Breaking New Ground With GL Studio®: The Next-Gen Solution For UI Excellence
As industries like automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, and industrial automation continue to push technological boundaries, the demand for advanced Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) has never been greater. Developers require tools that deliver high-fidelity graphics, seamless integration, and real-time performance while maintaining efficiency, scalability, and compliance with safety standards.
This is where DiSTI’s GL Studio® stands out as the preferred tool for advanced HMI development. Offering a powerful solution for creating high-fidelity, feature-rich 2D and 3D graphical interfaces, GL Studio® simplifies complex integrations with drag-and-drop support for 2D/3D file formats and compatibility with third-party scene graphs and high-performance runtime engines. Whether designing basic control panels or sophisticated virtual cockpits, it enhances development speed, flexibility, and collaboration while ensuring a high-quality user experience.
In the following sections, we’ll explore the key features that set GL Studio®® apart, making it the industry’s preferred HMI development tool.
GL Studio®: An Industry-Leading HMI Development Solution
GL Studio® makes it easy for developers to design visually rich and highly interactive user interfaces in 2D and 3D. With its simple drag-and-drop functionality, the software allows designers to build graphical interfaces quickly and efficiently, eliminating unnecessary complexity. It works smoothly across different platforms and integrates seamlessly with other tools, ensuring a flexible and efficient development process. At its core, GL Studio® features a powerful, real-time engine that makes interfaces fast, responsive, and highly interactive, making it a go-to solution for modern and advanced HMIs.
From cockpit instruments and automotive dashboards to flight simulators and interactive displays, GL Studio® allows designers to create detailed and engaging visual environments. The software supports design files from widely used tools like 3Ds MAX, Photoshop, and .SVG, making it easy for designers to turn their ideas into reality without any changes. Now, let’s dive into the key features that enhance this capability.
GL Studio®’s Unique Capabilities That Sets It Apart
GL Studio® Safety-Critical
GL Studio® is built to meet and exceed the rigorous safety requirements of industries such as Avionics, Aerospace, Medical, and Automotive. With its integrated Safety-Critical Code Generator, GL Studio® makes it easier to implement safety features in critical applications. Additionally, DiSTI provides source code for testing, validation, and verification, helping ensure compliance with the most stringent standards.
With more than 15 years of experience in avionics safety-critical systems, GL Studio® is trusted worldwide, powering systems on spacecraft and aircraft. Moreover, it is the only software in the automotive industry to offer an ISO 26262-8:2018 certified Safety-Critical Runtime Library, enabling developers to integrate safety features into their UI with minimal effort and cost—giving them a competitive edge in the market.
GL Studio® Micro™ is a specialized tool for microcontroller units (MCUs). It offers a smaller memory footprint, quicker startup times, and improved runtime performance—making it ideal for embedded systems with limited resources. It retains the full power and flexibility of GL Studio® but is optimized for smaller, efficient designs, reducing power consumption, heat output, and costs while delivering high-quality UI experiences.
Built on a safety-critical runtime, GL Studio® Micro™ is certified to ISO 26262-8:2018 ASIL D, ensuring it meets the highest safety standards, particularly for automotive applications. This makes it a reliable solution for safety-critical embedded applications.
GL Studio® Mixed-Criticality™
GL Studio® Mixed-Criticality™ Workflow (US Patent No. 11,003,425) enables integrating safety-critical and non-safety-critical user interface content in a single design file. As a C++ code generator and runtime library, it supports both Safety-Critical (SC) and Embedded Systems (ES) content, streamlining development with OneTouch Deployment™, which allows rapid iterations—under 60 seconds. This workflow helps UI designers visualize content on hardware targets with minimal coding and fosters collaboration between implementation engineers and UI designers. Studies show this approach can reduce development time by up to 80%.
The method offers up to 10x faster runtime performance and reduces CPU usage by 60%. In comparison, GL Studio®® applications use just 10% of the footprint compared to other tools, making it highly efficient and optimized.
GL Studio® Map Toolkit
GL Studio®’s Map Toolkit enables the quick integration of 2D moving maps into your projects, which is ideal for aviation, marine, and transportation applications. Whether for MFDs, clusters, or embedded navigation devices, the toolkit simplifies the development of real-time, high-quality maps with unmatched flexibility and performance.
