No, they do have to be freehanded. What you're describing is a normal part.of the exercise. Youndraw the box to the best of your ability, then use the cylinder's ellipses and their line extensions (minor axis and and two contact point lines) to test how far off you were from having the ellipse represent a circle in 3d space.
Each cylinder in a box is an attempt, you're expected to make mistakes and to identify them.
Thanks for the reply! I was feeling overwhelmed when starting this part of the exercise and had nearly forgotten that it was supposed to be just that--an exercise. Constructing the cylinder correctly within the box is so much less forgiving than constructing around an arbitrary axis that it was giving me mental whiplash, but I suppose the fastest way to learn is by facing my failures head-on.
This recommendation is really just for those of you who've reached lesson 6 and onwards.
I haven't found the actual brand you buy to matter much, so you may want to shop around. This one is a "master" template, which will give you a broad range of ellipse degrees and sizes (this one ranges between 0.25 inches and 1.5 inches), and is a good place to start. You may end up finding that this range limits the kinds of ellipses you draw, forcing you to work within those bounds, but it may still be worth it as full sets of ellipse guides can run you quite a bit more, simply due to the sizes and degrees that need to be covered.
No matter which brand of ellipse guide you decide to pick up, make sure they have little markings for the minor axes.
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