How to Become an Alias Modeller

I often get asked the question "How can I get a job as an Alias modeller?". If you're very lucky then you might get an apprenticeship position and learn Alias in-house. If not then clearly the first step is to develop your skills to the point where you can convince a company to take you on. The amount of competition out there now is very high so you need to take your skills to the highest level possible. To see what you're up against I would suggest following as many Alias modellers on Linkedin as you can and checking out their portfolios.

There is a well-known Chinese proverb that says "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". This is applicable to learning any new skill and certainly to learning Alias. Developing your Alias skills is a question of breaking down the problem into bite-sized chunks. You can learn from trying to build a complete car model of course but it's much better to start by exploring each element of the system in turn. Whenever I've had to learn new software I've always first experimented with every function to try and fully understand how it works. Ask youself "what happens if...?". What happens to the curvature if I move this CV? What happens to the fillet if the angle between two surfaces is very small? The help manuals are a starting point but it's only by getting your hands dirty that you find out how the functions actually work in a real-world scenario.

Alias has been developed over many decades and so there are functions within it that have been superseded. There is no practical point in learning these of course. If you have a mentor then they can help guide you to the functions that really matter.

One thing that you will need to decide or to discover is whether you want to be a CAS modeller or an A-class modeller or maybe both. If you're coming from a Design background then the chances are that you'll go down the CAS route. If your background is Engineering then you'll probably be best suited to an A-class route. In reality there is significant cross-over in these skills. CAS modellers need to take into account basic feasibility and packaging constraints. A-class modellers need to respect the design intent and have to be able to make aesthetic judgements. CAS modelling is often very time-constrained - sometimes insanely so! Designers want to be able to see their designs realised in 3D as quickly as possible and then to make equally rapid changes. If you relish working quickly to achieve a result then maybe CAS is for you. A-class modelling requires an insane amount of attention to detail - down to the position of every single CV! With A-class work there is always the need for a huge number of changes, mainly driven by engineering requirements. In some instances you may have to change a model hundreds of times! Patience is definitely a quality that you will need here. It's also essential that you don't get emotionally attached to your model, even if you've spent hundreds of hours on it. Change is the norm in the automotive industry.

Only you know which type of work you'd be more suited to. I decided early on that I wanted to do both CAS and A-class. This is partly a reflection of my background where I started a Fine Art degree and then switched to Aeronautical Engineering! I always thought this meant that I was some sort of freak but I've since met other people who've taken similar paths. I also felt that, from a continuity of work perspective, having a broader skill set (including ICEM Surf as well) would help in finding work - which has proven to be the case. Switching between the fast pace of CAS and the meticulous nature of A-class requires a brain reset to some extent but I find it both?interesting and challenging. As a result or working in both CAS and A-class my methods of building surfaces are essentially the same for both sectors. I build my models in such a way that they can be changed relatively easily. I use a block surface / theoretical intersect approach, minimising the surface count whilst keeping every surface as simple as possible in terms of degree and spans. Developing a model from the CAS arena into the A-class arena is then seamless - there is no need to rebuild the surfaces - only modify them to suit the evolving engineering information. This approach can also be used between ICEM Surf and Alias. What highlighted the benefits of this method was working on the Ford GT exterior. My company, Geodigm, had been tasked with creating the A-class surface exterior model. The starting point for our work was an Alias concept model which had been developed by (amongst others) Barry Kimball. The surface structure of Barry's model was exactly the same as we would have created if we'd built an A-class model from scratch. This meant that we did not have to fundamentally alter the topology (patch structure) of the model although we did modify every single surface as the engineering developed.?

So, if you want to learn Alias where do you start? Firstly learn the basics. Autodesk have excellent videos for this created by Kerry Kingston and Barry Kimball. You can find these in Alias under "Help-Essential Skills". Start with Essential Skills and work through them all

Once you've worked through all of these tutorials I would recommend creating your own very simple models to the highest standard that you can along with experimenting with the different functions.

In my career there have been a number of times when I've taken new users under my wing. They've often had the basic skills training. I've then had to make them productive from day 1. This is a very tall order as it usually takes about 3 months for even the most capable users to be at a point where they can create reasonable quality models in an acceptable time-scale. On average they are between 5 to 10 times slower than an experienced user at this 3 month stage. I've found that the best way for users to develop quickly is to get them doing small surface details early on with a focus on quality. On one project I had 5 people working in parallel on one production A-class bumper! Our aim was to complete the bumper in two weeks. The most capable user developed the main block surfaces. The others were working on apertures mainly - firstly as curves and then developing the flanges and finally the fillets. They all had to work to exactly the same standards so that the model would come together. We achieved a great result between us. I think it emphasised that surfacing is very much team work. It also gave the users the satisfaction of knowing that they had contributed to a production quality A-class model.

One exercise which I give newly trained users is building a 3 fillet corner manually to an A-class standard. This means achieving industry standard continuity with all CVs perfectly positioned. This teaches them a whole set of skills and functions but, most importantly, attention to detail. Even if they then go on to do only CAS work it is still a hugely beneficial first step.

So start simple, experiment and build from there. Of course, the most important thing you can do is to take the first step!