Learning Alias

My Dream Job – Alias Modeler

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:38:26 +0000

About Me

Hi Guys, I’m Mathew Tan from Malaysia and also an Alias enthusiast!

This article will talk about my experience and what I would like to achieve in the coming years. Currently I’m working as an Engineer that provide 3D Digitizing, CAI & Reverse Engineering services for various industry such as consumer products, Aerospace and of course the AUTOMOTIVE industry. I’m graduated in Mechanical Engineering and my job involved Solid Modeling, 2D Drafting and CAI, but what interest me the most is Surface Modeling.

Das Auto

I always admire the shapes or the exterior surfaces of a car and wondering how they can be done so beautifully. I’m not so particular about the technical aspect of a car but it’s exciting to look at the car proportion, its character lines, graphical presentation, etc. I had scanned quite a numbers of Clay Models, 1:1 Scale Cars and exterior body panels. These scan data will later on passed to designer or engineers and my job just stop there. When I ask them what they are going to do with these data, they will mention Class A, G2 & G3, nice and smooth surfaces.

Learning Alias

So, I started to look for info about Class A and found that it is challenging but interesting. Alias is my choice because it provide best-in-class Class A capabilities. Also, I found LA website where I can learn surfacing technique from Graham. I did try to learn by myself but sometimes you are stuck and I need someone to evaluate or comment on my work. Graham is a professional in this area, so there is no doubt I can learn a lot from him.

Below is my first work from mesh.

My next Project!

Modeling Car Exterior up to Class A standard is not easy,

it is challenging, but with hard work and passion it can be achieved. Hopefully I can be Alias Modeler and work together with great Designers and Engineers.

Cheers and Happy Modeling!

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

الكورس الأول

لمدة ٦ اشهر إمكانية الوصول للموقع لمشاهدة جميع المواد التعليمية بمبلغ ١٦٧ يورو ( ٢٢٨ دولار أمريكي معادل نوفمبر ٢٠١١

“Course #2″.

Economy Private Tuition Package 100 Euros (135 USD equivalent Nov.2011) per month. You get your .wire reviewed by me every 15 days and you will receive : feedback, instruction, tips and advice from me personally. Access to all videos including my ” Private Student Training Videos”

الكورس الثانى

الحزمة الإقتصادية للدروس الخصوصية ١٠٠ يورو فى الشهر، سوف يراجع ملفك كل ١٥ يوم مع التعليقات والتصليحات والنصائح منى شخصيا، والوصول لجميع ملفات الفيديو بما في ذلك ,,الفيديوهات الخاصة,,

“Course #3″.

Fast Track Full Pro. “One to One” Course with weekly reviews and coaching 250 Euros (USD. 339 approx. Nov. 2011) per month. One to One Private tuition. You will receive specific geometry and meshes and modeling from me personally where required, to help you to complete your exteriors quickly to an Industry entry level standard. This means a bigger investment, but once in an Alias modeling job you will get back what you invested many times over and be able to work anywhere in the world

الكورس الثالث

المسار الكامل للمحترفين، ,,واحد إلى واحد,, مع استعراض لملفات الطلبة اسبوعيا وذلك بمبلغ ٢٥٠ يورو شهريا. فى هذا الكورس سوف تستلم ملفات من المدرس إذا اضطر الأمر لستهيل استكمال الواجبات الخاصة بالأصطح لمستوى قياسى المصانع. هذا يعني استثمارات اكبر، ولكن مرة واحدة في وظيفة النمذجة الاسم المستعار سوف نعود ما كنت استثمرت عدة مرات وتكون قادرة على العمل في أي مكان في العالم..

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham

Interior Automotive Modeleing – Elliptical Steering Wheel

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:57:22 +0000

Many vehicles today have ergonomically designed steering wheels

making the modelers job challenging. This steering wheel dims. are: Major axis = 356.4mm, Minor axis = 330 mm.

Egg Shaped Xsec

this means that geometry for the rear half of the wheel cannot be symmetrically created. The front half is itself elliptical in xsec. and the rear half is elliptical but has a lot more peak, in order to make the wheel more ergonomic to grip

Fabric Trim Seams are used to catch the eye and gain asethetic quality.

These align with the central hub of the steering wheel (not shown here)

Seams are important to the Interior Designer

and must be modeled as accurately as possible

Lattice Rig

Just in from Karin Mayer today this nice pic of her WIP. Bezier Steering Wheel

The entire Yolk (Hub & Spokes) employ Bezier srfs. apart from the tertiary blends. I teach my students to work to Class A “Principals” as much as possible. The reason being that there are a lot of young modelers looking for entry level Automotive jobs and very few who can work reasonably quickly using Bezier srfs.All my Private students manage to get jobs and the feedback I get from employers, is that students who understand the principles of creating an A Class model are valid a lot more.

