Visibility Animation Delay PanelView Plus

FactoryTalk View Studio - Machine Edition Version 7.00.00(CPR 9 SR 6)
PanelView Plus600

I have created a few small PanelView projects and often use the Animation feature to make certain objects visible or invisible. I notice that often when a display is opened in Runtime, that for a brief moment the object is sometime visible before disappearing when the conditions are such that the object should be invisible. I have two questions regarding this.

1. If the object is a Pushbutton, during the brief moment that it is visible (when it should be invisible), would pressing it during that brief moment of visibility cause the Pushbutton tag to be written to?

2. Are there any settings (either in FactoryTalk or the PanelView Plus configuration inbuilt Utility) that can allow a display to refresh before deciding to make objects visible or maybe to delay displaying objects that have visibility clauses attached to them?

Whilst the brief appearance of objects that should be invisible is irritating and makes the finished project look unprofessional, what is of more concern is that incorrect operation of a PLC program or PanelView Display navigation could occur. I understand that careful PLC programming should avert machinery disasters but would appreciate any advice about this issue,

Thanks

Neil

Right click in the open graphic and select Display Settings. There you will find the refresh rate. Default is 1 second. I usally set mind at 0.25 or 0.5

Thanks Cwal, I'll give that a try.

Whilst the brief appearance of objects that should be invisible is irritating and makes the finished project look unprofessional, what is of more concern is that incorrect operation of a PLC program or PanelView Display navigation could occur. I understand that careful PLC programming should avert machinery disasters but would appreciate any advice about this issue,

Click to expand...

We have the same issue. Objects that use visibility animation blink after switching displays in the HMI. Increasing resfresh rate only speeds up the blinking. It's not a communication problem or lag between HMI and PLC, as using visibility for an object with expression "1" (so should always be visible) gives the same result. Removing all tag connections resolves the problem, the button no longer blinks. Are there any solutions or workarounds for this issue? Thanks!

edit: When I change indirect addressing (using taglist) to direct addressing :[shortcut]N10/1) there still is a delay before the button appears after switching displays, but no blinking. So it seems for me that direct addressing is faster and gives the "prettiest" result.

For the best visual appearance in the old video game programming days...I would page flip, or hide everything behind a solid black graphic that could be turned on and off. That way, you did not see all the pixels being colored, the finished image just appeared when complete.

The FTView Studio equivalent would be to have a full screen plain rectangle with the visibility conditioned to be true for about one or two seconds after a page change occurs. Put it on top of everything. Sucks for you to have to edit it later... Move the ginorous bandaid out of the way, then move it back when done...

This might require setting up remote display global connection and assigning screen numbers. I am not sure if it could all be done with logic in the PV+...

Or buy a red lion. The screens will then be painted faster than you can hit the page change buttons, and there will be no ghost buttons.

I actually think I can help someone for once : p

I have spent many hours working on this.

If you are trying to use animations make sure to make sure you are using the correct image format ( I'll get into that later).

Secondly you need to know if you are using transparencies or not. ( I will get into this later as well.)

I think the best format (from experience) is to use 8 bit pngs with 8 colors. You can use more colors if you need just keep in mind the larger the image is the more image processing that is required. So if you have many large images your pvp can(WILL) crash (learned this the hard way).

If you are using transparencies use 8 bit transparencies with 8 colors as well. Just make sure that you are using the correct firmware update (ME 8.00 fixes the issues with transparencies not showing up correctly)

Gotta go but if you have more detailed questions just let me know.