Some Dimming Basics

This is how I do a basic dim :

1
At the end of the layer line add a circle shape and increase to 520x520 turn it black, reduce opacity to 50% (you may want it darker, it depends on the watch face) and set display to dimmed only. This will allow your highlighted layers to pop more.

2
The most important things to highlight for dimming are the hands and hour markers.

If the hour makers already in the watch can be duplicated, then do so and move to the end of the layer line on top of the black circle. Choose a colour tint and set display to dimmed only.

If the hour markers do not have their own layer, then I add free-form hour markers instead. I hardly ever have success using all 12 markers in one layer. This can be for numerous reasons, but boils down to not being able to line all the new layer markers with original layer markers perfectly. It is best to use a layer of four markers, or two or even one marker at a time. You will have to rotate each of these layers to line up correctly.
Once you're happy with the markers lining up, choose your dim colour tint and set display to dimmed only.

3
I always copy hands and move to the end of the layer line so they are on top of the dimmed dark circle and change their tint to make them more shaded, but slightly more visible - set display to dimmed only.

You can add a square shape to the hands for a good lume effect, set rotation to minute{drm} or hour{drh}, set alignment to bottom centre and reduce the width and height to desired dimensions. You will probable have to use the progress shader to help with length of the lume too.

When I first started dimming, I would simply change the tint of the entire hand, but this looks and feels wrong - after all in traditional watches a lume is only part of the hand, not the entire hand

4
Don't forget to get the layers in the right order - minute lume on top minute hand, hour lume under minute hand but on top of hour hand


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My WatchMaker Journey

I first got my smart watch, a Moto 360 v1, back in December 2015
It was a Christmas present, so I've had it just over 6 months.

My wife was getting a FitBit, and I had thought a smart watch could do similar while still looking like a watch. I had no idea of the mild addiction that was about to begin.

I quickly found the Watchmaker app and associated G+ community (after a few false starts with other watch apps).
I tried the free version first, and tried my hand at making my first watch - what joy, at seeing my simple creation on my own wrist.

As my confidence grew so did my ambition. I wanted to fit it all on the watch face (battery level, weather, steps, heart rate, stopwatch etc) the more the better.
I look back now on those crowded faces with a little embarrassment, but realise it was a learning stage I had to go through. I see many newbies coming into the G+ community doing the same thing.

It was after I found +Terry Zahn's watchawear.com that I started to scale back the information on the watch, I picked up many tips and and started to incorporate the hands, face-plates and shadows that are available there.

I learned that watch hands need layers to give the illusion of depth and that a shadow hand is absolutely compulsory. It was slow going, but mostly my watches were still on the amateurish side. I began to loose faith in my ability to make a watch as good as some of the great artist out there.

In all this time I had also gathered a huge collection (close to 1000) of watches mainly replicas, that I had to organise on my Dropbox account. I'm glad I did as every now and then you need to delete the app and associated folders from your phone. This is because even when you delete a watch the app still keeps the images, and eventually clogs up your phone.

Around March I started to see if I could modify some of the many watches I had collected, this was another learning process, and I got an insight to the codes that some designers use. It was evident that complicated coding was not going to be my area (although I learned some basics).

The easiest thing for me to try was to add a dim or lume, as I had seen +Jim L do this with great success and I was very impressed when +Rob van Rheenen dimmed one of my humble creations.

I was inspired, and quickly realised that watches made entirely in watchmaker were the easiest for me to dim - this is because the layers can be duplicated and moved easily, and I dimmed many dozens of +artur r's work.

With some basic coding I added auto-dims to the watches, so the dim layer only shows after sunset and never after sunrise.

I was once heavily criticise for ruining work by "adding awful dims!"

That hurt. Naturally I thought about trying to please everyone, the idea to give an option to choose if you want dim or not appealed to me. After much searching I found a code I could understand on a watch by +DJ CellFace that I could incorporate into my dim work.

I was pleased with the way the watches were looking and thanks to +Ashley Hansgen, (another respected Dim Artist) I was able to give the user the option to change the dim colour.

Now, I sometimes get requests to add my dim technique to other watches, and have struck up good working relationship with +Mark Askey who has a love for INVICTAS and other big bold watches

The Watchmaker app is truely impressive, so much can be done and learned with patience and a willingness to explore the Watchawear and Watchmaker communities

When I look back over my first 6 months, I realise just how far I've come. I've learned so much and have made many good friends across the globe - Who'd a thunk it !