Karin has used the Lattice Rig to fine tune the proportions of the 3 spokes

Bezier Blend Patches

After employing the FF Blend control to create her original transitions , Karin has deleted the Nurbs patches and replaced them with Bezier Square surfaces. This is what is demanded on most Automotive projects

Transition Surface Looks Smooth

BUT, this is still a WIP and the Designer would want a softer look to the transition. We can see that the xsec of the trans. srf. looks flat, so either the curves need to be adjusted or the patches need to be direct modeled to add more peak. Nevertheless, the steering wheel is a beautiful piece of Bezier modeling

Pic just in from Karin

She has completely re-built the transition using Nurbs crvs and Square patches. She used deg 6 crvs. which provide

a spare CV to adjust the peak of the blend

Videos showing this workflow come from the video library I have been creating for the past 2 years, now standing at some 250 individual, unique videos and can be accessed by students who subscribe to my website. We are proud to say that we have LearningAlias students in many OEM’s, including: Lotus, Ferrari, Fiat, GM and perhaps soon at Audi too! We also train Alias Modelers, who are in the first year of there Automotive Career

www.learningalias.co.uk
graham bullock B.Ed. CNAA. Des. Tech

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

الكورس الأول

“Course #2″.

الكورس الثانى

“Course #3″.

الكورس الثالث

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details

www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham

Alias Automotive Interior Jobs

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:27:22 +0000

What is the difference between an Interior and Exterior Digital Sculptor?

Is there any cross-over between the 2 disciplines?

WIP: This is Karin Mayer’s early concept model.

I asked her to fillet it, just for this presentation. In order to build it she had to learn some new techniques. It is modeled on local axes, which means setting up a Master Construction plane and setting the layer symmetry. None of the axes are common to the exterior model, as the wheel is inclined in 2 directions (in simple terms: It is inclined forward and also transversely). The flat areas are for various buttons and switches. This is a First Concept model and is not meant to be realistic, hence the rim is square in xesc. A< steering wheel is not as symmetrical as you might think eg, the lower haalf of the rim has a different xsec. and is not merelt a symmetrical instance of the top half.

Karin is a competent Exterior Modeler

but she wants to widen what she can offer and make herself more employable. She loves Colour and Trim Design and over the next few months at LearningAlias.co.uk will be designing and modeling a complete Interior with interchangeable color and texture schemes. I have asked her to exaggerate the colors and textures here for effect.

Zen and the Art of Interior Design Modeling

Above: Zen inspired Interior, where Less is More

This is the work of one of my Transport Design Masters Post Grads.

who after several years as a top Product Designer has been studying with LearningAlias.co.uk and will shortly be starting a contract in Automotive Design/Modeling

The water feat. center has been adopted by a German prestige car OEM

(For the moment I won’t publish the students name until the new contract has been signed)

Students often ask me if Interiors are easier than Exterior to Model

Well you dont have to worry about getting good highlights on large surface-sets, but on the other hand, you do have to work on forms that are more difficult to conceptualize + you have to be very good at building complex fillets quickly. I don’t think one is easier than the other.

Q) Once you have committed to be either an Iterior or Exterior digital Sculptor, aren’t you stuck in that discipline forever?

Ans) No not at all Exterior Modelers are often given Interior projects and Interior modelers, as long as they have built a few Exteriors (At Uni or by practicing at home ), can make the change to Exterior work

If you are interested in learning Interiors , please email me for course details

cheers

graham bullock B.Ed. CNAA. Des. Tech

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

الكورس الأول

“Course #2″.

الكورس الثانى

“Course #3″.

الكورس الثالث

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details

www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham

Y=0 Plane. Professional Theoretical Model Layout

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:55:59 +0000

This is a Theoretical or Sharp Model,

meaning all surfaces have been built to the theoretical Lines of intersection. A Theoretical model DOES NOT HAVE any radii/fillets. The model was built by a team of top Class A modelers . Note how all the main lines have been projected in 2D onto a plane located at Y=0 and then the model has been built out from this center plane.

Here we get a better view of how the model has been developed out from the 2D Y=0 Plane

The Theoretical Model

This is the system we teach at LearningAlias.co.uk. It is the system used in Industry. The theoretical model, because it is not loaded up with fillets gives the designer a clear view of the lines he or she is trying to achieve and very importantly the model can undergo design changes expediently, as fillets do not have to be delete , un-trimmed, c-o-s deleted etc.

Why not enrol on an inexpensive course with LearningAlias and learn to become an Entry level Pro. Alias Automotive Modeler?

regards

graham bullock B.Ed. CNAA. Des. Tech

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

الكورس الأول

“Course #2″.

