November 4, 2017 at 11:17From user to CAD developers
Do you want to change the software you use for the better? Become its developer! Meet Nikita Batyanov, our analytical engineer, and until recently, an active user of KOMPAS-3D and other CAD systems. A couple of years ago, Nikita wrote down “jambs” of KOMPAS-3D in a notebook, threw ASCON technical support service with ideas and suggestions, and then he realized that it would be much more interesting to implement these ideas himself. Here is his story.
After studying at the St. Petersburg Voenmech, I went to work at RSC Energia, one of the leading Russian space industry enterprises, a strong, that is, an engineer for strength calculations. Although I was engaged in modeling there, mainly in 3D, I was indirectly involved in design activities. Basically, we made models in the Pro / Engineer system, used SolidWorks CAD a little. After a year and a half, I moved to the position of designer for an enterprise in the structure of Rosatom. My fellow engineers and I were engaged in the design of ionizing radiation detectors. As part of sophisticated equipment, these detectors operate in the reactor part at high temperatures and transmit high-frequency signals in radiation conditions. These are responsible designs with special requirements for temperature and corrosion resistance, gamma stability and vacuum performance. And as a CAD we used COMPASS.
I always had a feeling that the tool in which I work (and for the designer it is CAD), also depends on me in some way, that we are in the same boat with the developer. And our activity, in general, is similar. Like the developer, the designer knows how to prioritize, that you have to sacrifice something, that reworking things that don't work out a bit can hurt and lead to a loss of time. While your product has not reached consumers, you are sure that you have taken into account all the scenarios of working with it. But some nuances pop up only in a real operational situation. I also applied to software products - if it was not about error / crash, but about "usability", then I understood that it was necessary to evaluate the scenario of my work in the system and explain why I act in this way, and not otherwise, in in general, bring your problem to the developers.
I then had a similar impression about ASCON: that the same people work here, and that if I express my point of view to them through the technical support service, then something will probably improve in the next version of COMPASS. I had a notebook in which I wrote down a stream of thoughts during working hours, and on Friday evening, when it was irrational to start a lot of work, I took this notebook and began to throw technical support with more clearly drawn up reports. This is bad for you, inconvenient, it must be done differently. And painted on the points. From technical support they answered me, often tried to offer workarounds, and then I was furious - “Yes, I know that this can be done, but it’s inconvenient!”
Then there was a beta test of the 14th version of KOMPAS-3D, ASCON awarded the best beta testers. Excitement gripped me - I could write so much, why didn’t I write ?! Therefore, I started the beta testing of version 15 with such zeal that I was among the best beta testers. Some time later I was invited to Kolomna for my activity, to the KOMPAS-3D Development Center - to try the alpha version of KOMPAS-3D v17. The developers have already announced it as revolutionary - a complete change of interface was expected. It was terribly interesting to see!
We with other “selected” users, who were invited to be the first to see the new products, arrived in Kolomna. We were shown a very early prototype and offered to work with him literally according to the script. Everyone was delighted - a lot of questions, constant discussions. Each test participant was assigned a KOMPAS analyst. I was supervised by Vitaly Bulgakov, KOMPAS-3D Leading Analyst Engineer - so companionable, responsive, we talked a lot about what was wrong and what “should be”. I hope he also learned something new about the approaches that are experienced by users who are not familiar with standard design techniques. I remember wondering how sometimes you have to act in a fanciful, unplanned way. As a result, in the 17th version, some things were taken into account that seemed strange to me in the previous version of the program.
At dinner after testing, I loudly resented: “How can you do this? There are things in the system that I think about every time: the one who invented this, has he ever tried to work with this ?! ” The next day, Sergey Evsikov, the head of the ASCON unit that deals with design systems, asked: “Do you want to move to Kolomna?” I also talked with the development, completed several test tasks, the proposal looked interesting! I then lived and worked in Moscow and thought: I’m tired of traveling 1.5 hours to work, pressed in the subway. But it was curious to find out how the company worked before agreeing to move.
I recalled that I had read an article on the ASCON website about what the company's programmers started and dreamed about - interviews with developers on various informal topics. He noted for himself that with one of the programmers I had the same interests: in the development of computer games, in music (post-punk and dark wave). Even then, I found it in social networks, I wanted to offer to make a small game, but it didn’t get to the point. I picked up his contacts, questioned him, found out that the work is interesting, the attitude towards the staff is excellent. This added confidence. So I ended up here in Kolomna.
During my trial period, work on version 17 was in full swing. The new KOMPAS-3D looked already more finished than we were shown in alpha testing.
