Dynamo Player script additions and improvements

New scripts

We've added new Dynamo Player sample scripts to the Dynamo Player directory in Alias. They include the following:

• DP-Package-Data.dyn - This script creates a data package consisting of numerical inputs, which you can use for laying out your car designs. The script includes several parameters for adjusting the size and position of tires and wheels, as well for setting the dimensions of various planar surfaces used to set up your design. To add text for dimensions or other information in the viewport, you must install the Dynamo Text package in Dynamo.

  

• DP-Wheel-Placement.dyn - This script takes selected geometry, such as a wheel or rim, creates four copies, and then places the objects at the wheel positions of a car. Wheelbase, Track Width, and Offset parameters let you adjust the wheel placement to the specifications of your car models. Use this script to quickly place tires created by the tire generation (DP-Nurbs-Tire.dyn) script. This script may run slowly when you select large amounts of geometry.

• DP-Objects-Center-Point.dyn - This script generates a construction point at the center of one or more geometry objects. When calculating the center point, only real visible geometry of the inputs is taken into account. CV layouts or trimmed areas do not affect the center point calculation. After the construction point gets added, you can select the surface and use Move Pivot to snap the pivot to the center point. Use this script as a way of centering the pivot point of trimmed geometry.

• DP-Subdiv-Perpendicular-Align.dyn - This script aligns the open edges of a subdivision object perpendicular to a reference surface. In this case, the term reference does not refer to WREF geometry, but to geometry used to aid in the positioning of output geometry. For example, you can use this script with the DP-Rim-Support-and-Radial-Scaling.dyn script to correctly align your spoke geometry to the rim geometry. To work correctly, the subdivision objects must have open edges, such a subdivision cylinder without a cap.

For more information, see Dynamo Player sample scripts.

Improved scripts

Improvements to existing Dynamo Player scripts include:

• The DP-Nurbs-Tire.dyn - We've added a Show Curve Preview option, which lets you preview the pattern of a tread before generating it. This way, you can quickly view changes to your tread design and make any required adjustments before generating the tread geometry. Also, you can now generate multiple tires with the script.

  

• DP-Rim-Support-and-Radial-Scaling.dyn script - You can now use a construction point to specify where in the viewport you want to generate the rim and spoke geometry. In previous versions of the script, the geometry was generated at the viewport origin (X=0, Y=0, Z=0).

• DP-Subdiv-Sweep.dyn script We've improved the positioning of the sweep surface so that it is now based on the path curve, regardless of whether the surface runs at the Profile Curve location or at the Path Curve location.

• DP-Pipe.dyn script - Creating a cap at start and end of the pipe geometry is now optional. Also, you can now create creases in the pipe.

• DP-Subdiv-Morph-between-2-Objects.dyn - This script now includes a Keep Position option, which keeps the first source object in its original position while transforming to the intermediary object.

• DP-Points-on-Curves.dyn - We've reorganized the parameters in this script to make it easier to use in Dynamo Player. When using the distribution mode, you can enable a new Attract Point, which lets you skew the distribution of the points along the curve based on the position of the attractor.

For more information, see Dynamo Player sample scripts.

Modeling updates

New Rebuild added to the Skin tool

We've added a new Rebuild option to the Skin tool. When turned on, the CV distribution on the skin surface is rebuilt so that it matches the CVs distribution of the first input curve you selected. Use Rebuild to remove unnecessary multi-knots or additional CVs that appear in the skin surface.

Renamed Match Parameterization to Rebuild

We've renamed the Match Parameterization option in the Profile tool to Rebuild. The functionality of this option has not changed.

Improved missing file reference detection and reloading

We’ve improved the way the Reference Manager detects and reloads missing .wref files when opening or importing a .wire file containing references. For example, when a .wire file and associated .wref files are shared between users, the path to any associated .wref files will often be different than the path used by the original file. In this case, the Reference Manager will indicate that the reference is missing and prompts you to locate it.

Now, even when file paths change, Alias automatically searches the designated reference directories and the source directory of the .wire file to locate all associated .wref files. This improvement makes it easier to share .wire files that contain nested references in a reference file (assembly reference).

Other modeling improvements

• You can now use the Universal Transform tool (Transform > Transform) to flip selected objects 180 degrees along the X, Y, or Z axis. For more information, see Flip picked objects.
• We've simplified the Alias VR Tessellation settings by removing the Limit edge length setting and Max edge length control slider. This has not changed the results of the tessellation operation in Alias VR.

CATIA V5 R2021 support

We've added support for the CATIA V5 R2021 file format to CATIA V5 exporter. You can now select this format for export from the File Release drop-down in the CATIA V5 Options.

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.

Alias 2022 Offline Help available for download

If you do not have regular access to the Internet, you can download a version of the Alias 2022 Help. Browse the Alias Help Downloads page to download the Alias Help Offline. There, you'll also find an About the Alias Offline Help (Read Me First) document, which provides important information about the Alias Offline Help.

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