ChainViz v1 application

[kukabi]

Project Abstract

ChainViz Alpha (alpha.chainviz.app) is an open-source real-time 3D visualization of the Kusama relay chain validators and block production process.

This application is to fund the building of the first major version of ChainViz, with Polkadot support, new features and redesign.

Grant level

• Level 1: Up to $10,000, 2 approvals
• Level 2: Up to $30,000, 3 approvals
• Level 3: Unlimited, 5 approvals (for >$100k: Web3 Foundation Council approval)

Application Checklist

• The application template has been copied and aptly renamed (project_name.md).
• I have read the application guidelines.
• A BTC, Ethereum (USDT/USDC/DAI) or Polkadot/Kusama (aUSD) address for the payment of the milestones is provided inside the application.
• The software delivered for this grant will be released under an open-source license specified in the application.
• The initial PR contains only one commit (squash and force-push if needed).
• The grant will only be announced once the first milestone has been accepted (see the announcement guidelines).
• I prefer the discussion of this application to take place in a private Element/Matrix channel. My username is: @_______:matrix.org (change the homeserver if you use a different one)

[alxs]

@kukabi this is cool! However note that we focus on funding development work that may be useful to others in the ecosystem, i.e. we don't fund things like UI/UX or audio design. Have you considered applying for treasury funding instead? They don't have the same constraints and I think your project would be a much better fit for it. Let me know if you want to be put in touch with someone who can walk you through the process.

[muddlebee]

we don't fund things like UI/UX or audio design.

I went through the application. It is more of development work only. Afaik Chainviz uses webgl for 3D rendering and new app mentioned ChainSynth also requires some engineering to produce the Audio Development work.

I was just curios. If anyone plans to propose along these lines? Design + Development? doesn't it qualify for the grants? because design research is also a part of development pipeline. We have many good projects like talisman, subscan which is user friendly because of focused design efforts.

[kukabi]

@alxs @muddlebee thanks for your comments.

@alxs I understand your concerns, yet the application is actually for the development of the documented new features with the UI/UX work for upgraded design. ChainViz in its alpha version is at a point where we cannot introduce new features and keep the application efficient, user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing without UI/UX design support. ChainViz has been and will be useful to ecosystem members of varying degrees of familiarity in a number of ways, and we are committed to developing it into an application that will get richer in utility over time as listed under the Future Plans section of our application.

Regarding audio design, it is a very, very minor part of the project, and to be honest the effort for it didn't even go into the documented budgeting of ChainViz. Please consider it just a basic, pleasing addition to the user experience. As @muddlebee pointed out, the actual audio programming work is going to go into another project of ours, ChainSynth.

I'd like to let Daria (@dkrvchnk), our project manager, take over for the rest of the details.

PS. Regarding treasury support, we are in preparations to apply for a treasury grant for the next batch of upgrades for SubVT mobile applications, which are about to get their first major releases. We have successfully delivered a Level-1 W3F grant as detailed in our application, the resulting Telegram bot is a success serving 355 Kusama and 143 Polkadot validators, and we would like to continue our engagement with the W3F to keep delivering useful and beautiful software for the ecosystem.

[dkrvchnk]

Hi, @alxs @muddlebee! It's a pleasure to meet you. I am ChainViz project manager 🙂

Thank you very much for your feedback! As @kukabi pointed out, this project is mainly focused on the development part, and the design is something that will not only allow it to look fantastic but will actually be the key supportive element in creating a highly user-friendly solution.

@alxs, thanks a lot for mentioning the usefulness of the project. Here I would like to point out that this is exactly why it is not just a development work but design + development. We aim to provide a solution that will be very easy to comprehend, intuitive and highly accessible, ensuring a rise in utility and user engagement. ChainViz is already welcomed and used by the community, who raised a set of current UI/UX issues, which we will fix, add more necessary features and create an incredibly convenient and useful tool for the ecosystem with the help of a professional design team. In addition, as @muddlebee absolutely rightfully pointed out, design research is, indeed, a very important part of development: all great application development projects out there always start with the design first.

[alxs]

That is correct @muddlebee. We usually require mockups/wireframes to be provided with the application so we have an idea of what we're funding and since it's hard for us to assess the costs of design work. Teams may be able to recover the costs with the milestones they deliver.

@kukabi @dkrvchnk personally, I fully agree with your points, but again, this is not something we can fund as part of the grants program. If you still prefer to carry on with the application instead of going to treasury, could you please remove the audio design & UI/UX design work from the milestones and deliverables? Personally I would be fine with supporting this without additional mockups since you already have a working website (pretty sure I spotted it running in our office the other day!), but feel free to add some in case you have them. You should probably also restructure the milestones since the only other deliverable in M1 besides "UI and UX Design Output" is "Backend Services", which it sounds like you've already implemented?