I was assigned to a certain range of tasks. The first "combat" - the lighting sources of the 3D model. This was my initiative, at one time I myself wrote technical support comments on this matter. I was offered to consider options for how to position the model's lighting sources. Based on the results, several new lighting schemes were selected, which were included in version 17. I hope this is only the first step towards improving our overall rendering.
Single-source lighting from version 16 (left) and three-source lighting in version 17
KOMPAS-3D V16 seemed archaic to me, I started with Pro / Engineer (I did not like it very much) and SolidWorks. It seemed to me that all approaches, methods of work in that COMPASS are very fragmented. In one operation, Ctrl + Z works without terminating the process, and in the other, you first need to exit, then cancel will work, then enter back to continue. Such things were annoying. In the 17th version, almost everything led to a single key, a single style of work. I began to notice that some things in the new COMPASS seem so convenient and obvious to me that their absence in other programs is unusual for me as a user and not as a developer.
After developing the lighting, I got into the Quick team, which solves the key tasks of accelerating everything that is done in COMPASS. There I became a rendering analyst. I dealt with the levels of detail of a three-dimensional model (LoD) - how this mechanism should work, to what level it is possible to simplify the display of the model, and at what point to replace the model with such a representation so that it is invisible to the user. He also worked on changing the model’s accuracy settings. Now I am preparing a predefined set of accuracy settings (presets): each preset is a combination of maximum linear deviation and maximum angular. I want to find such presets so that in most cases the user does not need to change the settings.
Electric guitar
In parallel, I was connected to a UI (interface) command. After the release of the 17th version, a mountain of information accumulated that needed to be worked out analytically. It was decided that the interface team needed another analyst. Together with the interface designer, we have already released several improvements in express updates and are preparing the next, 18th version of KOMPAS-3D. The designer provides scripts for using commands from the point of view of the designer. Based on this, certain interface solutions are born - how to execute these scenarios with a minimum number of actions and, therefore, a minimum number of controls. At the same time, I continue to look at KOMPAS through the eyes of its user-designer and test solutions on interesting projects. I’m always trying to simulate not “on cubes”, when decisions look unmistakably and beautifully, and to do something difficult, sometimes after work, if I’m very fond of it. The result of one of these studies was an electric guitar (the picture above looks like a guitar, like in my house, but a little different).
Nikita Batyanov, Analyst Engineer
Acquaintance with COMPASS
After studying at the St. Petersburg Voenmech, I went to work at RSC Energia, one of the leading Russian space industry enterprises, a strong, that is, an engineer for strength calculations. Although I was engaged in modeling there, mainly in 3D, I was indirectly involved in design activities. Basically, we made models in the Pro / Engineer system, used SolidWorks CAD a little. After a year and a half, I moved to the position of designer for an enterprise in the structure of Rosatom. My fellow engineers and I were engaged in the design of ionizing radiation detectors. As part of sophisticated equipment, these detectors operate in the reactor part at high temperatures and transmit high-frequency signals in radiation conditions. These are responsible designs with special requirements for temperature and corrosion resistance, gamma stability and vacuum performance. And as a CAD we used COMPASS.
In the same boat with a software developer
I always had a feeling that the tool in which I work (and for the designer it is CAD), also depends on me in some way, that we are in the same boat with the developer. And our activity, in general, is similar. Like the developer, the designer knows how to prioritize, that you have to sacrifice something, that reworking things that don't work out a bit can hurt and lead to a loss of time. While your product has not reached consumers, you are sure that you have taken into account all the scenarios of working with it. But some nuances pop up only in a real operational situation. I also applied to software products - if it was not about error / crash, but about "usability", then I understood that it was necessary to evaluate the scenario of my work in the system and explain why I act in this way, and not otherwise, in in general, bring your problem to the developers.
I then had a similar impression about ASCON: that the same people work here, and that if I express my point of view to them through the technical support service, then something will probably improve in the next version of COMPASS. I had a notebook in which I wrote down a stream of thoughts during working hours, and on Friday evening, when it was irrational to start a lot of work, I took this notebook and began to throw technical support with more clearly drawn up reports. This is bad for you, inconvenient, it must be done differently. And painted on the points. From technical support they answered me, often tried to offer workarounds, and then I was furious - “Yes, I know that this can be done, but it’s inconvenient!”
