Mike Turner Masterclass – Alias 2024 series 02, episode 03: Variants and details

Brandy Ryan Brandy Ryan August 20, 2024

2 min read

Alias 2023 Masterclass

We asked Mike to do some production testing on Alias 2024 during the development beta cycles to prove the software in production use. As a result, you may notice small variations in User Interface style and layout in these videos compared to the the released version of Alias 2024 – tools and icons may look a little different.

Out of that testing comes a Masterclass on modelling in Alias 2024. This content equates to 4-7 hours of modelling condensed into 30 minutes, which are spread out over 4 episodes.

Series 01 covered:

In Series 02, Mike shifts gears to work on an autonomous vehicle for utility applications.

In E01, Mike offers an overview of the projects he’s done with DGDesign, talks about his background in off-highway and utility vehicle design, and introduces the current project: a small, electric vehicle platform suited to a variety of applications.

In E02, Mike starts to explore and develop the basic concept of the small, electric vehicle platform for a specific purpose: package delivery.

If you’d like to look under the hood at the Wire file Mike created for technical details or inspiration, you can download the Alias Wire file here:

This model is provided for educational purposes and is not for commercial use.

You can watch the full video here or scroll down for specific highlights.

Alias Masterclass: Series 02, Episode 03 – Variants and details

In episode 03, Mike walks through design variants to explore different autonomous applications for the small electric vehicle platform – and refining the details already in place..

Disclaimer: These videos was done in an Alias 2024 preview release, so some tools or icons may look slightly different than the final release.

0:36: Developing wheels and tires – resolved rims and treads using tubular offset

3:33 Adding in other details to make the model more plausible in renders

4:45 Builders’ delivery truck — creating basic variant (palette handler)

6:18 Mobile shop variant – building simple shelves

6:45 Micro-bus variant – adjustments to create seating area

10:13 Reviewing different configurations and variants

10:25 Iterating on palette truck – rib details and edge fillets

11:21 Iterating on micro bus – filleting edges of seats, using shaders to consider alternate variants

14:23 Visualizing in VRED

Stay tuned for the final video in this series, where Mike summarizes the goals of the series and the workflows he adopted.


Mike Turner’s VRED design series

Mike’s first series covers a Fifteen Eleven case study, data import, intro to backplates, other rendering techniques, and his ideation of the DeLorean car.

His second series focuses on off-highway vehicle design, including a Liugong case study, working with large data sets, digital shadow plots, adding decals and dirt to your designs.

His third series turns the lens on public transportation, with episodes on industry insights, interior rendering and VR set-up, raytraced interior rendering, and exterior rendering.


Stay tuned and check out our Autodesk Automotive on LinkedIn, subscribe to our Alias and VRED YouTube channels, and follow us on Facebook.

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Alias and VRED Learning Editions are free for non-commercial use. Learn more and start your journey today.


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