General

• 

  You cannot set your current project in the Save Wire dialog box (File > Save As).

  Solution: Select File > Open, and in the Open dialog box, set your current project. Click Cancel to close the file browser, then select File > Save As.

• 

  In the Visualize panel, when you attempt to create a new shelf tab in the default Shader Library, the following message appears:

  Authentication or Permission Error

  Since the shader library is part of the system install, you may not have the permissions to create a new tab. To work around this issue, you can create a custom library in another location.

• If your graphics card doesn't have overlays (or overlays are disabled), and you are scrolling through the Deviation Table (Windows > Information > Deviation Table), then instead of seeing a red arrow move along the edge on the model to indicate the deviation, a white arrow is drawn, and remains. This may cause an entire row of white arrows to appear.

  Workaround: Tumble or pan the model to cause the window to redraw. The arrows will disappear.

• Shader files in the Shader Library will not be displayed in the Visualization Panel, if the corresponding ".ICON" file is not present.

  Resident Shaders dragged to the library will write a ".ICON" file for that shader.

• When you create general preference directories, if they are not readable and writable, you are not notified.

  When creating general preference directories, ensure that the new directories are usable by Alias (readable and writable).

• Reference data (imported through File > Reference Manager) cannot be software rendered.
• Reference data (imported through File > Reference Manager) cannot be used with Animation > Turntable.
• Ambient occlusion data will be preserved when a wire file is translated to reference data (through File > Reference Manager), but it cannot be deleted from reference data, and it cannot be created on reference data.
• Toggle Camera now only toggles on or off only full frustrum.
• Specifying a Horizontal or Vertical Aspect Ratio Fit in the Camera Editor corrupts camera controls in the Perspective Window title bar.

  Workaround: use + (Windows) or + (Mac) key modifiers for camera navigation when Horizontal or Vertical Aspect Ratio Fit options are used.

• If you try moving an image plane or image layer in a camera that has had its position reversed (for example, from 0, 0, 100 to 0, 0, -100) the image plane will move in the opposite direction that you drag the mouse.

  Type in the values that you want to move the image plane or image layer by, or restart Alias after reversing the camera position.

• Diagnostic shading attributes are not saved with bookmarks.

  Iso-angle attributes used in diagnostic shading (such as the position of lights, and so on) cannot be saved with bookmarks.

• UV values entered via the Promptline when building Gridded surfaces (Palette > Point Clouds > Surfaces > Gridded) is not working correctly.

  To resolve this problem, when entering UV values from promptline, enter additional values for each U and V parameter for example, for a 2x2 patch, enter 22x22.

• If you have created a new project by extracting a zip file of the Alias project folders into your user_data folder, the files become Write Locked. Viewing the contents using the Alias browser is not permitted and you are unable to store anything in that project.

  Use the Windows browser to store data into the same project tree.

• There are SBD window redraw problems when overlapping with Canvas window.

  

• We have fixed some problems with Alias and language/keyboard layout settings.

  We cache the active keyboard at when Alias is launched and lock it in. We prevent switching inside/during an Alias session.

  The currently active layout, as specified on the language toolbar (normally the default language and layout specified by the user), is used. If it is Japanese or another language, and the keyboard matches the language toolbar setting, that keyboard layout is the active one for the entire Alias session.

  To change the layout, quit Alias, change the default layout/language in the language toolbar, make that new default layout active and restart Alias. Alias will now use only that new language/layout for the duration of the Alias session. Hotkeys, such as alt-shift will not allow the keyboard-layout/language settings to be changed for the Alias session (and just the Alias session; other applications and the OS are unaffected).

• If you move a construction or canvas plane (Transform > Move ) then undo the transformation (Edit > Undo ), subsequent move operations will cause the plane to snap back to the position it had after the original transformation.
• Creating new projects for Alias from outside the application may result in permission errors, where the contents of the folder may be non-writeable when using the Alias browser. To ensure correct, read-and-writeable directories and files, always use the Alias browser to create new projects.
• When you click the middle mouse button, a small circular icon with arrows on it (like a play button) may appear, and the middle mouse button will freeze.

  Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > Mouse and turn off the Auto Scroll option.

• 

  Alias will not save files named prn. This is a common problem in some Windows applications.

User interface

• 

  There are no resize handles in the bottom right corners of the Palette, Shelf, or Editors.

  Solution: Click-drag the bottom right corner region—although there is no visible handle, the ability to resize is still present.

• 

  The Direct Render window launches higher than the active modeling window from which it was invoked.

• 

  The Create Icon button in the Windows browser for File > Save only toggles the option off. If you want to toggle it back on, you have to leave the browser and re-invoke the tool.

• Alias treats Drag & Drop and double-clicking on a file as one (or more) file opens. However, settings for the File > Import > File tool are used to control the open. For example, unchecking Keep Windows in the File Import tool will prevent windows from being imported when a file is dragged into that Alias session.
• Loading more than one language (through Regional Options on the Control Panel) may interfere with the mapping of some keys on your keyboard which are used by Alias for certain functions (for example + + left mouse button (Windows) or + + left mouse button (Mac) to tumble).
• If you customize one of the Preferences > Menus so that Preferences > Interface > Hotkeys/Menu Editor is not displayed, then you will not be able to edit the menus while in that mode.

  Choose Preferences > Menus > Long Menus , then choose Preferences > Interface > Hotkeys/Menu Editor to open the Interface window. Then choose another mode from Preferences > Menus and edit the menus in the Interface window.

• Some special characters do not work as hot keys.
  • For example, the following characters when used with the (Windows) or (Mac) key do not work correctly: /, “, |, }, {, +, .
  • Function key F10 can’t be used as a hot key on Windows since this is a Windows reserved key.

Printing and plotting

• In File > Print, Canvas and Window modes do not let you print to file from the Print window (itself accessible from pressing the Print Setup button in the Print Setup window).

  Workaround:

  • For Print Canvas mode, use File > Export > Canvas Image/Mask Layer.
  • For Print Window mode, use File > Export > Current Window.

  This creates an image file that you can then print in the usual way in Windows.

• Transparent regions (for example, transparent backgrounds) of sketch images created in Alias will print black, although the print preview does not indicate this. For the sketch to print correctly, the canvas must be normal to the camera, and the file must be printed on a PostScript 3 printer.

  Try using the “printCamera” plug-in to print a canvas.

• Do not sketch while the File > Print preview window is open. Sketches will not update correctly or may become altered.
• When you have more than one perspective view in the Print Preview window, the overall display may be incorrect.

Plug-ins

In the directory $ALIAS_LOCATION/ODS/, there are a number of pre-compiled plug-ins and source code examples. These plug-ins and source code examples are provided to you on an “AS-IS” basis.

You are free to make use of these plug-ins and source code example; however Autodesk does not provide any support in connection with them.

Autodesk makes no warranties, express, implied, or arising by custom or trade usage, and to the extent permitted by applicable law, specifically disclaims any implied warranties of title, noninfringement or of fitness for a particular purpose to the extent permitted by applicable law, (i) Autodesk’s liability in contract, tort or otherwise arising out of or in connection with the plug-ins or source code shall not exceed the purchase price paid by the customer for the plug-ins or source code examples, and (ii) in no event shall Autodesk be liable for any punitive damages or lost profits or other special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including any damages resulting from loss of business arising out of or in connection with the performance of the plug-ins or source code examples, even if Autodesk has been advised of the possibility of such damages. The customer shall indemnify Autodesk and hold it harmless from and against any loss, claim or damage to any person arising out of the customer’s use of the plug-ins or source code examples.

For more limitations on plug-ins, see OpenModel and OpenAlias limitations