Happy to hear the SubVT grant had an impact. You're welcome to apply for follow-up grants, but for this kind of project we can really only fund certain parts i.e. the development. I would again warmly recommend you to consider treasury funding for other parts of the project. The Kusama treasury has a rich history of funding art and design projects in the ecosystem.

[kukabi]

Thanks @alxs, this clarified a lot. We're very happy that the application is finding some use in the W3F offices:) We'll have an internal discussion and update here later today.

[kukabi]

@alxs we had an internal call, and decided to exclude the design budget (-8K USD) and update the development plan so that we have full-stack feature implementation output for each milestone. Audio-related content will also be removed from milestone output. We're going to discuss and update the application today and fix the PR commit tomorrow.

And just a side note for:

..."Backend Services", which it sounds like you've already implemented?

Most of the services are implemented already as part of the SubVT Backend, but we need one extra websockets service, the Block Details Service to push the extrinsics and event data for each new block to the client. This service is going to be utilized in both displaying block content and visualizing cross-chain messages (XcmPallet extrinsics and events). We're also going to need a new simple REST endpoint to fetch parachain list and details, though this one is negligible work compared to the websockets service.

[alxs]

@kukabi sounds good, thanks for the update! I recommend you add the details regarding the backend and any additional technical details to the application.

[kukabi]

Hi @alxs, application has been updated with the changes I mentioned yesterday, and some additional technical details. Please let us know any further issues, thanks!

[alxs]

Thanks a lot @kukabi! That looks great, I think there should be no issue in supporting you with the current scope. I'm happy to approve your application and will share it with the rest of the committee.

[keeganquigley]

LGTM

[github-actions]

Congratulations and welcome to the Web3 Foundation Grants Program! Please refer to our Milestone Delivery repository for instructions on how to submit milestones and invoices, our FAQ for frequently asked questions and the support section of our README for more ways to find answers to your questions.

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[keeganquigley]

Hi @kukabi how is milestone 1 coming along?

[kukabi]

Hi @keeganquigley, it's going good however behind the initial schedule. Planning to deliver milestones 1 and 2 together in June.

[keeganquigley]

Hi @kukabi are you able to provide an update on the milestones?

[kukabi]

Hi @keeganquigley, submission & release is scheduled for the 18th of July '23. Thanks for your patience!

[kukabi]

Hi again @keeganquigley, just a notice that we have to reschedule the release again to the 1st of August '23.

We have completed the UI/UX design, development and testing of the new backend services for block details (includes XCM messages) for both Kusama and Polkadot, and most of the UI development.

Apologies for the delay and thanks for your patience.

[keeganquigley]

Thanks for the update @kukabi sounds good; if it is going to be more than 2 weeks consider filing an amendment PR. Thanks!

[kukabi]

@keeganquigley Thanks:) We're nearly there, should be live in a couple of days, will update here, then I'll prepare the submission.

[kukabi]

@keeganquigley I'd like to share some latest screenshots.

Main screen (Kusama:)

Validator hover:

An expanded block:

Paravalidators for a selected parachain:

We have completed most of the interaction and animations, and the majority of the overall work. Outstanding work:

• XCM details display.
• Associate blocks with their authors with an animation.
• Separate block events and extrinsics panel.
• Validator list & filter.

I think we're going to be able to deliver the complete package only next week.

There's a change to the initial development plan. We're now using a combination of the Polkaholic API and the Polkadot JS API for block and XCM details. It is serving the purpose perfectly, so there was no need to develop the extra block details service.

@keeganquigley Do you think we should submit an amendment? Or should we include it all in our submission?

[Noc2]

Looks great. Feel free to also submit an amendment, just to be on the safe side.

[keeganquigley]

Thanks for the screenshots @kukabi they look nice! I agree with @Noc2 that for development changes an amendment should be submitted. It should be relatively easy to get it approved. Thanks!

[kukabi]

@Noc2 @keeganquigley thanks a lot, I'm going to submit the amendment on Sunday, and hopefully we'll submit the delivery next week.

[kukabi]

Posted the amendment @ #1906.

[kukabi]

Hi, just wanted to post the update that we've completed the development. We're working on improving the testing and preparing the submission material. I'm hoping to submit it in the week. Thanks for your patience. Attaching some screenshots.

[semuelle]

Looks great, @kukabi. Thanks for the update. Looking forward to your delivery.

[kukabi]

Just submitted the delivery: w3f/Grant-Milestone-Delivery#1005

Thanks a lot for your patience. Application is live at chainviz.app, source code here, and the delivery document has the rest of the material.

[Polkadot-Forum]

This pull request has been mentioned on Polkadot Forum. There might be relevant details there:

https://forum.polkadot.network/t/decentralized-voices-program-kutsal-kukabi-helikon/6106/1