Autodesk Alias Automotive 3D Modelers Interface

[@X-mordred-X]

Awesome! Thanks a lot.

[@ellesse59]

Good stuff K man. Don't drop off the face of the earth with the Alias videos like 99% have.

[@kevinr6236]

Thanks! Do you have any features, functions or commentary that you would like to see?

[@jamescronin1]

Paste (always ask) ... did not know that one, and I am totally making that my default ... Thanks Kevin!

[@kevinr6236]

That was a game changer for me!

[@rustamschogenow216]

Thank you! Very helpful.

[@wei-paihuang3648]

Thanks for sharing this, fantastic stuff!

[@ChromeLion]

This is exactly what I was looking for and so much more! Thanks for this!

[@datalsselniy32]

This is the user interface that I use and teach. Check out how I lay out my interface for maximum speed and efficiency.

[@yislam1]

I've listened to your thoughts on the Blend Curves, read other people's comments and also explored the Freeform Curve Blend Tool which is really excellent. I can't help but feel that blend curves have something to offer. I mean just look at how extensive the toolset is. AD had to have use cases in mind when they created it and I'd really like to know what they are. There's some mystery buttons in there that I want to know about.

[@kevinr6236]

I should probably do a deep dive video exploring all of the curve tools. Blend curves do work well if your willing to use the assortment of toolbox features and specific selections. They were originally introduced in the mid to late 90s. At the time, they seemed to be a combination of the project tangent and align tools. I know lots of Surfacing masters that still use them extensively. They can produce excellent results and for awhile were the only way to achieve curve alignments beyond G2. For curve networks and wireframe modeling, they can be a very strong choice.

[@kevinr6236]

Which Mystery buttons are you referring to? I use the "whats this" feature in the help menus to find out about specific buttons. Select "whats this" then click on the icon or tool text. The help doc will open with the tool information

[@yislam1]

With the exception of the "New", "Edit" and "Change Degree" buttons I just don't know where of how the other buttons in the toolset get used. A deep dive would be very useful, maybe a practical example where you put the whole toolset to use.

[@ryan6530]

Hey Kev, I had a question regarding arrow sliders and movement sensitivity- Is there a way to control this in the same way you would in transform cv tool? particularly in the extend tool as well as within the align tool with both arrow sliders and if possible skew angle arrow sliders?

[@kevinr6236]

Great question. I really wish Autodesk would add the movement sensitivity to all the transform tools, arrow keys and tools. Zooming in close can help change the global scale and sensitivity but its not very consistent or predictable. To fine tune align, Ill leave the history on and use the transform cv tool to make the hull adjustments to get some of the sensitivity benefits. Are you familiar with holding the ALT key while sliding back and forth in a numeric input window to adjust the number? This may help for the skew angle value in the align options. Its not interactive, but could help do finer adjustments.

[@ryan6530]

@@kevinr6236 had a feeling they haven't yet added this functionality would definitely be beneficial! yep I use the history all the time to fine tune with move cv tool to refine the shape. Keeping some control within align tool would be a next logical step of improvement. BTW any plans for a live stream anytime soon? I always manage to miss them lol

[@smitshah62]

Hey Kevin, is there a way to add shortcut to increase or decrease the surface degrees? I found a way to do it by making presets of surface rebuild tool with uniform rebuild, but i wanted to know if there is any other way to add a shortcut for it.

[@kevinr6236]

I've seen users use the method your mentioning. Set a few surface rebuild tools to desired degree/span parameters, save to shelf and hotkey the shelf tools. I personally use the new(ish) hotkey to open the rebuild input window where the cursor is. PREFERENCES>INTERFACE>HOTKEY/MENU EDITOR... special > Modeling Functions > toggle Degree Span Window

[@smitshah62]

Thanks for the tip kevin.

[@the_3rdKind]

Are you able to share your UI file then? I use 3ds Max and work with UI files to save UI layouts. Its nice to be able to load one in to change the layout on the fly.

[@wei-paihuang3648]

Hi Kevin, so what do you use instead of blend curves? I also don't like blend curves so I use regular curves and align, do you have another workflow?

[@kevinr6236]

To keep things simple, i use Curve with Align similar to you OR try Curve Edit > Modify > Freeform curve blend. Its similar to blend curves and the Freeform surface tool

[@wei-paihuang3648]

@@kevinr6236 Just had a play with freeform curve blend OMG why didn't I know about this tool before it's so much nice to use than blend curves!

[@chronokoks]

Alias needs to do an overhaul of their GUI and workflow ... like Blender they need to change the way they think about user interface and user workflow

[@kevinr6236]

Anything specific that you would like to see different? There definitely is room for improvement. Alias(Alias Research) is one of the original 3D programs from the late 80's. Some of the odd UI workflows are from a time when software was fairly new, plus it doesn't help that Alias was built on top of an animation architecture(Abyss, Terminator 2, etc) instead of just pure modeling.