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The Master Magicians of Watchmaker Watch Making

The magicians...

The masters of the dark arts ...

The Wizards that perform little miracles that we can all wear on our wrists.

These chaps put loads of effort into the behind the scenes code usually producing watches with multi choice options allowing the wearer to alter many aspects of the design of the watch usually from a menu that opens with a centre tap

So in no particular order


+Bob George
Anonochron Watchworks

Bobs watches usually allow the wearer to choose from a huge array of colour themes for both night and day. As well as choosing dim themes for day and night too, you can determine the level of brightness and decide to have burn in protection on or off.
A massive supporter of unlocked watches he lets anyone tinker with the code further for their own unique tastes.

Bobs Watches

  

+Frank Dufaux 
Opulance

Some of the most beautiful watches you will see - a must have for people who love to tweak

Franks watches

+Olaf Habbes
IWD

Everything from unique creations to replicas with a twist

www.habbes.eu/asnns.html

+Sean Grondin 

Highly prolific and with loads of great options - game themes, movie themes, replicas, replicas with twists - you name it Sean's tried it and if he hasn't he probably will

Seans Watches

+Cyrille LE RAY
Inferno

Extremely detailed, beautiful watches and menus - everyone should have one of Cyrille's creations.
A big supporter of +Terry Zahn's WatchAwear site - not only can you find his watches there, but also some of his hands to put on your own creations

Cyrille's watches

   

If I've missed anyone, I apologise - but please do let me know and then I can add them to my "must see" list (after I've thrashed myself for missing them in first place !)



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England Football Fan Watch

Ahead of England's big game against Wales, I wanted to say a bit about the watch I made for the Euros 2016. 

I wanted to focus on the greats, the legends and heroes from our footballing past. 

Not that the current bunch of lads aren't fabulous - it's just that they are so young (youngest average age at the tournament), and mostly unproven at this level

Here's a brief overview of the process I took to make the watch

• First I made the basic watch face with white background and used the shape tool to add two red stripes (a simple St George's flag)

• Then I decided on the players I wanted in my ultimate 11, and found the best images of them online, downloaded and started the editing process

• Each picture had the background erased in an app called ERASER, a cool and easy to use app that would allow me to pop the new image on top of the Saint George cross watch face.

• Each of these new images was then edited again in another app that transforms it into a sketch or line drawing. The app is called SKETCH DRAW and was very easy to use - I was quite surprised at the results

• The new images were placed on the watchmaker app and given an opacity script so that they show one at time with tap on the centre of the screen, this switcher code I got from +Iain Fry - the king of switcher watches

Here it is - All done on mobile phone, no photo shop or special skills required
Born in England - Fan Watch

More watches here
Davie Bowmore watches

And now the players

1. Gordon Banks

England's world cup winning goalkeeper in 1966 - that should be enough but he made one of the greatest saves in football history against the very best player of the 20th century - Pele. He was named the 2nd best goalkeeper of the 20th century by the  International Federation of Football History & Statistics. 

The best goalkeeper England ever had

2. Bobby Moore

Captain 1966 world cup winning team, 108 caps, and 90 of those as captain - a true icon of British Football

3. Stuart Pearce (physco)

For such a hard man he carries so much emotion - It's his passion that puts him in my list, and being part of the the 96 team too

4. Steven Gerrard

One of the greatest ever midfielders, Pele considered Gerrard to be the best footballer in the world. 34 awards and honours from the footballing world

5. Tony Adams

An outstanding defender who did marvels for Arsenal in his younger days, he made no secret about his addiction to alcohol and went through a long and arduous recovery only to come out the other side an even better footballer. The only England player to make tournament appearances in three separate decades

6. Tom Finney

A mainstay of the England in the 1950's Finney is considered one the top English footballers of the 20th century, an attacking midfielder with a very impressive international record. To quote Tommy Docherty "Messi is Tom Finney reborn"

7. David Beckham

Do I have to say any more ?

8.Paul Gascoigne

Gaza = Genius.

The Greatest footballer of his generation. Not one footballer who played with or against him has a bad word to say - It's all positive. He'll always be remembered for the tears he shed in 1990 and that goal against Scotland in 1996

9. Alan Shearer

A Super talented striker, 30 goals in 63 games

10. Gary Lineker

No other England player has scored more goals at World Cup finals (10). 

80 caps and a total of 48 goals with no yellow or red cards (club or country), he was one of the most clinical finishers ever to wear the 3 lions

11. Geoff Hurst

The only player ever to score a hat trick at world cup finals

"...Some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over! [Hurst shoots and scores] ... It is now! ..."

BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme

Don't forget, if you like it share it and spread the word...

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WatchAwear Watchmaker 125k Contest

Whoop, Whoop ! It's here - The 125k membership contest, hosted by WatachAwear.com (and +Terry Zahn )

Link to G+ post
https://plus.google.com/+WatchAwearAndroidWearWatchesforWatchMaker/posts/fPgkhYsg1KZ

I am entering for the first time, my thing is dimming - but I have learnt so much through my tinkering with other designers watches and the community in general that I am confident enough to put a design or two in

There are of course some rules so listen carefully

1. Create a Watch Face Using Watchmaker.

2. Watch Faces MUST be an original design (and never released) with your name in the Watch "Author Field" (The use of WatchAwear/Terry Zahn's Hands are acceptable.)

3. NO copyrighted/trademarked material allowed (images etc)

4. Watches MUST be uploaded to WatchAwear.com Contest V3 Category and be unlocked and licensed as giftware. http://watchawear.com/contest-v3.html

5. Watches MUST be shared/posted on WatchMaker - Beautiful Watches for Android Wear Google Plus Community in a "Special Category" called "Contest V3" that will be created at the start of the contest.
Links posted on WatchMaker Community MUST be the WatchAwear.com link to your Watch Entry. No Dropbox or other sites allowed.

6. Contest V3 will begin When this post is pinned

7. Contest will end Friday, July 4, 2016 at 11:59:59 GMT

8. Multiple entries by individuals are allowed. However only 1 winning entry per person will be added to the "Winning Watches."

9. Collaborations are allowed. Please add both contributors names in the Author field of the watch and on the Upload and Post.

10. POST ON WatchMaker Community ONLY ONCE PER ENTRY

11. Prizes to be Announced at a later date in the contest


The winning watches will be chosen by a Voting Gallery to be pinned at the conclusion of the contest.

 Contest Location
http://watchawear.com/contest-v3.html

WatchAwear Help Section
http://www.watchawear.com/help/faq.html

Video Tutorial for Uploading to WatchAwear
http://www.watchawear.com/watches/watch-tutorials/download/8-watch-tutorials/3994-how-to-upload-to-watchawear-com.html



Get designing and get your watch uploaded to watchawear.com
Lets make it the best contest yet

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Euros 2016 - Football watches to watch

Europe's greatest Football (Soccer) contest, The EUROs is here and it all kicks off in under an hour

The hopes and dreams of millions of fans will be raised and shattered many times over the coming weeks

And if you are lucky, your team won't lose on penalties

In no particular order (although I had to start with the first one) here are the best watches I could find football related, so pick one and wear it with pride



+Christophe Madelaine
Watch makers unite in Solidarity, Freedom and Football
All 24 teams on wrist tap the centre to pick your team

https://plus.google.com/117153230355736476372/posts/1rUiTMG7tuD

+John Joel
A very classy England watch, he also another in his profile

 https://plus.google.com/+JohnJoel-smackemback/posts/E2XHydUvPd1

+artur r
Artur has done a few nations - check his profile to see more

https://plus.google.com/108538252393285313689/posts/K693d6dGX1n

+Phil Bilton
A live score watch  - a lot a hard work and behind the screen coding has gone in to this


https://plus.google.com/+PhilBilton/posts/4L8TawiMjs1

+Davie Bowmore
Yep! it's one of mine
Tap the centre to cycle through 11 of England's past Heroes and Legends, their names are in the numbers

https://plus.google.com/112933966179217919373/posts/Vv2YzJBt67u

+Jesus Paino
He also has many more football themed watches in his profile

https://plus.google.com/105215186332772553065/posts/FyDNcVNGWVL

If you like this or know someone who might then please share it and spread the word

A few words on Dimming

Smartwatch makers in an attempt to preserve battery life made their watches go into faded dim.

