It was previously possible to create a set of un-editable construction presets by having your administrator copy the ConstructionPresets file from your user preferences to the Alias installation folder.

Now, the administrator can also give all users at a certain site access to the same construction presets by placing the file in a shared network location. Each user then sets an environment variable pointing to that location.

Setting the construction presets (administrator)

1. Create a new Construction Preset in the Preferences > Construction Options window and set the option values.

   The construction option values are written to a local file.

2. Select the new Construction Preset to make it active.

   

3. Exit Alias.
4. Copy the local file: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Autodesk\Alias\UserPrefs2011\Options\ConstructionPresets to the desired network location.
5. Open the ConstructionPresets file (the copy on the network, not the original) in a text editor, and change the names of the presets so that they are unique and do not duplicate names from the original file in UserPrefs2011/Options.
   NoteThe first line of the ConstructionPresets file specifies the default presets to use when Alias starts up.

Accessing the construction presets (users)

1. Set environment variable ALIAS_CONSTR_PRESETS_LOCATION to the network location (path) where the site-wide construction presets file is located (see step 4 in previous workflow).
2. Launch Alias.

   The construction option settings default to those in the construction presets file on the network. These construction presets cannot be edited.

   

If the environment variable is not set, Alias looks for the site-wide construction presets file in the usual location on the user's own installation (usually C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Alias2010\UserPrefs).

If the administrator changes the construction presets file on the network, each user must re-launch Alias to see the changes in the Check Model and Construction Options windows.