Learn to Build Professional HMIs Using TwinCAT 3 for Beckhoff PLCs
This course is a complete beginner’s guide to designing Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) using Beckhoff’s TwinCAT 3 HMI platform. It is specifically designed for individuals who want to learn how to build professional, interactive, and functional HMIs for industrial automation systems—without the need for any physical hardware.
What you’ll learn
- Design professional-grade HMI interfaces using TwinCAT HMI with real-time connectivity to PLC variables.
- Understand how to bind HMI controls directly to TwinCAT PLC variables for real-time interaction with automation systems..
- Implement key HMI controls such as buttons, text inputs, gauges, and navigation tabs to build responsive and interactive machine dashboards..
- Visual Indicators & Styling: Design visual indicators using shapes and colors, and enhance HMI screens for clear status monitoring and user interaction..
Course Content
- Introduction –> 1 lecture • 3min.
- TwinCAT Software Overview –> 1 lecture • 10min.
- Learning to add a Button and Indication –> 1 lecture • 9min.
- Learning to add and use a Combo Box –> 1 lecture • 16min.
- Learning to add and use Images in Project –> 1 lecture • 8min.
- Learning to add Guages in Project –> 1 lecture • 16min.
- Example 1: Chemical Processing Unit – Introduction –> 1 lecture • 8min.
- Chemical Processing Unit – Logic and HMI Design –> 1 lecture • 11min.
- Example 2: Adding Motors in the Project – Programming and Design –> 1 lecture • 2min.
- Motion & Animation –> 1 lecture • 22min.
- Example 3: Car Washing System – Programming and HMI Design –> 1 lecture • 26min.
Requirements
This course is a complete beginner’s guide to designing Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) using Beckhoff’s TwinCAT 3 HMI platform. It is specifically designed for individuals who want to learn how to build professional, interactive, and functional HMIs for industrial automation systems—without the need for any physical hardware.
Throughout this course, you’ll learn how to create intuitive user interfaces that can visualize and control various PLC processes. The course begins with an overview of TwinCAT 3 software and quickly moves into hands-on design. You’ll start with simple HMI objects like buttons, combo boxes, and gauges, then progress to dynamic elements like image displays, tag-driven animations, and real-time status indicators.
We’ll also walk through two practical projects: a chemical processing unit and a two-motor system with tachometer. These examples will help you understand how to structure a complete HMI project—from logic development to visual representation. By working on these examples, you’ll gain the skills to design interfaces that not only look good but are also reliable, responsive, and production-ready.
One of the highlights of this course is the animation section, where you’ll learn how to animate components like fans and bottles. These techniques are useful for simulating actual machine movements and improving user interaction on industrial HMIs.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Create and configure a new TwinCAT 3 HMI project
- Use essential HMI components (combo boxes, images, gauges)
- Bind HMI elements to live PLC tags
- Develop and visualize real-time data and status updates
- Implement smooth animations for moving parts
- Design HMIs for complete automation systems
Whether you are a PLC programmer, automation engineer, or student, this course gives you all the tools and knowledge needed to start building industrial-grade HMIs using Beckhoff’s TwinCAT 3 environment.