Answering your questions…
1.-Yes. Sub-D models are just for form studies.
2.- Nop. Sub-D models are not used to B-side modeling.
I’ve seen people able to get a form study in less than a day in Sub-d modeling. Because of my current work I don’t have problem for trying more and more this sub-d technique. What I want to do is to take few minutes and do some excercises in alias. But I would like to know industry standars so that it’s going to serve both as reference and inspiration.
Nowadays maybe I will need months just for a side surface of a car in Alias. I remember someone saying 2 weeks it’s ok for an entire Alias modeling, but don`t know if that it’s true…
For the postscript… I love Alias, but still searching for all the conditions to take enough time to learn it.