Open the online help

1. Choose Help > Alias Help .

   A browser window opens with a table of contents on the left.

   

   Click an item in the contents frame to open the document into the right frame. A series of icons in the right frame can be used to perform different functions on the document.

   Icon	Click icon to...
   	Show where this page is in the table of contents.
   	Go to the previous page in the documentation. If you want to go to the last page you had showing, use the browser Back button.
   	Go to the next page in the documentation. If you want to go to forward to a page you had showing (before using the browser Back button), use the browser Forward button.
   	Go up a level in the documentation.
   	Add this page to Favorites.
   	Go to the home page

Use the Contents tab in online help

To use the Contents tab to access information, you need to know what type of information you’re looking for, and in what area of the product you can expect to find it.

Each of the books in the online documentation has a small plus beside the book icon; clicking it opens a book:

This type of information...	... is found in this book
Changes in this version of the software	What’s New
"About" information: background or philosophical material that helps you understand some of the principles at work.	Alias Concepts
"Learning" materials: tutorials, introductory overviews.	Learning Alias Learning Technical Surfacing Glossary
"How to" information that walks you through steps to accomplish a task. Information is grouped into major workflow areas.	Getting help Interface and General Tasks Modeling Sketching Rendering Animating Data Transfer
"Reference" information. If you use context-sensitive help (by choosing Help > What’s This? and clicking a menu item or tool, or by using the to open Help from inside an option box), these are the pages you are taken to.	Tool Palettes Menus Control Panels Release Notes
Technical information.	File Formats Command Line Utilities Environment Variables Alias Programmers’ Interfaces SDL: The Alias Scene Description Language Installing Alias
PDF versions of documentation	Are available on the Autodesk Design Community Web site http://aliasdesign.com. In addition to containing all of the listed Reference and Technical documentation, there are three additional PDF books: Getting Started Transition Guide for users of ICEM software Transition Guide for users of Rhino software

Use the Index tab in online help

1. To browse the index for an entry, click the word Index at the top of the window. This opens up the index for the Alias documentation.
2. Scroll to the entry you want, then click it. The document opens in the right frame, and leaves the index open in the left frame.
3. You can also type a word in the search box, and then click View to see it in the right pane. Click Next to progress through the results, if the word is found in more than one place.

Use the Search tab in online help

1. To search for a word or several words, click the word Search at the top of the window. This opens up the search window for the Alias documentation.
2. Click in the search box, and type the word or words. Do not use quote marks around the search term.
3. If you are using multiple words, choose whether you want the search results to include only cases where all the words are found (and) or where one or more of the words are found (or).
4. Choose Highlight on/off to toggle the search term in the right pane.
5. Click Search or press (Windows) or (Mac) to perform the search.

Your search results are ranked in importance, based on whether the word or term was found in a heading or within a paragraph of text.

Click the title beside a ranking to open that page in the right frame. The search results continue to show in the left frame.

Get Help on a particular tool or menu item

1. Choose Help > What’s This? .
2. Click the tool or menu item you want help with. A browser window opens to that reference page in the documentation.

   or

3. In an open option box or control window, click the over an empty space.

   Move the cursor over the Help button that appears, and release the mouse button. Documentation for that option box or control window opens in a browser window.

Use breadcrumbs to navigate the Help system

A line of text appears near the top of a Help window above the topic title. This line is called a Breadcrumb. It’s a navigational aid that helps to show you where you are in the documentation.

You can use the breadcrumb to pop up a level or more in the documentation. It’s actually a series of hypertext links. In this example, Modeling a Joystick is the lowest link. If you clicked the link to the left of it, Learning Alias, you’d go to the start of the tutorial book.

Display modifier key and mouse button functions

• Choose Help > Modifier Keys, Marking Menu Keys, and Hotkeys .

What if...?

I get an error message that my online docs are not installed?

• Ensure that your documentation is installed from the Installation DVD that came with your product.
• If Help still doesn’t launch, open Preferences > General Preferences ❒ , click System and in the Help Location box, type the path of the html folder. This must be typed either as a URL string, or as a file path, as shown in the following examples:

http://www.autodesk.com/alias2011-docs or

file:///C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Alias 2011/HelpInstall