How to learn Autodesk Alias

The best resources for learning Autodesk Alias 3D software: the official documentation, free online tutorials, educational DVDs, books and online training.

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Related article: Autodesk Alias

Autodesk Alias online tutorials

In the last years Autodesk has publicly released many official videos and documents. Most of them are aimed at showing the features of the new versions, but there are also a number of purely instructional videos.

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Almost all the official material was hosted at the old Alias Design website. Recently Autodesk has integrated the website into its new “Mosaic” portal and unfortunately it seems that most tutorials have been deleted. For this reason we’ll post links to the original videos on YouTube or we’ll group some episode series on single pages.

Autodesk Alias – Free tutorials/guides

• Autodesk Alias Design: from the beginning – is a series of 9 video episodes where Chris Hall explain the basics of the Alias interface, navigation and commands. It is very useful for total beginners. Unfortunately the series didn’t get past the Lesson 1 stage.
• Autodesk Alias – Online Documentation and Help – Autodesk makes available the official guides and documentation on their website – which covers up to the 2012 version – and on the community-drivenWikiHelp which also includes support for the latest Alias 2013 version.
  Among these, we suggest the following sections:
• Learning Alias
• Learning Technical Surfacing - a set of video presented by Roberto Tomarchio, covering tha basic tools for surface modeling in Autodesk Alias Surface and Autodesk Alias Automotive (v.2010 and later).
  Here we have collected the various videos from Autodesk YouTube Channel into a single page.

• Autodesk Alias PDF manualsUntil version 2011 Autodesk used to provide links to downloadable Alias PDF guides and books. Since they were hosted at the now offline Alias Design, not all the documents are still available. At the moment you can download the free guides:
• Getting Started with Alias 2011 – a 41-pages book that introduces the basic concepts (link)
• ICEM Transition Guide 2011 – a 53-pages guide that focuses on the key tools and techniques required to build Class A surfaces, mainly targeting ICEM Surf users (link)
• Rhino Transition Guide 2011 – a 35-pages manual for users moving from Rhino 3D (link)
• All the pdf manuals for the Alias 2009 version (link)

• Modeling Essentials with StudioTools – Industrial Design Techniques with Henry GoeckeBack in 2007-2008, the Gnomon Workshop released a DVD that covered the basics of Alias and the main modeling techniques, targeted to new users.The lessons are taught by Henry Goecke, who at the time was lead digital sculptor at GM Advanced Design Center, and now is an instructor of 3D design at MSU (Michigan State University).The DVD is now out of production and it is not included in the Gnomon Workshop’s current subscription plan, so it might be a good idea to consider buying a copy while there are still some available.
• Learning Autodesk Alias Design 2012This is apparently the only up-to-date guide on the Alias software. It is written by Prof. Sham Tickoo from Purdue University Calumet and published by CADCIM Technologies. We don’t have enough information to review it, but it’s certainly worth a look.
• Learning Design with Alias StudioToolsReleased back in 2006 as the Official Alias Training Guide, it is a 300-page book with a bonus DVD containing some videos. While it refers to a rather old version (StudioTools v.9) , it could be of some help for total beginners, anyway the used copies are sold at very high prices.

Autodesk Alias – Online paid training

Coming Soon

Autodesk Alias – Intermediate/advanced tutorials