الكورس الثانى

“Course #3″.

الكورس الثالث

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details
www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

1.00 EUR

1.31396 USD

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham Bullock B.Ed.(CNAA)Des.Tech.

Autocad to Alias Automotive – Kilimanjaro to Everest – My Personal Journey by Benzy

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:41:07 +0000

From 2D world to a totally new 3D Automotive World !

About me

Salam, Hallo and Hello everyone, My Name is Benzy (Mohammad Hussein), I am from U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates).

I would like to share the important thing about me related to Alias (The Awesome Autodesk® Software) with you.

I work in an American Road & Bridges Consultant Company as a Senior CAD Technician using Autodesk AutoCAD and Microstation, and my work is totally 2D, annotating drawings, shading them, drafting the Engineers sketches to AutoCAD.

I am honestly in love with Cars since i was 16

and especially German cars and some British cars, i tried sketches some cars with pencils when i was young BUT no one pointed me to the right direction, so i just sketch whenever i feel like, and honestly the sketches were terrible because i didn’t have any basics in sketching.

And one day i was surfing on Autodesk’s website, and found Alias! and honestly my heart got a shock when i say a picture of an interior of a S-Class 2010 Mercedes Benz! i couldn’t believe this was designed !

So i contacted the nearest Authorized Autodesk training center that i already took a 3DS MAX 2010 course; asking them guys i want to learn alias, and the answer was another shock to me as they said; Sorry Sir, it’s not Available in the whole GULF area !!

I was really sad, then i just went to Google and type learning alias !

and i found this site and Graham’s Training site! and wow, i had hope again.

But i thought that it’s not possible because i didn’t attend any ART college or do a Transport Design degree, but the surprise was, IT IS POSSIBLE !

I contacted Graham with an email, and i told him my situation, my background on 3DS MAX, and i told him about my passion to cars, and i received an email very shortly, with a very generous and optimistic way that made me feel so comfortable and i did apply for 2nd Course!

I was advised to start the tutorials in Alias Help as i was a beginner, and if i had any problem i should email him, so i did, BUT, i figured i needed to email him more than 2 times a month !

So I applied for the 3rd Private Course, which is more deep and easy to contact and get fast reply, as he is a busy guy and i am not his only student, and he has a limited of 5 students at anyone time.

So i was lucky to get in, and he took into account my Autocad and 3DS MAX experience and later told me it was also my tremendous passion for cars, that made him decide to take me as a One to One student. Then we started with Alias Automotive.

My progress is going so well now, like never before, because when i was working without a trainer, it could take me 2 hours to figure a shortcut that he gives me in a simple email or video !

So definitely a teacher is a must!

Here i share some Pictures about how i started and how i am now, and don’t forget i am still a beginner and i still need time to become professional, but i liked to share what i am into right now so that beginners should know NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

I will give a brief explanation on each image right under it.

This image is in AutoCAD, while i was working as subcontract to one of the Australian Companies that creates Traffic Manuals, and that’s it, 2D, boring, no creativity, just applying measurements, and required details from the client.

This Image is an advanced road and parking design for a police station in my country, and no matter how advanced, still it’s not that big deal, that’s why i wanted to switch to 3D, and not any 3D.

Those 2 images was done by drafting the Engineers design and then importing them to 3DS MAX to 3D them, but still that’s nothing !

This image was a testing of materials and lighting, so I might use this program for rendering, but to make surfaces it’s definitely Alias.

This was one of my attempt to create a Computer mouse, Don’t forget i am a beginner, but from a beginner’s view, that is somthing and alot from AutoCAD moving to Alias !

These are my first Alias BEFORE I SIGNED-ON WITH Graham Bullock,

but these heavy NURBS surfaces have nothing to do with the professional level Alias I am now learning under Graham’s guidance. He has told me I need 18 months to reach entry level, if I put in 4 hours per day and I know that he has never had a single One to One student fail to get an Alias Automotive Entry job. JHe has introdeuced me to ex students, now working at Lotus Cars, Ferrari, GM and Volvo.

This is where my One to One training with Graham Bullock starts !!

This was like nothing i heard before, and you will learn this when you subscribe to be a private student,

to learn Mesh to NURBS!, and you will know that it’s totally a new 3D professionally world, but you can’t get to it alone without a professional Teacher!

I couldn’t have done any of the above geometery and reach industry tolerance without the help of Graham. He is so patient, so don’t think he will give up on teaching you, (Remember that i didn’t attend any ART college).

All you have to do if you are really serious into getting to the Automotive world, is to subscribe and work hard, and you will reach Industry Entry level in time and be good enough to get a job.

