Late last week Rockwell Automation released its new Studio 5000 View Designer software used to create HMI applications for the PanelView 5500.
The recommended computer specs to run View Designer are the same as Logix Designer v27: Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 20GB of Hard disk space.
View Designer also supports the same operating systems as Logix Designer v27: Windows 7 Pro (64bit) and Home Premium (32bit) with Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with Service Pack 1, Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1 Professional (64-bit), and Windows Server 2012 Standard.
What new features does View Designer have?
View Designer and the PanelView 5500 support the following features:
- Studio 5000 Logix Designer Tags shared with View Designer
- Logix extended tag properties supported in View Designer
- Logix based alarms automatically available on PanelView 5500
- High speed button control interacts with controller at I/O speeds
- Pre-confi gured system banner, alarm summary, and diagnostic displays
- State tables, Real-time Trending, and Alignment guides
- Built-in graphic elements with advanced animations
- Built-in navigation buttons and intuitive navigation menu
- Flexible property binding and command actions
- Scalable vector graphics automatically adjust to any size terminal
- Download projects easily without needing separate utility
What limitation does View Designer have?
Rockwell has listed the following limitations for the initial release of View Designer and PanelView 5500:
One controller per project- Controller must use Logix V27 firmware
- No historical trending
- Fifty screens maximum per project
- Five hundred alarms maximum per project
For more information on View Designer, and to view the official product release notes, search Rockwell’s “versions” webpage for Studio 5000 View Designer, and then select the PDF icon near the version number as seen below:
So, what do you think of View Designer so far?
Is the lack of historical trending, multiple PLC support, or compatibility with versions other than v27 something that would prevent you from using the product?
Let us know what you think by filling out the “post a comment or question” link below.
Until next time, Peace ✌️
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Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator
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I just installed Studio v27. Are there any sample libraries of View Designer files anywhere? The vpd files? I didn’t see anything on Rockwells website. Odd they wouldn’t include something in the installation package to show some of the capabilities.
Good afternoon James,
Unfortunately the copy of Studio 5000 I purchased this summer only came with up to v24.
I do hope to upgrade once the site’s income can justify the expense.
In the mean time, if you come across any demos please let us know!
Sincerely,
Shawn Tierney
Does View Designer create FactoryTalk ME applications or is this a brand new application type? Do we end up with four (!) application types – SE, ME, Component and 5500? Is ME going to be deprecated?
Good morning zigzag,
View Designer creates projects for the newly launched PanelView 5500, while View ME is still available and works on the older PVPlus 6 and newly launched PVPlus 7 models.
My guess would be, much like RSView32 is still available, View ME and the PVPlus will be around for quite some time, especially since the PVPlus7 just came out but also because it’s supports all the Rockwell PLC’s as well as third parties, while View Designer and the PV5500 only supports Logix v27.
On the component side, the PVc was recently silver series and replaced with the PanelView 800 which also uses CCW and can run applications designed for the PVc.
Hope this helps,
Shawn Tierney
Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com
Shawn,
Had the chance to download the latest Studio product and bounce around the Designer.
A few things that made me declare, “Finally!”.
1.) The binding between the PLC’s tag database (with comments even) and the Design software.
2.) Wide open animation properties for EVERYTHING including angles. So many times I’ve wished for the ability to just turn an image without having to bury it in a group.
3.) Automatic alignment based on snapping to edge or center of surrounding objects.
A couple things were excluded that had me searching in the contents to no avail…
1.) No way to display the various states of an object. Colors and other attributes are only shown in their 1st state.
2.) Testing of display without actually downloading it to a terminal. Perhaps when v27’s emulator gets released another version of Designer will be right behind it.
It will take some time to get used to. Fortunately it doesn’t seem as clunky as Connected Components.
Thanks for the update Shawn!
No tech connect here yet therefore I haven’t had a chance to play with the live release of 27, so I do really appreciate you sharing the info and your feedback!
Thanks again,
Shawn Tierney
PS – If you’re interested in putting together a word doc based on the above with some screen captures, I’d be more than happy to post it as a guess blog!
When you say “Logix based alarms” do you mean it subscribes to the ALMD and ALMA instructions in a Logix class processor like FactoryTalk View SE does/can?
Good afternoon Brian,
Yes, that is what Rockwell means by “Logix based” – the phrase you quoted is how they chose to saying it supports subscribing to the Logix Controller base alarms produced by the ALMA and ALMD.
It’s been awhile since I had hands-on with the PV5500, but I do remember it seemed pretty easy to subscribe to the ALMA and ALMD alarms,
However, I’m not sure if the PV5500 has any other type of alarm system in v1 – although I would like to get my hands-on one and play with it!
Sincerely,
Shawn Tierney
Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com
That’s quite a welcome upgrade. I’m surprised they don’t do this on the Panelview Plus. The ALMD and ALMA are powerful instructions, but 99% of the time I’m using a PV+ HMI in lieu of a full FactoryTalk View SE install.
Good afternoon Brian,
I agree – it would be great to have ALMA and ALMD support come to the PVPlus!
Unfortunately I haven’t heard any plans for that yet, but I’ll keep my ears open!
Have a great day,
Shawn Tierney
Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com