Sally to Kolomna
Then there was a beta test of the 14th version of KOMPAS-3D, ASCON awarded the best beta testers. Excitement gripped me - I could write so much, why didn’t I write ?! Therefore, I started the beta testing of version 15 with such zeal that I was among the best beta testers. Some time later I was invited to Kolomna for my activity, to the KOMPAS-3D Development Center - to try the alpha version of KOMPAS-3D v17. The developers have already announced it as revolutionary - a complete change of interface was expected. It was terribly interesting to see!
We with other “selected” users, who were invited to be the first to see the new products, arrived in Kolomna. We were shown a very early prototype and offered to work with him literally according to the script. Everyone was delighted - a lot of questions, constant discussions. Each test participant was assigned a KOMPAS analyst. I was supervised by Vitaly Bulgakov, KOMPAS-3D Leading Analyst Engineer - so companionable, responsive, we talked a lot about what was wrong and what “should be”. I hope he also learned something new about the approaches that are experienced by users who are not familiar with standard design techniques. I remember wondering how sometimes you have to act in a fanciful, unplanned way. As a result, in the 17th version, some things were taken into account that seemed strange to me in the previous version of the program.
New stage
At dinner after testing, I loudly resented: “How can you do this? There are things in the system that I think about every time: the one who invented this, has he ever tried to work with this ?! ” The next day, Sergey Evsikov, the head of the ASCON unit that deals with design systems, asked: “Do you want to move to Kolomna?” I also talked with the development, completed several test tasks, the proposal looked interesting! I then lived and worked in Moscow and thought: I’m tired of traveling 1.5 hours to work, pressed in the subway. But it was curious to find out how the company worked before agreeing to move.
I recalled that I had read an article on the ASCON website about what the company's programmers started and dreamed about - interviews with developers on various informal topics. He noted for himself that with one of the programmers I had the same interests: in the development of computer games, in music (post-punk and dark wave). Even then, I found it in social networks, I wanted to offer to make a small game, but it didn’t get to the point. I picked up his contacts, questioned him, found out that the work is interesting, the attitude towards the staff is excellent. This added confidence. So I ended up here in Kolomna.
During my trial period, work on version 17 was in full swing. The new KOMPAS-3D looked already more finished than we were shown in alpha testing.
I was assigned to a certain range of tasks. The first "combat" - the lighting sources of the 3D model. This was my initiative, at one time I myself wrote technical support comments on this matter. I was offered to consider options for how to position the model's lighting sources. Based on the results, several new lighting schemes were selected, which were included in version 17. I hope this is only the first step towards improving our overall rendering.
Single-source lighting from version 16 (left) and three-source lighting in version 17
And the new COMPASS
KOMPAS-3D V16 seemed archaic to me, I started with Pro / Engineer (I did not like it very much) and SolidWorks. It seemed to me that all approaches, methods of work in that COMPASS are very fragmented. In one operation, Ctrl + Z works without terminating the process, and in the other, you first need to exit, then cancel will work, then enter back to continue. Such things were annoying. In the 17th version, almost everything led to a single key, a single style of work. I began to notice that some things in the new COMPASS seem so convenient and obvious to me that their absence in other programs is unusual for me as a user and not as a developer.
After developing the lighting, I got into the Quick team, which solves the key tasks of accelerating everything that is done in COMPASS. There I became a rendering analyst. I dealt with the levels of detail of a three-dimensional model (LoD) - how this mechanism should work, to what level it is possible to simplify the display of the model, and at what point to replace the model with such a representation so that it is invisible to the user. He also worked on changing the model’s accuracy settings. Now I am preparing a predefined set of accuracy settings (presets): each preset is a combination of maximum linear deviation and maximum angular. I want to find such presets so that in most cases the user does not need to change the settings.
Electric guitar
Be a developer while remaining a constructor
In parallel, I was connected to a UI (interface) command. After the release of the 17th version, a mountain of information accumulated that needed to be worked out analytically. It was decided that the interface team needed another analyst. Together with the interface designer, we have already released several improvements in express updates and are preparing the next, 18th version of KOMPAS-3D. The designer provides scripts for using commands from the point of view of the designer. Based on this, certain interface solutions are born - how to execute these scenarios with a minimum number of actions and, therefore, a minimum number of controls. At the same time, I continue to look at KOMPAS through the eyes of its user-designer and test solutions on interesting projects. I’m always trying to simulate not “on cubes”, when decisions look unmistakably and beautifully, and to do something difficult, sometimes after work, if I’m very fond of it. The result of one of these studies was an electric guitar (the picture above looks like a guitar, like in my house, but a little different).
Nikita Batyanov, Analyst Engineer