare numbers, and dates by day: Modified less than 2026-06-01.
equals and not equal to compare numbers as numbers (1.00 equals 1) and text without case.
contains matches part of a cell.
is missing flags an empty cell, such as a title block with no revision.
is duplicate flags a value that appears in more than one drawing, such as two sheets with the same drawing number.

Each rule has a switch to turn it off without deleting it. The Rules button shows how many are on. Rules are saved with the recipe.

Export and the Hurricane loop

Pick the format at the left of the chip strip (CSV, XLSX or JSON), then click Export after a scan. The export holds the current view, filtered and sorted, plus a Status column.

XLSX keeps the amber and red cells, freezes the header row and stores numbers as numbers.
CSV opens in Excel with accented names intact. A cell that starts like a formula opens as text.
JSON gives one object per row, for your own tools.

Tornado names the file after the recipe and the date, and starts the save dialog in your Output folder (set it in the gear menu) or the scanned folder.

.lst exports the file paths of the current view as a Hurricane file list. The loop:

Switch to Flagged, or filter to the drawings that need a fix.
Click .lst. The save dialog opens in Hurricane's list folder.
Load the list into Hurricane's Queue and batch-fix the drawings.
Back in Tornado, Import list the same file to scan just those drawings again and confirm the fixes cleared.

The Drawing Explorer

The Explorer shows everything inside one drawing. Click Explore in the toolbar and pick a drawing, or click the box icon at the start of any row. It opens in a window you can move and resize, and it reads the drawing once (a large drawing can take a while).

Six tabs, each with its own filter box:

Blocks: every block, with its inserts, their layer and position, and their attribute tags and values. Badges mark attributed, dynamic and unused blocks.
Layers: every layer with its state, color, linetype, lineweight and object count. Expand a layer to see what types of object sit on it.
Xrefs & files: xrefs, images and underlays, marked missing, unreferenced or nested.
Layouts: plotter, plot style, paper and scale for each layout, and its viewports with their scale and lock.
Styles: text, dimension, multileader and table styles and linetypes, marked unused or font missing.
Drawing: drawing and custom properties, the key settings, and an object count by type.

The + buttons turn what you see into a check for the whole folder. For example: count this block in every drawing, extract this attribute tag, use these layers as your standard list, or flag drawings where a setting differs from this one. Tornado adds the module to your chain with the value filled in.

The download button exports the current tab, as filtered, to a CSV next to the drawing. Refresh reads the drawing again.

Drawing compare

Add Drawing compare and set its Baseline folder to an earlier copy of the set, such as the issued set or last week's copy. Tornado scans the baseline drawings too, so the run takes about twice as long.

Each drawing is matched with the baseline drawing at the same place in the folder (Bldg2\A-101.dwg with Bldg2\A-101.dwg), or with the only baseline drawing that has its name. The cell lists what changed: objects, geometry, layers added or removed, block counts, attribute values and text. no baseline means Tornado found no match.

Keyboard and mouse

`F5`	Run the scan.
`Enter`	Save the recipe in the name box. In a dialog, confirm the highlighted button.
`Esc`	Close the right-click menu.

Mouse

Drag a module	Add it to the chain where you drop it.
Drag a card's grip, or a chip	Reorder the modules and their columns.
Click a column heading	Sort, reverse, clear.
Click / double-click a cell	Your choice in Results grid clicks (Select cell and Open drawing by default).
Right-click a cell	Explore, copy, open, reveal, filter, or make a flag rule.
Click the box icon on a row	Open that drawing in the Explorer.
Drag the bar above the table	Resize the table. Double-click to reset.
Click the engine badge	Check the engine again.

Settings

The gear button holds the settings:

Theme: Light, Dark or System, and an Accent color.
AutoCAD engine: Automatic, or the AutoCAD to scan with when you have several.
AutoCAD crash reports: Tornado pauses AutoCAD's Send Report dialog while it runs, so a damaged drawing cannot stop a scan, and puts your setting back when it closes.
Output folder: where exports start.
Updates: Tornado checks for a new version when it starts, at most once a day, and shows a Download button when one is out. Turn it off here, or click Check for updates. The User guide and Release notes links are here too.
Results grid clicks: what a click and a double-click on a cell do.

Trial and license

The trial has every check and no time limit. Each scan reads the first 10 drawings of the folder. When a folder holds more, Tornado says how many it skipped.

A license is a one-time purchase per seat, with every update free. Buy a license and your key arrives by email, in your name.

To activate, click Trial - activate in the title bar, paste the key and click Activate. The title bar then shows Licensed to your name. Remove key from this PC takes the key off this computer. The key stays valid, and you can activate it again on this or another PC.

Guides: one problem, the whole folder

Next submittal, you know what is wrong with every drawing before the client does.

Download for Windows

Free trial, no time limit, 10 drawings per run. Stuck? Email support@74mph.com.