Good HMI software for freehand drawing

Nebul0us · Oct 26, 2016

Hey everyone,

So we use CLX and FTView ME with PanelView + panels. We do controls for conveyor systems on apple packing lines. We hand draw our screens and layout the whole line from top view. Lately I've been thinking about switching us to Ignition software, but I am having trouble doing much freehand drawing with it and don't see it as a good option in any software.

So I am looking for recommendations. I would like to step up our screens to the next level. It's a HUGE pain in the *** to draw them with FTView. I feel like I am using MS Paint from 1990.

So, what do you all recommend?

keshik · Oct 26, 2016

While I'm not 100% sure what you are asking for, I use Paint.NET for most of my graphical things. Free, easy to use, and can do just about anything I want.

As for your lines, isn't there a CAD model you can edit and/or clean up to produce your screens?

Mark- · Oct 26, 2016

Hello,

PeakHMI has a graphics editor.

Nebul0us · Oct 26, 2016

keshik said:
While I'm not 100% sure what you are asking for, I use Paint.NET for most of my graphical things. Free, easy to use, and can do just about anything I want.

As for your lines, isn't there a CAD model you can edit and/or clean up to produce your screens?

Thanks for the Paint.net recommendation. Here is a video to help explain...please forgive me I was having a little trouble using track pad with left hand while recording with right, lol. We animate just about all of our conveyors. The video is a fan that I hand drew and animated.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz62KGWRjsc5WG83b3NXWDh2Y2c

Nebul0us · Oct 26, 2016

Mark- said:
Hello,

PeakHMI has a graphics editor.

Thanks I'll check it out. Keep the recommendations coming people, and thank you!

Archie · Oct 26, 2016

Since HMI software's focus is to be an HMI, I suspect it will be hard to find any of them with an exceptional graphic designer. If you really want extremely good graphics, you may want to consider using software such as Adobe Illustrator or the free alternative of Inkscape.

These software packages may have a bit of a learning curve, but you will be able to draw any type of graphics essentially without limits. You can then export them to just about any file format your HMI software uses.

The two aforementioned software packages use vector format which means your drawings will not become pixelated if scaled up and it also gives you options such as SVG or EPS file formats.

If you look at the main page of the AdvancedHMI web site, you can see a few examples of HMI graphics drawn with Adobe Illustrator.

Nebul0us · Oct 26, 2016

Archie said:
Since HMI software's focus is to be an HMI, I suspect it will be hard to find any of them with an exceptional graphic designer. If you really want extremely good graphics, you may want to consider using software such as Adobe Illustrator or the free alternative of Inkscape.

These software packages may have a bit of a learning curve, but you will be able to draw any type of graphics essentially without limits. You can then export them to just about any file format your HMI software uses.

The two aforementioned software packages use vector format which means your drawings will not become pixelated if scaled up and it also gives you options such as SVG or EPS file formats.

If you look at the main page of the AdvancedHMI web site, you can see a few examples of HMI graphics drawn with Adobe Illustrator.

Good stuff here, thanks for that info. I have considered using 3rd party software just for graphics, but unless I'm mistaken, I wouldn't be able to animate these graphics with color and such? Or am I wrong?

Archie · Oct 26, 2016

Nebul0us said:
I have considered using 3rd party software just for graphics, but unless I'm mistaken, I wouldn't be able to animate these graphics with color and such? Or am I wrong?

Depends on the HMI software. Some packages can animate by scaling, rotating, or translating position of and image. Some can animate through the use of multiple images. For example, a rotating fan could be done by using 2 or 3 images that are switched by the HMI software.

Illustrator makes creating multiple images/frames easy for using with that style of animation. For example, the fan can be drawn and exported. Then you can rotate only the blades and export the second image. Or if you wanted 2 frames to animate a button, one frame would be normal and the other would have a shadow ring representing the button depression. These individual items of the drawing are easily manipulated or hidden with Adobe Illustrator.

Nebul0us · Oct 26, 2016

Archie said:
Depends on the HMI software. Some packages can animate by scaling, rotating, or translating position of and image. Some can animate through the use of multiple images. For example, a rotating fan could be done by using 2 or 3 images that are switched by the HMI software.

Illustrator makes creating multiple images/frames easy for using with that style of animation. For example, the fan can be drawn and exported. Then you can rotate only the blades and export the second image. Or if you wanted 2 frames to animate a button, one frame would be normal and the other would have a shadow ring representing the button depression. These individual items of the drawing are easily manipulated or hidden with Adobe Illustrator.

Ok yeah I figured I would be able use multiple objects. But that means the screen will have minimum 2x as many objects, maybe 3x as many. While our graphics would be better, it sounds like it will be more work also. I'll have to weigh pros and cons.

Vector graphics would be awesome. For our main HMI, we use a 60" screen made by Ideum. We normally use 1080 resolution, but the last project we did we used 4k. This became an issue for several reasons, but Vector graphics would help us tremendously. I know ignition uses Vector graphics, but I don't think the freehand drawing capabilities are even as good as FTView. I appreciate your input Archie and will continue looking in to it. I've downloaded Inkscape and will play with it at home. Thanks again!

dmroeder · Oct 26, 2016

Nebul0us said:
Ok yeah I figured I would be able use multiple objects. But that means the screen will have minimum 2x as many objects, maybe 3x as many. While our graphics would be better, it sounds like it will be more work also. I'll have to weigh pros and cons.

Vector graphics would be awesome. For our main HMI, we use a 60" screen made by Ideum. We normally use 1080 resolution, but the last project we did we used 4k. This became an issue for several reasons, but Vector graphics would help us tremendously. I know ignition uses Vector graphics, but I don't think the freehand drawing capabilities are even as good as FTView. I appreciate your input Archie and will continue looking in to it. I've downloaded Inkscape and will play with it at home. Thanks again!

Find some youtube tutorials for Inkscape, they will be helpful compared to trying to figure it out on your own. Knowing the keyboard shortcuts is very helpful.

Good HMI software for freehand drawing

Nebul0us

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