Wp Msd Create Class ASurfaces

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Create Class A Surfaces with

Autodesk® Alias® Surface

AUTODESK®

WHITE PAPER

Today’s successful automotive manufacturers and OEMs must design innovative, alluring vehicles—and

bring them to market faster than their competitors. To drive consumer interest, they need to develop

interiors and exteriors that are perfectly smooth, pleasing to the eye, and pleasant to the touch. Leading

automotive companies rely on Autodesk® Alias® Surface for technical surfacing tools to create these high-

quality, accurate, and precise surfaces.

When automotive companies use Autodesk’s superior technology in a streamlined workflow that speeds

development time and reduces rework, they can:

• CreateClassAsurfacesthatmeettheexactingstandardsofinternalandexternalclients,anddosofaster

• Shareasingledigitalmodelfromconceptualdesigntomanufacturing,withtheAutodesksolutionfor

Digital Prototyping

• Feelcondentthatthetechnicalsurfacingtoolstheyinvestinarebackedbyananciallystable,highly

innovative company with a proven track record; Autodesk has been creating design software for more

than 25 years

Create Class A Surfaces Using

Superior Technology

In a traditional automotive industry workflow, a

conceptual designer sculpts a car design out of

clay, scans the design, and builds surfaces from

there. After several iterations, the designer hands

o the design to an engineer. The engineer needs

precise surfaces, called Class A surfaces, which

are used for tooling. However, engineers typically

receive surfaces from designers that cannot be used,

because they are not high enough in quality. As a

result, the engineer must rebuild the entire design

using a 3D CAD software application, unable to take

advantage of any surfacing work completed by the

designer.

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Autodesk enables a more advanced workflow that helps automotive companies reduce rework and produce

design iterations faster. Designers own their designs further into the development process, creating

production-quality, reusable NURBS surfaces that can be used by the engineering team. The ability to

create Bezier surfaces can help the engineering team improve surface quality up to Class-A standards. Using

Autodesk® Alias® Surface software, designers develop and include precise surfaces in the design from

the beginning, so the engineering team doesn’t need to start from scratch. In addition, designers retain

ownership of the design with their intent staying intact during the engineering phase.

Advanced Technical Surfacing Tools

Autodesk Alias Surface provides several technical surfacing tools to support this advanced workflow.

Alias Surface supports direct modeling, a method for manipulating shape surfaces. Because the direct

modelingtoolsinAliasSurfacearesoprecise,designerscanne-tunesurfacesviaverticesandhulls.

However, unlike other direct modeling applications, Alias Surface also includes procedural modeling

functionality,whichcanbeusedtonishsculpturingtasksmorequickly.Forexample,curve-based

surfacingtoolsletdesignersdeneshapesinaccordancetothefeaturelinestheydrawintheirsketches.To

reducemanualwork,AliasSurfaceoerslletange,tubeange,andballcornertoolsthatcombinemulti-

step procedures into a single command.

AliasSurfacealsoenablesglobalshapedenitionthroughtoolssuchastransformrigandlatticerig.These

tools allow designers to make changes—to the length of the overhangs on a car, for instance—and have all

the surfaces in the model update automatically. Because the designer doesn’t have to manually adjust the

hundreds of surfaces typically involved in the car design, this saves an enormous amount of time.

In addition, the history functionality in Alias Surface lets designers make and review changes throughout

the design process. If designers save the build history, they can edit any original data, and the model will

automatically update to integrate design changes, saving time and minimizing potential errors.

Digital Prototyping Delivers Benefits

By relying on Autodesk software in a digital prototyping workflow, automotive manufacturers can visualize,

optimize, and manage designs before producing a physical prototype. At the beginning of the digital

prototyping workflow, designers use Autodesk Alias Surface software to conceptualize products and create

Class A surfaces. This data is integrated into a single digital model, which is leveraged in the engineering

phase. The surfaces created and perfected throughout the design and engineering phases are then used

to develop the tooling needed for the manufacturing phase. The result: When automotive companies use

a digital prototyping workflow, they don’t need to recreate data at every step of the product development

process. This saves time and resources—and helps get vehicles to market faster.

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Innovation, Stability, and Strength

When automotive companies invest in new tools, they want the security of knowing that their technology

partner will be able to meet their needs not just for today, but also in the future.

Foundedin1982,Autodeskoersaprovenrecordofstrength,growth,andinnovation.Aworldleaderin

design innovation technologies, Autodesk is committed to building and supporting the new design tools

automotive designers and engineers need. No competitor matches the breadth and depth of Autodesk’s

product portfolio—or global community and ecosystem. And when companies invest in Autodesk technical

surfacingtools,theypartnerwithananciallystablecompany.Autodeskhasannualrevenuesofmorethan

$2billionUSD,cashandequivalentsofmorethan$800million,andanoperatingmarginthatexceeds25

percent.

With its advanced visualization, simulation, and analysis tools, Autodesk helps companies take advantage of

today’s global trends and prepare for tomorrow’s demands.

For More Information

TondoutmoreaboutwhatmakesAutodeskaleaderintechnicalsurfacingtools,visit

www.autodesk.com/aliassurface.

Autodesk, and Alias Surface, are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc in and/or its

subsidiaries and/or aliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to

theirrespectiveholders.Autodeskreservestherighttoalterproductoeringsandspecicationsatanytimewithoutnotice,and

is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

©2009Autodesk,Inc.Allrightsreserved.

Customer Spotlight: Technicon Masters the Most Demanding Surfacing Tasks in

Automotive Design.

Technicon Design is one company that has adopted Autodesk technical surfacing tools to save

time and stay competitive. Working on the front lines of automobile development for thirty

years,Technicon’sclientlistisanautomotivewho’swhowhichincludesBMW,Ford,GM,

Porsche, Renault, and others. The company’s highly skilled creative sta provides design ser-

vices such as surfacing, visualization, and design development.

With Autodesk® Alias® Surface software, Technicon’s designers produce Class A surfaces

of near-perfect quality, move from NURBS to Bezier geometry using a single software ap-

plication, translate their inspirations into 3D concept models, save time, and reduce design

changes. Alias Surface software gives Technicon designers all the tools they need to achieve

their tasks—resulting in a highly streamlined workflow. “Using an iterative process, we quickly

advance from relatively simple NURBS surfaces with an extensive support structure to a Class A

Bezier structure without support lines,” says Werner Strathaus, director of Technicon Design in

Russelsheim,Germany.

UsingAliasSurfacehelpsTechniconcompleteworkfromstarttonishusinganall-digital

workflow—and then pass on its 3D concept models to its clients’ engineering teams to incorpo-

rate into digital prototypes. And because Alias Surface software enables Technicon to gather,

handle, and display various data, the company can incorporate engineering, design, and manu-

facturing considerations early in the design cycle. “A welcome result of this early integration is

an overall shortening of the process,” says Strathaus.

There’s another advantage for Technicon and its clients in producing digital concept models.

“With Alias Surface, we can assess feasibility issues much earlier than with a physical model,”

explains Strathaus. “This supports simultaneous engineering, reduces late design changes, and

saves everyone a lot of money.”

Looking forward, Technicon anticipates that Autodesk Alias Surface will continue elevating

the quality and simplifying processes for its designs. “We’ll continue to provide high-quality

surfaces earlier in the development phase,” concludes Strathaus. “Thanks to Alias Surface, our

surfaces are set up in a Class A structure, so we’ll be able to modify designs easier.”