Alias Surface: Create innovative designs faster
What's New
- Virtual reality with Alias - Enhance design reviews with virtual reality. Explore your design to scale using an HMD in VR.
- Photoshop live link - Sketches from Photoshop can be linked to Alias. Changes to sketches are dynamically updated in Alias.
- Computational design in Alias - Quickly generate complex repeatable patterns and enable rapid design iterations and exploration.
- Marking Menu editor - More easily customize Marking Menus with a new selection of styles.
- Design model share - Design and collaborate on a single Alias model in the cloud. Review, mark up, and collaborate via the web and on portable devices.
- Offset tool - Offset command ensures that offset CV layout quality is maintained, enabling a semi-automated, time-saving workflow.
- Look around feature - Fly to a point of interest immediately; enable immediate navigation to a point in the design.
- Canvas pivot function - Manipulate Canvas layers like any other geometry type—scale, snap, and pivot images in real time.
- Performance improvements - Multithreading implemented for File I/O for Alias reduces File Open and Save times by an order of 3.
Features
- Concept Design and Fast Content Modeling
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- Flexible product modeling - Fast, repeatable, curve-based modeling tools let you directly edit and sculpt 3D models.
- Improved color assignment for layers - Random custom color assignments for layers and layer folders.
- Customized clutch keys - Define clutch key assignments.
- View options in Curve Planarize - Add view options in the Curve Planarize.
- Surface fillet improvements - Add the option of Inter Continuity and Inter Tangent Angle checking in surface fillets.
- New options in Skin tool - Add the Shape option in the Skin 2012 tool to control the CV layout of the Skin surface section.
- Variable degree surface fillets - You have the ability to have a variable degree in fillet surfaces.
- Interface enhancements - Improvements for the 2018 release include customizable keyboard controls, snapping, marking menus, and more.
- Dynamic shape modeling - Quickly manipulate your product model and explore shape variations on 3D forms without rebuilding geometry.
- 3D sculpting - 3D sculpt surfaces by directly adjusting surface control vertices. Use curve-based tools, direct modeling, and more.
- Detailed Design and Surface Analysis
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- Deck seam - Deck seam (similar to a flat fell seam) has been added to the Stitch and Seam tool.
- Mathematically precise surface creation - Access tools that help you create mathematical shapes. For example, control pitch with the Revolve tool, and more.
- Multiblend tool - Make smooth transitions between surfaces.
- Light ray effects and reflections - Study your surfaces in a virtual lighting studio with the Light Tunnel tool.
- Automatic arrays of shapes - Simplify uniform and non-uniform objects, using arrays. Create arrays of lines and surfaces in 2D and 3D.
- Stitches and seams - Automatically create stitches and seams.
- Surface chain select tool - Select a chain of surfaces with one pick.
- Shading in clay - Temporarily change your shaders to a clay material. When you're finished, your model goes back to its original form.
- Isophotes for surface flow - Reveal design motion and underlying shape—for example, the movement of sand or the shape of snow on a mountain.
- Surface evaluation - Get more accurate feedback on surface model quality.
- VRED NURBS surface analysis - Achieve more accurate, native spline definition analysis.
- Surface Modeling and Class-A Surfacing
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- Global refit - Refit your digital model to the changed physical model.
- Modeling enhancements - The 2018 release includes enhancements to Surface Fillets and Curve Planarize. Data Transfer now offers STEP AP242 standard and DWG import and export.
- Scan data workflows: surface from mesh - Create a surface on mesh with 1 of 3 surface types.
- Improved Surface from Mesh tool - Update original data with scanned clay data.
- Precision surface modeling - Create Class-A surfaces with speed and control.
- Automated surface creation and editing - Perform multiple operations with a single tool.
- Multicurve profile input - Profile tools provide an advanced way to work with surfaces, such as rotating a profile to a target surface.
- Efficient Multisurface Fillet tool - Speed up the process from factor to surface fillet.
- Intelligent form factor capability - Define ratios with Form Factor tools.
- Scan data workflows: mesh selection techniques - Use an expanded mesh selection toolset.
- Design Communication and Product Visualization
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- Interactive product visualization - Evaluate design options with real-time visualizations. Use shading models, apply color, add texture, and more.
- Compelling photorealistic renderings - Visualize your product with high-resolution imagery.
- Convenient data exchange - Share industrial design data with mechanical design and CAD software, including Inventor, CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, and many others.
- VRED compatibility - Quickly convert Alias files to VRED software for 3D visualization.
- Interoperability with other tools - Interoperability helps streamline operations with other products used in the design process, such as cutters, meshers, and more.
- Switch between shading assignments - Easily switch between color combinations.
- Variant configuration sets - Capture your current view to return to it easily.