From user to CAD developers
Want to change the software you use for the better? Become its developer! Meet Nikita Batynov, our analyst and, until recently, an active user of KOMPAS-3D and other CAD systems. A couple of years ago, Nikita wrote down “shoals” of KOMPAS-3D in a notebook, threw ideas and suggestions to the ASCON technical support service, and then realized that implementing these ideas was much more interesting. Here is his story.
After studying at the St. Petersburg Voenmeche, I went to work at RSC Energia, one of the leading Russian enterprises in the space industry, a hard worker, that is, an engineer in strength calculations. There, though I was engaged in modeling, mainly in 3D, but I had an indirect relation to the design activity. We mainly made models in the Pro / Engineer system, used SolidWorks CAD software a little. After a year and a half, I moved to the position of designer at an enterprise within the structure of Rosatom. My colleagues and design bureau engaged in the design of ionizing radiation detectors. As part of complex equipment, these detectors operate in the reactor section at high temperatures and transmit high-frequency signals under radiation conditions. These are critical structures with special requirements for temperature and corrosion resistance, gamma resistance and vacuum characteristics. And as CAD we used KOMPAS.
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I always had the feeling that the tool in which I work (and for the designer this is CAD), to some extent depends on me that we are in the same boat with the developer. And our activity, in general, is similar. Like the developer, the designer knows how priorities are set, that you have to sacrifice something, that reworking things that are not comfortable enough can hurt and lead to a loss of time. As long as your product does not reach consumers, you are sure that you have taken into account all the scenarios of working with it. But some nuances emerge only in a real operational situation. I also applied to software products - if it was not about error / departure, but about “usability”, then I understood that you need to evaluate the scenario of your work in the system and explain why I act this way and not otherwise. In general, bring to the developers their problem.
I then had a similar impression about the ASCON company: that the same people work here, and that if I give them my point of view through the technical support service, then surely something will 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 started to shower technical support with more clear-cut reports. This is bad, inconvenient, it should be done differently. So painted on points. From technical support I was answered, often tried to offer workarounds, and then I was mad - “Yes, I know that this can be done, but this is inconvenient!”.
Then there was beta testing of the 14th version of KOMPAS-3D, the company ASCON awarded the best beta testers. Excitement swept over me - I could write so much, why didn't I write it ?! Therefore, I started beta testing of version 15 with such zeal that I was one of the best beta testers. Some time later, for my activity, I was invited to Kolomna, 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 first to see the new items, arrived in Kolomna. We were shown a very early prototype and offered to work with him literally on the script. Everyone was delighted - a lot of questions, constant discussion. For each participant in the test was assigned an analyst COMPASS. I was supervised by Vitaly Bulgakov, the leading analyst of KOMPAS-3D — so sociable, responsive, we talked a lot about what was wrong and what “should be”. Hopefully, he also learned something new about the approaches that users have who are not familiar with standard design techniques. I remember wondering how sometimes you have to act in an elaborate, 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 was loudly indignant: “How can you do that? There are things in the system about which I think every time: the one who came up with it, did he ever try to work with it ?! ”. The next day, the head of the ASCON division, which deals with design systems, Sergei Evsikov asked: “Do you want to get over to Kolomna?”. I also talked to the development, completed several test tasks, the proposal looked interesting! I then lived and worked in Moscow and thought: I was tired of traveling 1.5 hours before work, pressed in the subway. But it was curious to know how it works in the company, before agreeing to move.
I remembered that I once read on the ASCON website an article about how the programmers of the company started and dreamed about - interviews with developers on various informal topics. I noted for myself that my interests coincided with one of the programmers: to the development of computer games, 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 work. I picked up his contacts, asked, found out that the work was interesting, the attitude to the staff was excellent. This added confidence. So I found myself here in Kolomna.
During my trial period, work on the 17th version was in full swing. The new KOMPAS-3D looked more complete than we were shown on alpha testing.
I was assigned to a certain range of tasks. The first "combat" - sources of illumination of the 3D-model. It was my initiative, in due time I myself wrote technical support comments on this matter. I was offered to consider options for how to position the sources of illumination of the model. According to 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 rendering as a whole.
Lighting with one source from the 16th version (left) and lighting with three sources in the 17th version
KOMPAS-3D V16 seemed archaic to me, I started with Pro / Engineer (I didn’t like it much) and SolidWorks. It seemed to me that all the approaches, methods of work in that COMPASS are very fragmented. In one operation, Ctrl + Z works without completing the process, and in the other, you must first exit, then cancel will work, then enter back to continue. Such things annoyed. In the 17th version, almost all led to a single key, a single style of work. I began to notice that some things in the new COMPASS seem to me so convenient and obvious 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 command, which solves the key tasks of speeding up everything that is being done in COMPASS. There I became a drawing analyst. I dealt with the levels of detail of the 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 the user would not notice it. He also worked on changing the accuracy setting of the model. Now I am preparing a preset set of accuracy settings (presets): each preset (preset) is a combination of maximum linear deviation and maximum angular. I want to find such presets so that the user in most cases does not need to change the settings.
Electric guitar
In parallel, I was hooked up to the UI (interface) team. After the release of the 17th version, there was a mountain of information that had to be worked out analytically. It was decided that the interface team needs 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. Designer provide scripts using commands from the point of view of the designer. Based on this, one or another interface solution is born - how to execute these scenarios with the minimum number of actions and, therefore, the minimum number of controls. At the same time, I continue to look at KOMPAS through the eyes of its user-designer and run solutions on interesting projects. I always try to model not “on the cubes”, when decisions look unmistakably and beautifully, but to do something complicated, sometimes even after work, if I am very fond of it. The result of one of these studies was the electric guitar (the picture above looks like a guitar, like in my house, but a little different).
