What's New in Alias 2023

Learn about new features in this release of Alias. For technical details including What's Fixed, see the Alias Release Notes.

2023.1 Highlights

What's New in Alias 2023.1 Update overview

In this release, we've made several improvements to the Surface Fillet tool, including new Auto options for Flow Control, which takes the guess work out creating high-quality fillets. New Construction Types let you build more robust fillets and with greater success. This update also includes Curve and COS Offset tool enhancements, new and updated Dynamo and Dynamo Player scripts, and several newly supported versions of file formats.

Surface Fillet improvements

We've made several enhancements to the Surface Fillet tool, which include new Existing Theoretical and Build Theoretical Construction Types that provide improved results for Chordal Length and Tangent Length surface fillets. New Auto settings for Start, Interior, and End Flow Control let you create quality fillets in less time.

Updates to Dynamo and Dynamo Player

We've provided several new Dynamo and Dynamo Player sample scripts. We've also improved popular Dynamo Player scripts, including the tire generation script.

Introducing Alias Learning Edition

Check out the new complementary non-commercial Learning Edition for learning Alias and upskilling. Use a single source for design from sketch through production surfacing.

Curve and COS Offset tool updates

A New Offset Measure option in the Curve and COS Offset tool lets you choose between using Chordal Length and Arc Length for the Offset Distance.

Path Array tool update

The Path Array tool now supports construction objects including points, planes, and vectors. Use the Path Array tool to duplicate these objects and place the copies at equal distances along one or more curves.

Updates to Alias Concept

We've added the Curvature Diagnostic Shader tool to Alias Concept. Assign this shader to your models to help identify curvature changes in your surfaces or potential flaws.

2023.1 More Features

Trim tool enhancements

Trim region cross-hairs are now larger and better positioned making them easier to see. They are also colored to indicate the selected trim region option. For example, the cross-hairs display blue for Keep, yellow for Divide, and red for Discard. This lets you easily identify the last trim region option you used when retrimming an untrimmed surface with Show Last Selectors on.

Surface Offset tool improvements

We've added a new Create Trim option to the Surface Offset tool, which allows you to choose whether or not to include the trim information in the new offset surface.

New CATIA V5 Import options

A new CATIA V5 Materials/Fill Colors import option lets you specify how the incoming CATIA materials and object fill colors are processed when your file is translated to a .wire file.

Newly supported file formats

Alias 2023.1 Update provides newly supported import and export file format versions.

2023.1 Additional enhancements

JT assemblies as references: The Reference Manager now supports importing the JT assemblies as reference assemblies.
For more information about reference assemblies, see Work with reference assemblies.

Corner Blend tool: Like the Square tool, the Corner Blend tool now updates interactively as you change values using the slider controls in the tool control window.

Keep Group Structure: Lets you preserve the group structure of your Alias WIRE files when exporting to the NX format. See NX export options.

2023 Highlights

For technical details including What's Fixed, see the Alias Release Notes.

Modeling improvements overview

In this release, we've added two new subdivision modeling tools, including the Subdiv Reform tool for automatically generating subdivision models from meshes, and the Modify Subdiv Crease tool, which lets you vary crease sharpness and smooth crease fades. Other additions include an improved Round tool, which can now generate curvature continuous filleted edges and provides the ability to box select input edges. We've also added access to Alias import options in the Reference Manager to improve reference workflows when working with Alias supported file formats.

New Subdiv Reform tool

Quickly generate complex subdivision models from mesh objects using the new Subdiv Reform tool. This tool automatically creates a subdivision object based on the shape of a scanned mesh or other triangulated mesh objects.

Round tool additions and enhancements

We've made several improvements to the Round tool, including the ability to create curvature continuous filleted edges and tangent continuous corners.

New Modify Subdiv Crease tool

A new Modify Subdiv Crease tool lets you edit creases in your subdivision objects, including creases that were created in other applications such as Autodesk Maya.

Reference Manager improvements and additions

We've provided access to the file import options for Alias supported files formats, such as CATIA and NX, in the Reference Manager.

2023 More features

Alias-Dynamo improvements and additions

New Alias-Dynamo nodes let you add more functionality and usability to your custom Dynamo Player scripts. For example, you can now add drop-down lists, radial buttons, and feedback messages, as well create scripts that modify existing Alias geometry. We've also added new Dynamo Player sample scripts to the Dynamo Player Toolbox. You'll also notice that the Alias-Dynamo user interface has been refreshed with a new look and feel.

Several improvements to Measure and Deviation tools

In Alias 2023, we've continued to improve the measurement and deviation locator tools to make them more interactive and easier to use.

Subdiv classes now exposed in the Alias API

We've added two new Subdiv classes to the Alias API: AlSubdiv and AlSubdivNode.

2023 Additional enhancements

Performance enhancements: Alias performance improvements are most noticeable when working with large files. For example, you'll find it easier to add geometry and work with files that already include dense geometry. These improvements also make picking and deleting objects as well as setting points of interest faster. Newly supported file formats: Alias 2023 provides import support for Inventor 2023, JT 10.7, NX 2007 Series, and SolidWorks 2022. For more information, see Alias supported file formats.

Updated Tool Palette icons: We've refreshed the Transform and Surface Edit tool icons to make them more readable in both the Light and Dark UI color themes. Trim Surface tool update: When the Mouse Defines Action option is on in the Trim Surface tool, you can now select the Keep, Discard, and Divide in-canvas buttons to choose a trim operation. Updates to deprecated tools: See the Deprecated, replaced, and removed features and components help topic for information about tools and features deprecated in this release.

Improved selection for shells: Shells are now easier to select when you use the Surface Edit > Shells tools (Shell Subtract, Shell Intersect, and Shell Union). When Keep Originals is turned on, a pick chooser displays in the viewport to help you pick a shell. This improvement resolves shell picking issues especially when the shells overlap.
New Display All toggle: You can now assign a hotkey to toggle Display All on and off. To assign a hotkey to the new toggle, open the Hotkey/Menu Editor, and then expand Special > Display Functions.