Alias 2010 and AliasStudio 2009: wirefile compatibility
Some changes have been made to the wire file structure in Alias 2010 that may result in some data not being able to be opened correctly in AliasStudio 2009.
The Tube Surface tool in 2010 supports bezier surfaces. When a wire file saved in 2010 is loaded into an earlier version, history for the bezier tube surfaces will be lost or will not update.
Sketch projection in version 2010 updates the projection shader with any updates made to the original projected canvas. Files saved in version 2010 and opened in an earlier version will hardware shade and software render with the last updated canvas image before the file save action, however, the automatic updating of the shader is lost.
A Rotation field was added to the Image-Based Lighting controls in the Environment Shader to control the rotation of the IBL image. This rotation value will be saved with the wire file and rotate the IBL image in Alias 2010 and future versions. However, files created in 2010 and imported into AliasStudio 2009 (or other previous versions) will lose the rotation of the IBL image.
For any 2009 wire files that are loaded in 2010, pairs of Align 2009 histories that act on the same surface/curve input will be merged into one Align 2010 history. (It will still show up as "Align" in the history view.)
In 2009, there was a notion of "influence". That value controlled both the shape of the edge of the input surface, and also the tangent/curvature length. In 2010, that notion has been seperated into the notion of "positional influence" that only contols the input edge shape, and "tangent balance" which controls the tangent and curvature scales. When a 2009 file is loaded, the old "influence" value will be copied into "positional influence", but tangent balance will be OFF no matter what the old "influence" value was. So, if a 2009 file has an align history with "influence" value > 0.0, after the file is loaded and align history is reexecuted, the shape of the input surface will change. The user simply has to turn ON tangent balance and adjust the shape once more.
In 2009, the values of "tangent scale" and "curvature scale" are dimensionless values, and were used no matter what the "influence" value was. In 2010, when a 2009 file is loaded, the tangent and curvature scales from 2009 are used to calculate a length value (in cm) that are used in the 2010 Align History. These values are then used when 'tangent balance' is OFF.
In 2009, when you align a curve input to a surface master, there was only one alignment type. In 2010, there are now two types: U/V and Vector. Hence, all 2009 files with curve-surface alignment will be loaded in 2010 with alignment type = U/V.
In 2009, there were 3 alignment types: Edge, Vector, Project. In 2010, the Vector type has been religated to an option for Edge type. 2009 Align histories of Vector align type, when loaded into 2010, will be correctly converted to Edge with Vector ON.
AliasStudio 2009 is not able to load 2010 Align history at all. Therefore, when you load a 2010 file with Align history into 2009, those histories are ignored. Furthermore, if you loaded a 2009 file with 2009 align history into 2010, saved it, and loaded the same file back into 2009, the original align histories from 2009 will be gone, and the 2010 history that replaced them are ignored.
With the addition of the ViewCube, Alias cameras support the capability for perspective with ortho faces. This property is stored with the individual cameras. Retrieving a 2010 camera into 2009 will cause the property to be lost. Saving the file in 2009 and retrieving it in 2010 will also cause the property to be lost. It can be restored in the the normal way through the ViewCube interface.
AliasStudio 2009 Surface Fillets will be imported intact into Alias 2010.
Alias 2010 Surface Fillet adds the feature of variable chordal fillets. The variabililty of the chordal fillets will be lost if imported and reexecuted in 2009.
Alias 2010 surface fillets has user specified V degree under explicit control. This property will revert to degree 3 if imported and reexecuted in 2009.
AliasStudio 2009 Fillet Flanges will be imported intact into 2010.
Alias 2010 Fillet Flange has user specified V degree under explicit control for the Fillet. This property will revert to degree 3 if imported and reexecuted in 2009.
In Alias 2010, Windows can store a non-proportional aspect ratio — where the X-Y ratio might not be square. You can toggle between the proportional and non-proportional view. When a wire file is saved in 2010 and loaded into 2009, the window will still load exactly like it looks in 2010 — with proportional or non-proportional aspect, whichever was in effect at the time of storing. However, when a wire file is saved in 2009 and loaded into 2010, even if the window has a non-proportional aspect ratio, you will not be able to toggle from the non-proportional aspect back to proportional in 2010 using the Toggle Non Proportional View tool. To enable being able to toggle between non-proportional and proportional in 2010, it's necessary to use View > Set Non Proportional View after loading the 2009 file into 2010.
In Alias 2010, Bookmarks have tabs/shelves. The shelf a bookmark is in is stored in wire files. When a wire file is saved in 2010 and loaded into 2009, the bookmark shelves will be lost and all bookmarks will appear at the root level. When a wire file is saved in 2009 and loaded into 2010, all bookmarks will be in the default "BookMarks" shelf.
