HMI integrations
Pick your HMI platform and follow a 15–20 minute walk-through to get your symbols — built in the Symbol Builder, downloaded from the community library, or taken from the generic icon library — onto a real operator screen. Every guide covers: which format to export (PNG or SVG), image library import, multi-state binding, a PLC state encoding that works on any controller, and panel sizing.
EasyBuilder Pro
Picture Library import, Multi-state Lamp objects, PLC tag mapping. Tested on cMT, cMT-X, eMT, MT8000.
WinCC Unified
External graphics import, Graphic List for state switching, Faceplates. TIA Portal V17 SP1+, Comfort fallback.
FactoryTalk View ME / SE
Image library, Multi-state Indicator, Global Object faceplates. Studio 13+, PanelView Plus 7.
Ignition Perspective
Image Management upload, switch() expression bindings, Embedded Views. Ignition 8.1+, also Vision.
Where the symbols come from
All four guides start from the same three sources. None of them requires a CAD tool, and every file is plain PNG or SVG — the same thing your HMI software expects from any image library.
Symbol Builder
Draw the equipment you actually have — motors, valves, pumps, tanks, conveyors — in the browser. Canvas sizes of 256×128 to 640×360, transparent / HMI-gray / white background, export PNG (2–4× pixel density) or clean SVG. Composing needs no account.
Open the Symbol Builder →Community library
Symbols published by other control engineers under CC BY 4.0, by category and in the vendor-neutral style used throughout these guides. Download SVG or PNG from the symbol page and credit the author in your project documentation.
Explore community symbols →Generic icon library
State badges, alarm priority badges, arrows, electrical marks, indicators, instrument bubbles, connection lines and the navigation / system-bar icons (home, alarms, trends, horn silence, e-stop) every operator screen needs.
Browse the icon library →Downloads need a free account: 5 a month on the Free plan, 50 on Starter, unlimited on Studio. Symbols you publish yourself are always free to download. Previews, the Builder and publishing never count.
Don't see your platform?
Citect, AVEVA Wonderware, GE Cimplicity, Mitsubishi GT Designer — the import flow is the same idea: image library, multi-state object, one INT per equipment. Ask in the forum (another engineer may already have done it) or email me and I'll write the guide for your stack.
What every guide has in common
- Same encoding: 1 INT word per equipment, values 0-8 mapped to the 9 ISA-101 equipment states. Works in any PLC platform, and the same images serve every HMI in the plant.
- Faceplate-friendly: wrap once as a Global Object / Faceplate / Embedded View, drop everywhere.
- Tag overlay separate from picture: export symbols without the tag text and let the HMI manage the tag with a Text component on top, so it stays editable without re-importing the image.
- Multi-resolution source: the Builder exports PNG at 2× density or more, plus scalable SVG — enough for every panel from a 7" compact to a 19" wall display.
- One-state symbols, nine-state lamps: the Builder works on one symbol at a time. You get the state variants by duplicating and recoloring (gray stopped, green running, yellow no-feedback, blue manual) or by layering a state / alarm badge from the icon library on top of a static base. Each guide shows both.
Keep going
- Symbol Builder — draw the symbol, export PNG/SVG, publish it if you want others to reuse it.
- Explore community symbols — motors, valves, pumps, tanks, instrumentation by category.
- Community forum — vendor-tooling questions (Weintek, WinCC, FactoryTalk, Ignition) answered by engineers who ship operator displays.
- The 9 motor states every HMI should show — why the encoding used in these guides looks the way it does.
- ISA-101 reference — the design philosophy behind the calm palette.