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In Alias, the surface tools are set to Create History by default. This means that any
changes to the curves will modify the surface shape.
Many other CAD systems rely on this type of history connection to maintain a history
tree throughout the modeling process, and it is an inherent part of the CAD data.
Alias is different : Construction History is optional, and will apply to some parts of the
model and not others. This has the disadvantage that one change to a main curve
may not cause the whole model to update. However, it makes the model much more
flexible and free to change during rapid design development.

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The second way to use construction history to update and change your surfaces is
through changing the settings in a control window.
Not all surface tools have a Control Window, some only have an Option Window.
The difference is that the settings in an option window can only be chosen once,
before the curves are chosen.
With a Control Window, you can always return to the settings and make changes at
any time (as long as the construction history has not been deleted).

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The History View in Alias may look similar to a history tree found in engineering CAD
systems, but it doesnt work in the same way.
The Alias History View is for viewing the model links and history, and in practice isnt
used regularly. Whereas a CAD system history tree is normally a fundamental part of
the CAD model structure.
The most useful tool is the suspend rebuilds option. If you have a large model, with
lots of history connections, then modifying a CV on an early curve can cause the
system to pause, while it is updating all the dependent surfaces, which makes
interactive sculpting difficult. This temporarily suspends these rebuilds while you
sculpt a new shape for a curve, and removing it then allows all the rebuilds to be
done afterwards.

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Focus on Curve Quality

The structure of your curves will directly affect the structure of your surfaces, and so
most of the time is spent creating and refining the curves.

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Minimum number of curves

There are many shapes that could be built using a variety of surface tools. Always try
to use the minimum number of curves to achieve a shape.

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There are too many individual options for each tool to go through them one-by-one
in a lecture, so you will need to explore and experiment with them to expand your
skill and knowledge.
Learning by Exploring
Particularly if you have experience with other CAD systems, you can learn to use the
surface tools by just trying them, and following the prompts.
Learning by Reading
To get information on all the options for each surface, access the help
documentation.

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Further information on the revolve tool can be found in the Whats new videos ;

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Cutting Holes in NURBS Surfaces

You cannot successfully create a hole in a NURBS
surface by moving CVs and Hulls. One exception is
periodic surfaces such as partial spheres and
cylinders, which have a hole that is actually the edge
of the surface.
Another unnecessarily complex method is to
work out a patch layout of 4-sided surfaces to create
the effect of a hole.
Trimming is a much easier method of modifying the
surface outline without using the CVs to
modify the shape.

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The tools for trimming are found on the Surface Edit Palette.
The first set of tools are for creating a curve-on-surface, which is the name for the line
that defines the trim. This is then used to specify which parts of the surface to keep
and which to discard.
This process is the same as in many other CAD systems, but often the intermediate
stage of seeing the curve-on-surface is hidden from the user (even though it has to be
created for the internal mathematics).
With Alias, there is a workflow called 3D trimming that works in the same way, and
can offer a quicker workflow. But to start with, each separate process will be covered
so that you have a full understanding of how trimming works.

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By default, the Intersect option window is set to create curves-on-surface on both

surfaces (or sets of surfaces)

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(Space bar is a shortcut if your preferred choice is highlighted)

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By default, Project creates a curve-on-surface ready for trimming.

You can also create a normal curve which can then be used for building further curves
and surfaces

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