As a powerful plug-in for the GL Studio® editor, it supports various map imagery formats like DTED, GeoTIFF, CADRG, DNC, and AIF (JPEG, PNG, TIFF), as well as GL Studio® Objects. It also allows the easy addition of custom symbols and paths, offering extensive customization options.
The toolkit is the top choice for developers creating dynamic, responsive 2D maps with minimal setup and maximum flexibility, making it the leading solution for projects requiring high-quality map displays.
GL Studio® Add-Ons
GL Studio® Add-Ons enable easy integration of graphical interfaces into MathWorks Simulink® projects. Simply drag and drop components into the canvas, with automatic data connection and no coding required, for quick setup and advanced UI displays.
These add-ons also support converting FAA Instrument Approach Procedures (IAP) charts into geo-referenced GLS objects for aeronautical applications. The GLS Menu Library simplifies the creation and prototyping of multi-function display (MFD) menus with customizable syntax, colors, and actions.
Ideal for aviation and industrial controls, the add-ons support aircraft MFDs, CDUs, communications gear, and more. The GLS Map Toolkit integrates geo-referenced map imagery and user-defined symbology, enabling interactive real-time 2D map displays with features like pan, zoom, and layer visibility.
Pre-built Components
Pre-built Components offer ready-to-use instruments and gauges that save both time and money. These components can be easily imported into your project and come with all the necessary appearances, behaviors, and interfaces. Available as Windows DLL or Linux SO, the components include .NET & GLSActiveX Controls, GLS Design Files, and associated textures and behaviors.
Available Pre-built Packs cover a range of applications in aviation, automotive, and industrial controls. These include the Generic RSO Pack with 28 analog and digital instruments, the Auto RSO Pack featuring 25 automotive instruments, and the Aero RSO Pack with high-resolution aviation instruments. The Map Pack allows for integrating multiple map imagery layers, providing real-time 2D displays. Additionally, Complete Cockpits are offered as turnkey solutions, containing all necessary components for easy integration and minimal setup effort.
Virtual Cockpits
GL Studio® offers turnkey virtual cockpits that give your project a critical head start by reducing development time and costs. Whether you’re working on fixed-wing, rotary, or land vehicle simulations, GL Studio® provides ready-to-use cockpits that integrate seamlessly into your software with minimal effort. GL Studio®’s library of pre-built cockpits for aircraft, helicopters, and maritime applications allows for easy customization, with users able to modify the delivered content to suit their specific needs. Each turnkey cockpit package includes a Windows DLL or Linux SO, .NET Controls, GL Studio® Design Files, and associated textures and behaviors.
Designed for immersive training, GL Studio®’s simulation cockpits offer highly realistic 2D and 3D displays, providing users with an engaging training experience. These virtual cockpits enhance training by helping users develop basic and advanced skills through simulation-based learning. They also allow users to maintain proficiency by strengthening skills, reducing safety risks, and providing practical training in various scenarios. Additionally, risk mitigation is possible by practicing emergencies and analyzing potential risks, all within a safe, controlled environment.
Supported Platforms
GL Studio® is known for being one of the most portable, reliable, and high-performing graphics libraries on the market. It supports various hardware and operating system combinations, making it ideal for diverse industry applications. Whether developing for embedded systems, desktop environments, or mobile devices, GL Studio® ensures that your graphical interface performs seamlessly across all platforms.
With extensive platform support, GL Studio® allows developers to integrate high-quality graphics and interactive elements into various environments without compromising performance or compatibility. This makes it the perfect choice for projects requiring cross-platform compatibility and consistent performance.
Conclusion
DiSTI’s GL Studio® is a powerful embedded HMI systems design software that enables the creation of high-quality, high-performance interfaces. It enhances the user experience while simultaneously reducing production costs, making it an ideal solution for industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, and industrial automation. With its wide range of features—from high-fidelity 2D and 3D graphics to real-time performance and versatile toolkits—GL Studio® ensures that HMI projects are efficient, scalable, and visually accurate. To learn more or explore GL Studio®, contact us at [email protected].
