Selecting Ignition Perspective Valve Symbols vs Symbol Factory

On Ignition 8.1.35, the Perspective Symbols palette has no motorized or actuated valve, and upgrading within 8.1 will not add one. The graphic shown in older Inductive Automation demos comes from the Symbol Factory library, not the Perspective Symbols component set. They are separate libraries with different behavior. Build the motorized valve from Symbol Factory and animate it with bindings.

Baseline: Designer Version and Installed Modules

Before anything else, confirm what the gateway provides. The two libraries come from different places, so a missing symbol can mean either the wrong library or a module that is not installed.

1. Open the Designer and read the version from Help > About. This walkthrough targets 8.1.35.
2. Open the gateway web page and go to the Modules list. Confirm that both Perspective and Symbol Factory appear, show as running, and show a license state you expect. An unlicensed module runs only under the gateway trial.
3. In the Designer, open a Perspective view. Expand the Component Palette and find the Perspective Symbols group.
4. Open the Tools menu and confirm that a Symbol Factory entry is present.

Check: You can see the Perspective Symbols group in the palette and open the Symbol Factory browser from the Tools menu. If Symbol Factory is missing from Tools, the module is not installed on this gateway. Fix that first. Do not move on until both libraries are available.

Library Selection: Perspective Symbols vs Symbol Factory

People often mix these up, and that is usually why a symbol seen in a video cannot be found in the palette. Perspective Symbols are native components with built-in state handling. Symbol Factory is a large catalog of vector drawings that are dropped into a view as a static graphic.

Decision path: if a native valve symbol with an overlay or label gives the operator enough information, use Perspective Symbols. If the P&ID or site standard requires a distinct motor-operated valve glyph, use Symbol Factory. If neither library has the exact glyph, import your own SVG (covered below).

Check: Write down which library each device class will use before you draw screens. Mixing libraries for the same device type causes inconsistent state colors across the project.

Motorized Valve Insertion from Symbol Factory

Build the graphic once, inside a dedicated view, so every instance reuses the same element structure and bindings.

1. Create a new Perspective view for the device template, for example a coordinate-container view sized to the symbol.
2. Open Tools > Symbol Factory. Browse the valve categories and pick the motorized or actuated valve glyph. The search field in the browser is faster than browsing categories.
3. Drag the symbol into the view. It lands as a vector drawing component whose shapes appear as individual elements in the Property Editor.
4. Expand the drawing's element list and identify which elements are the valve body, the actuator housing, and any stem or indicator. Rename them or note their index so your bindings target the right shapes.
5. Set the component to scale with its container. Otherwise the graphic clips or distorts when the view is resized.

Check: Resize the view in the Designer. The valve should scale cleanly with no clipped actuator. Select each element you intend to animate and confirm that the highlighted shape is the one you expect. Do not move on until the element map is known.

State Binding on the Drawing Elements

A Symbol Factory graphic has no built-in open/closed/fault states. The Perspective Symbols get their state behavior from component logic, and you must recreate that logic with bindings. Drive the graphic from a view parameter rather than a hard-coded tag path, so one template serves every valve.

1. Add view parameters for the device: tag path (or UDT instance path), plus any display options.
2. On the valve-body element fill, add an indirect tag binding to the status tag through the path parameter. Add a map transform: open, closed, traveling, and fault each map to a color.
3. Bind the actuator element separately if the motor has its own status, for example running, tripped, or in local mode. Keep this independent of valve position so operators can see an actuator fault while the valve position is known.
4. Use your project's style classes or a shared color set for the mapped colors instead of literal hex values. That way one change updates every device.
5. Add an onClick event that opens the faceplate popup and passes the same path parameter.

Check: With the Designer in preview mode, force the status tag through every value in the map. Each value must produce the intended color on the correct element. Watch for a value that falls through to the transform's fallback. An unmapped state that silently shows the default color is the most common defect in hand-built symbols.

Custom SVG and Drawing-Tool Limitations

On the 8.1 line, Perspective has no built-in drawing tools. You cannot sketch or edit a shape inside the Designer the way Vision allows. Drawing tools for Perspective are planned for the 8.3 line. Until then, you have two options when neither library has the exact glyph:

• External SVG: Draw or export the symbol in a vector editor. Keep each animatable region as a separate, named shape and flatten unnecessary groups. Then drag the SVG file into the view. It imports as the same kind of drawing component that Symbol Factory produces, and the binding method above applies unchanged.
• Composite symbol: Place a native Perspective valve symbol and overlay a small actuator graphic in a coordinate container. You keep the native state handling on the valve body and add only the actuator.

Pitfall: SVGs exported with deeply nested groups, embedded raster images, or CSS classes defined in a style block often import as one flattened element, or lose their colors. If the element list shows fewer shapes than you drew, simplify the file in the editor and re-import. Do not try to fix it with bindings.

Check: After import, the element list must expose each region you intend to animate as its own entry.

End-to-End Verification

1. Embed the valve template in a real process view twice, pointing at two different valves through the path parameter. Confirm that each instance tracks its own tags.
2. Save and launch the session in a browser, not only in Designer preview. Confirm that the graphic scales correctly at the resolutions your operator stations use, including a mobile or tablet profile if one is deployed.
3. With the process or a simulator, drive each valve through open, closed, traveling, and fault. Confirm that body and actuator colors follow the field state without lag beyond the tag's scan class.
4. Break the tag path on one instance deliberately. Confirm that the symbol shows a visible bad-quality or unknown state rather than holding the last color.
5. Click each instance and confirm that the faceplate opens for the correct device.

FAQ