Emerging tools like Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 3, when prompted with "industrial SVG, flat design, pump symbol, white background, no shadows," are beginning to generate usable assets. While they cannot yet generate state-based animations (Start/Stop variants), they are excellent for creating custom background dashboards or facility maps.
If you have zero budget, an AI prompt: "Minimalist vector icon of a chemical reactor vessel with agitator, industrial HMI style, black outline fill, scalable" – will generate a base you can refine in Inkscape in under 5 minutes. free hmi graphics library
| Scenario | Recommended approach | |----------|----------------------| | Open-source HMI project (e.g., for Raspberry Pi) | Qt + OpenSCADA widgets + Material SVG icons (MIT) | | Commercial HMI device (no license fee for graphics) | Use MIT/CC0 icon sets only; code custom controls using basic shapes (no GPL assets) | | Web‑based HMI | Apache ECharts for gauges + FontAwesome + custom SVG mimic (Inkscape) | | Rapid prototype | HMI Project (GitHub) or ModernUI for WinForms (free) | | No time for DIY | Purchase affordable commercial library (e.g., Industrial Graphics from CodeProject, ~$50) – outside “free” scope, but practical | Emerging tools like Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 3,
| Library / Source | Main Format | License | Industrial-ready? | Cost | Best usage | |----------------|-------------|---------|-------------------|------|-------------| | Qt Quick Controls | QML/C++ | (L)GPL | Medium (basic) | Free for open-source | Embedded, cross-platform | | Material/Iconfiy SVG | SVG | MIT | High (if icons exist) | Free | Any HMI (via image assets) | | HMI Project (GitHub) | SVG + XML | MIT | Medium (some assets) | Free | Python Tk/PyQt proof-of-concept | | OpenSCADA widgets | SVG | GPL | High (process mimics) | Free | Linux SCADA systems | | Apache ECharts | JS/Canvas | Apache 2.0 | Medium (gauges only) | Free | Web-based HMI dashboards | Industrial Graphics from CodeProject