And believe me, if you love car designing you would be so happy to work with Alias to design complex surfaces

Good luck, and i hope for the beginner who is reading me to understand that it’s a total different feeling to move from a boring 2D space to a complete lovely awesome interesting challenging 3D space, and related to something you love which is Cars

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

الكورس الأول

“Course #2″.

الكورس الثانى

“Course #3″.

الكورس الثالث

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details
www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham Bullock B.Ed.(CNAA)Des.Tech.

VW Fender – With Complex Radial Wheel Arch and Washout

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:50:28 +0000

On the Learning Alias Pro. course I teach how to create REAL complex surfaces

that are used on today’s Series Production Cars. Surfaces are built to Class a Criteria with Catia V5 tols. My students are prepared for the surfacing challenges that the very demanding Automotive Industry will throw at them

Here the student is evaluating the surface highlights using Visual Curves

This surface set is really complex,

as the eyebrow climbs above the tangent break in the Parent surf-set. Also the feature line in the Parents must wash-out in the eyebrow transitional surfaces

Kind regards to all Alias users

graham bullock B.Ed. CNAA. Des. Tech

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

“Course #2″.

“Course #3″.

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details
www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham Bullock B.Ed.(CNAA)Des.Tech.

Advanced Modeling and Surfacing Techniques

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:33:15 +0000

If you don’t know the theory, you can’t perform the practice! A great Alias presentation from a few years back is generating a bit of a buzz around the internet again these days, and it is completely justified. It’s called Advanced Modeling and is presented by Uwe Rossbacher.

It will take you through the history of nurbs, patch layout, beziér geometry, nurbs geometry, continuity, critical analysis of surfaces and much much more!

CLICK HERE to make sure you don’t miss this one. you will not regret it!

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

“Course #2″.

“Course #3″.

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details
www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham Bullock B.Ed.(CNAA)Des.Tech.

Advanced Fender G3 Curvature Continuity

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:16:29 +0000

My top students are curently modeling this G3 rear Fender,

using a technique where only the top hulls on the 2 parent srfs. have curvature continuity. The rear sidewall surfaces is then direct modeled to create; A) more acceleration

B) to pull out the surface towards the radial wheel arch flange, creating lead-in for the G3 curvature parent to eyebrow

Also it means that the rear sidewall patch has less tension and is more controlled making it easier to create the corner blend

Learning Alias News: Big Discounts on Courses

Special Winter Discount Package

Courses in order of cost:

“Course #1″.

6 Months website access to all video tutorials, 167 Euros (228 USD equivalent Nov.2011)

“Course #2″.

“Course #3″.

For more info,

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details
www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham Bullock B.Ed.(CNAA)Des.Tech.

NURBS and CAD: 30 Years Together

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:44:22 +0000

Hey guys, Kevin De Smet here, advanced student at Learning Alias.

I just came across this article that goes into some of the history of nurbs modeling and I thought it would be a good resource to share on the blog.

http://isicad.net/articles.php?article_num=14940

Happy holidays!

/
/
/

My New Website is now live!

I am a top flight Alias Trainer/Modeler, specializing in taking students who are either currently studying or who have left college/university and want to learn the skills they need to reach Alias Automotive Entry Level. I offer the best value Alias training deal out there!

Just register on my website and I’ll send you all the details
www.learningalias.co.uk

USA:

If you are in the USA, just register and login, then go to Profile and you can pay your subscription with your US credit card. Absolutely no extra charges for currency conversion.

Regards

Graham Bullock B.Ed.(CNAA)Des.Tech.

Reverse Engineering

graham bullock B.Ed. Design and Tech — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:44:51 +0000

The role of the Automotive Modeler includes Technically Surfacing Polygonal Meshes

using Bezier Surfaces to a tolerance of < 1.00 mm, as this is something you will be questioned about at interview, it has become a vital skill-set to have for candidates wishing to get into the Automotive Industry.

Practical Surfacing Tests at Interview

It is now common place for students attending Alias Entry Level Interviews to be given a Mesh and asked to surface it within say 1 working day. this is not a simple task, as it tests so many aspects of your Alias modeling ability. To be able to surface even a simplified exterior mesh in 5-8 hours, is only possible if you have completed an extensive course on this area of modeling and also put in IMHO. around 100 hours of practice with a good teacher (200 hours would be better)

Such is the demand by employers for candidates to be proficient at Revese Engineering, that all my students now do a course on this prior to attending any interviews.

I am currently teaching Mesh to Nurbs skills to very qualified graduates in Engineering and Transport Design literally world wide. However not all my students are graduates. I have some very talented modelers, who have not attended university

Here is a sample video to give you a flavor of the course