The design trends in embedded HMI (Human-Machine Interface) are continuously evolving. With products getting smarter and offering an increasing number of features, end users expect HMIs to provide an engaging experience and easy access to product features.
Including a GUI (Graphical User Interface) in your products will allow you to design a more user-friendly, safe, and modern device, offering end users more value. The key design requirements of GUIs are shaped by the one device we all interact with every day: the smartphone in our pockets.
Ready to get started?
The STM32 family provides the tools required to easily add smartphone-like Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) in embedded devices, accelerating the "HMI of Things" revolution.
Use GUIs to offer the best UX
To design embedded products offering an outstanding user experience, the STM32 family offers the industry’s broadest range of graphics-enabled MCUs with over 200 active part numbers, supporting different display interfaces and packaging options. The STM32 graphics enabled MCUs embed different features that allow developers to achieve the desired performance and optimization trade-offs required for embedded devices, such as:
- The Chrom-ART Accelerator™ offers memory-efficient 2D graphics acceleration and enables smooth transitions and transparency effects while offloading the main CPU
- NeoChrom GPU, New 2.5D Accelerator With Massive Hardware Optimizations for Rich UIs on STM32. The technology optimizes animations such as flips, spins, scaling, zooms, and more. In a nutshell, the new hardware IP accelerates texture mapping and alpha blending. Offloading these computations to NeoChrom GPU vastly increases the number of frames per second.
- The JPEG codec allows you to add M-JPEG videos for branding and tutorials
- Fast access to internal and external memory avoids bottlenecks, supporting smooth animations
- The large internal memory supports a one-chip solution, without requiring an external RAM and Flash for small-resolution displays. This brings you additional flexibility to secure system architecture, your buffer strategy and memory budget
- Support for large display interfaces with parallel interfaces, LCD-TFT, and MIPI-DSI embedded controllers
What it takes to develop a GUI
Creating a good GUI requires skills and expertise, and involves many building blocks, starting with the selection and sourcing of the right display and casing, the art-creation of menus and screens, the programming of the art-design into a user interface and the electronic development, before being able to connect the dots and to trigger the spark that will bring your design to life.
We know it can be overwhelming to develop a GUI.
That is the reason why ST provides state-of-the-art MPUs and MCUs, combined with the tools and the support you need every step of the way, to ensure you bring your GUI project to success.
Define your needs and select your MCU or MPU & developer kit accordingly
STM32 GUI developer kits
The STM32 offer for Graphical User Interfaces includes a large choice of developer kits, software examples and demos.
Each developer kit comes with a flashed demonstration. The code for each demo is made available in the associated STM32Cube software packages.
Download TouchGFX
What is TouchGFX
Integrated in the STM32 ecosystem, TouchGFX is a free GUI tool providing everything you need to create cutting-edge GUIs.
TouchGFX is delivered in the X-CUBE-TOUCHGFX package which includes:
- TouchGFX Designer, a PC GUI-builder and simulator
- TouchGFX Generator, to configure and generate a TouchGFX project
- TouchGFX Engine, which is an optimized, hardware-accelerated graphical library
Start creating your own GUI
Select examples, watch demos, or start from scratch by importing graphical assets and use widgets in TouchGFX Designer to create your GUI application.
Flash your design kit and run your smartphone-like GUI
With your developer kit connected to your PC, you just hit the “Run Target” and TouchGFX Designer will automatically use installed STM32Cube Programmer to flash to your kit.
An extended ecosystem to support your development
TouchGFX Experts
Our dedicated and highly skilled TouchGFX Experts help you move from idea to market-leading products. They are able to provide support and services on STM32 and TouchGFX solution, bringing their innovative approach, combined with their extensive knowledge and experience, to help you design your next embedded product and quickly move from idea to end-product.
Display module makers
Avoid the hassle of sourcing your own display kit. Select a production-ready display module from one of our ST Authorized Partners and add it to your product.
These display modules are all based on STM32 Hardware and TouchGFX Software, and are also available for your prototyping.
UI Tool providers
Several ST Authorized Partners provide GUI development tools for STM32 hardware. They are all committed to support you to ensure smooth GUI development on STM32.
Additional resources
Videos
STM32 High Performance Graphics MCUs and MPUs
STM32 Graphics Cost Effective GUI Solution
STM32TouchGFX Revolutionizing the HMI of things
News in TouchGFX 4.21: TouchGFX Stock
TouchGFX 4.21 Release : TouchGFX Stock & SVG widget
STM32U599 Neochrom GPU demonstration
STMicroelectronics TouchGFX Demo on STM32H735G-DK
STM32MP157 running a QT graphics demo