HMI recommendations

All,

Could everyone chime in on a recommendation for an HMI. We are looking for an HMI that will do some advanced animation. We typically use PV+1000, but they do not support .gif or .png files (for transparent image backgrounds) and any graphics not developed in the studio enviornment do not support any animation other than visibilty. We have looked at proface and maple systems so far and they seem some what promising.

Thought I would throw out this thread to find out if anyone has any suggestions for an advanced HMI application (something that might be able to emulate a flash type experience).

Thanks in advance.

HMIs aren't typically designed for Flash-like "advanced" animation. They are intended to quickly convey the state of the facility to trained operators. Iconic's new packages push DirectX 10 (need a hot new gaming video card) on Vista - they're the only HMI maker I know of going after the "eye candy" market. FactoryPMI has pretty solid graphics support (what you described in your first paragraph) and is easy to develop in.

Another option would be to use Flash yourself. FactorySQL can be used to make a SQL database into a "tag database". A good Flash developer could work some HMI magic.

The G3 series from Red Lion will do rudimentary animation on all units except the G303. I have used this functionality to make custom screen savers with an image that moves around, and it works pretty well. There are two basic things you can do:
1. Make a single object change its image quickly, i.e. a rotating pump.
2. Cause an object to move around the screen at a speed and direction you specify.

You weren't specific about what exactly you need to do, but if you're looking for high speed, complex animations like you see on the web, the typical industrial HMI isn't going to hack it. If you're looking for simple animation like I described above, I think you'd be happy with the G3 if you are familiar with basic C programming. I'm sure the folks at Red Lion could provide you with some animation examples.

I am well aware of the current state of HMI technology. We are always pushing the envolope on this subject trying our best to give the user a great experience interfacing with our equipment.


Our specific market is leaning toward user experience (not necissarily HMI) and we have always been at the top of our game with OITs.

I was just looking for some input to see if anyone had any experience with some other HMIs out there and what possible capabilities there were.


Thanks for the replies

PS thanks for the links!!

No probs. Post back if you decide on something.

jjnelson81 said:

PS thanks for the links!!

Click to expand...

Look at this one

http://www.netscada.com/
It was designed for the offshore oilfield.
It does animation, great historical graphs,
and interface to any database.

Koylur is right, we can do some basic animation, like changing and moving images. We don't support the GIF or PNG types, but when magenta (R:255 G:0 B:255) is used, we treat is as transparent. I can provide some examples, and the trick that is needed to have the background redrawn behind a transparent item if needed.

Regards,
Dan

To get more specific on the FactoryPMI animation - it does provide advanced graphics for an HMI - the key being easy to use. I still hold that you'll never touch Flash with any HMI, and that Iconics is the only vendor attempting at (DirectX 10) 3D renderings. I've never used that product, but I would be surprised if the user couldn't rotate the view of rendered scenes at runtime(I have a hard time imagining what it takes to write/support such an application).

FactoryPMI supports most image file formats including (bmp, jpg, png, gif, etc). It does support native transparency (R,G,B,A) with layers (Z order). It also supports tint/replacement filters that allow the dynanic coloring of a grayscale image or swapping one color for another dynamically. GUI Layout options allow you to control how objects resize based on screen resizes. You can swap or rotate images dynamically, but moving objects around the screen in a more advanced manner requires some scripting. No user input needed to re-draw screens.

DanYost said:

Koylur is right, we can do some basic animation, like changing and moving images. We don't support the GIF or PNG types, but when magenta (R:255 G:0 B:255) is used, we treat is as transparent. I can provide some examples, and the trick that is needed to have the background redrawn behind a transparent item if needed.Dan

Click to expand...

Xbt bt7000 magelis supports gif,jpeg,png,bmp and straight feeds from video cameras which can be recorded,saved,and replayed on the hmi