Some smartwatch users have turned this dim into a feature to highlight certain elements of the watch

For me this was an area I could explore and find out more about the workings of good watches made by great designers and feel like I'm contributing to the community. I would look at a watch without a highlighted dim mode (some call it lume) and find a way to compliment the design with a dim mode

Essentially I copy layers I want to highlight and move them up the layer levels and behind a black circle that has an oppacity setting of about 50% - 70%. Then set the chosen layers to only come on when dimmed.
I learnt about auto dimming, that is setting the dim to come on at sunset, and not activate after sunrise
And then I found how to give the user the option of which kind of dim they want (this is now my preferred set up) - for this I have to thank +DJ CellFace
Every now and then I add in a colour choice for the dim mode and for this I give thanks and praise to +Ashley Hansgen

 Below is a list of some of the coolest dimmers in the Watchmaker World

The all time master of dimming is +Jim L , and probably the first to bring the dim alive. With hundreds of very tasty dims in the Watchmaker G+ community

Jims Dims

Next person worthy of mention is +Ashley Hansgen , another prolific dimmer - he usually gives the user the choice of having dim on all the time or off all together or behaving normally (that is coming on after a set amount of time)

Ashleys Dims

+Tom Hald who creates the most unique dims you will ever see on his own watches - a true master watch maker

Tom Hald Watches



And Then there is +Iain Fry the all time king of switching is also pretty impressive with dim modes too - Check him out

There are of course lots more designers that dim their watches, too many to mention really !

If you like this or think someone you know might, then please share it and spread the word


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Some Top Original Designers

The majority of watch designers make copies or replicas or tributes (call it what you will) of Brands and there are a lot of excellent watches out there. 

The downside is which of the thousands of Rolexes and Omegas do you wear (don't get me wrong my all time favourite watches so far is a Rolex by +JC Dalisay)


But there are a few who make their own original unique designs under their own name or brand and these are arguably more "valuable" as their circulation is smaller, certainly the quality is tip top

So here in no particular order is a list of some of my favourites Original Designers


+artur r   Hexagen 

As well as a large replica portfolio he is probably the most prolific designer of unique watches in the watchmaker G+ community.

 

+Milan PRIBULA 

Watches made entirely in the watchmaker app, some very good replicas, but his em-pe range are real beauties with an astonishing sense of style

 

+Eddie Westerhof 

A very talented designer of digital style watches, and well worth a look

 

 

+Jesus Paino 

The great TUCCI range

 

+Frederik Baelus 

Super cool and truely unique designs - The GOBLIN Watch co

 

+Jeff C 

Made with the help of Oompas AWC 

 

+Nite Owl 

Another super talent who can turn his hand to replicas or personal projects

There is of course lots more, check 'em out and don't dimiss 'em just because they are not a Brand

If you like this, let me know and spread the word

A Simple Guide to Making a Simple Watch

A simple guide to making a simple watch

The watchmaker app comes with lots tools to help get started. We have all started with some numbers and a pair of hands and been as pleased as punch. But you will probably want to do more.

Lets start at the beginning...

At the top right of the app screen is a watch with a +symbol, tap this and you have a blank canvas to create your masterpiece
Tap design watch
Tap + button

Everything you add is simply an image, you just layer all the images in the correct order until you have a watch you're happy with.

Add a number ring, the default font is Roberto-Regular, but there are few others to choose from just slide to the bottom of the screen till you see font, tap it and choose another (you will find that the more watches you download the more fonts you will be able to choose from)
You can also change the size of font and choose a colour too

The choice for your hands is basic, but this is easily remedied. Go to WatchAwear.com and find the watch hand page and decide on a set of hands that you like, download and unzip (using something like UNRAR available in the play store).

Now go back to the watchmaker app and tap the + button and choose add image, find one of the downloaded watch hand images and tap to add.

You will notice that it is stationary so you have to make it rotate at the proper speed, tap the hand (in the layer line) once and scroll  down till you see "rotation", tap the drop down arrow and a new screen will open. You will see another drop down arrow labelled "time" and in here you will see many different codes for many different time configurations - for now you only really need rotation hour{drh} and rotation minute {drm}

And that is the very basic way to add your rotating hands to your watch.  The process is similar for adding any extra element to the watch. You want a photo or logo, just add image and find it on your phone.

You also need to make sure your image layers are in the right order. Watch hands go over nearly everything, with the hour hand under the minute hand. If you've made a mistake or want to change the  layer order, then press and hold the layer till it starts wobbling and has the word "duplicate" floating under it, let go and press and hold it again - now you drag to the left or right.

Once you finished the watch you can always make changes by tapping the customize button. For instance you like the face but not the hands, just tap one of the hands in the layer line and tap change image and swap it for a hand of your own.

The more you play and expirment the more you will learn.

As always if you have used hands from watchawear and you decide to share your watch then please upload to WatchAwear.com so others can see what's possible and don't forget to mention the person who made the hands.

If you liked this or know someone who might benefit from it then please share

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