Nikita Batyanov, Analytical Engineer
Introduction to COMPASS
After studying at the St. Petersburg Voenmeche, I went to work at RSC Energia, one of the leading Russian enterprises in the space industry, a hard worker, that is, an engineer in strength calculations. There, though I was engaged in modeling, mainly in 3D, but I had an indirect relation to the design activity. We mainly made models in the Pro / Engineer system, used SolidWorks CAD software a little. After a year and a half, I moved to the position of designer at an enterprise within the structure of Rosatom. My colleagues and design bureau engaged in the design of ionizing radiation detectors. As part of complex equipment, these detectors operate in the reactor section at high temperatures and transmit high-frequency signals under radiation conditions. These are critical structures with special requirements for temperature and corrosion resistance, gamma resistance and vacuum characteristics. And as CAD we used KOMPAS.
')
In the same boat with the software developer
I always had the feeling that the tool in which I work (and for the designer this is CAD), to some extent depends on me that we are in the same boat with the developer. And our activity, in general, is similar. Like the developer, the designer knows how priorities are set, that you have to sacrifice something, that reworking things that are not comfortable enough can hurt and lead to a loss of time. As long as your product does not reach consumers, you are sure that you have taken into account all the scenarios of working with it. But some nuances emerge only in a real operational situation. I also applied to software products - if it was not about error / departure, but about “usability”, then I understood that you need to evaluate the scenario of your work in the system and explain why I act this way and not otherwise. In general, bring to the developers their problem.
I then had a similar impression about the ASCON company: that the same people work here, and that if I give them my point of view through the technical support service, then surely something will 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 started to shower technical support with more clear-cut reports. This is bad, inconvenient, it should be done differently. So painted on points. From technical support I was answered, often tried to offer workarounds, and then I was mad - “Yes, I know that this can be done, but this is inconvenient!”.
Outing to Kolomna
Then there was beta testing of the 14th version of KOMPAS-3D, the company ASCON awarded the best beta testers. Excitement swept over me - I could write so much, why didn't I write it ?! Therefore, I started beta testing of version 15 with such zeal that I was one of the best beta testers. Some time later, for my activity, I was invited to Kolomna, 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 first to see the new items, arrived in Kolomna. We were shown a very early prototype and offered to work with him literally on the script. Everyone was delighted - a lot of questions, constant discussion. For each participant in the test was assigned an analyst COMPASS. I was supervised by Vitaly Bulgakov, the leading analyst of KOMPAS-3D — so sociable, responsive, we talked a lot about what was wrong and what “should be”. Hopefully, he also learned something new about the approaches that users have who are not familiar with standard design techniques. I remember wondering how sometimes you have to act in an elaborate, 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 was loudly indignant: “How can you do that? There are things in the system about which I think every time: the one who came up with it, did he ever try to work with it ?! ”. The next day, the head of the ASCON division, which deals with design systems, Sergei Evsikov asked: “Do you want to get over to Kolomna?”. I also talked to the development, completed several test tasks, the proposal looked interesting! I then lived and worked in Moscow and thought: I was tired of traveling 1.5 hours before work, pressed in the subway. But it was curious to know how it works in the company, before agreeing to move.
I remembered that I once read on the ASCON website an article about how the programmers of the company started and dreamed about - interviews with developers on various informal topics. I noted for myself that my interests coincided with one of the programmers: to the development of computer games, 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 work. I picked up his contacts, asked, found out that the work was interesting, the attitude to the staff was excellent. This added confidence. So I found myself here in Kolomna.
During my trial period, work on the 17th version was in full swing. The new KOMPAS-3D looked more complete than we were shown on alpha testing.
I was assigned to a certain range of tasks. The first "combat" - sources of illumination of the 3D-model. It was my initiative, in due time I myself wrote technical support comments on this matter. I was offered to consider options for how to position the sources of illumination of the model. According to 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 rendering as a whole.
Lighting with one source from the 16th version (left) and lighting with three sources in the 17th version
And the new COMPASS
KOMPAS-3D V16 seemed archaic to me, I started with Pro / Engineer (I didn’t like it much) and SolidWorks. It seemed to me that all the approaches, methods of work in that COMPASS are very fragmented. In one operation, Ctrl + Z works without completing the process, and in the other, you must first exit, then cancel will work, then enter back to continue. Such things annoyed. In the 17th version, almost all led to a single key, a single style of work. I began to notice that some things in the new COMPASS seem to me so convenient and obvious 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 command, which solves the key tasks of speeding up everything that is being done in COMPASS. There I became a drawing analyst. I dealt with the levels of detail of the 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 the user would not notice it. He also worked on changing the accuracy setting of the model. Now I am preparing a preset set of accuracy settings (presets): each preset (preset) is a combination of maximum linear deviation and maximum angular. I want to find such presets so that the user in most cases does not need to change the settings.
Electric guitar
Be a developer, remain a constructor
In parallel, I was hooked up to the UI (interface) team. After the release of the 17th version, there was a mountain of information that had to be worked out analytically. It was decided that the interface team needs 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. Designer provide scripts using commands from the point of view of the designer. Based on this, one or another interface solution is born - how to execute these scenarios with the minimum number of actions and, therefore, the minimum number of controls. At the same time, I continue to look at KOMPAS through the eyes of its user-designer and run solutions on interesting projects. I always try to model not “on the cubes”, when decisions look unmistakably and beautifully, but to do something complicated, sometimes even after work, if I am very fond of it. The result of one of these studies was the electric guitar (the picture above looks like a guitar, like in my house, but a little different).
Nikita Batyanov, Analytical EngineerSource: https://habr.com/ru/post/341652/
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