Simple Switching

Apart from adding a nice lume effect to a watch, I also like to make the occasional watch that has different faces. These are normally based around a theme, recently I have done British Gangster Films and Silver Screen Starlets. The theme can be whatever floats your boat, base it on your family or favourite hobby or collection - if you can get photos or images then you can make a watch from it.

I use a code from switching guru +Iain Fry

When you have decided on your theme, you will need to collect the images - either from the internet or your personal collection

Next open watchmaker and start a new watch, and add the main script code to script panel - If you can't see this tap the little watch icon to bottom left of your watch preview

For ease copy and paste everything below that is between the lines into aforementioned script panel
________________________

--main switching script

screenNo=1

var_opacity1=100

var_opacity2=0

var_opacity3=0

function change()

transitions = { }

transitionNo = 1

var_transition = transitions[transitionNo]

    screenNo = screenNo + 1

    if screenNo > 3 then screenNo = 1 end

    var_opacity1 = screenNo == 1 and 100 or 0

    var_opacity2 = screenNo == 2 and 100 or 0

    var_opacity3 = screenNo == 3 and 100 or 0

transitionNo = transitionNo + 1

    if transitionNo > table.getn(transitions) then transitionNo = 1 end

    var_transition = transitions[transitionNo]

    wm_transition('circle open')

end

_______________________________________

If you want to add more image layers, you will need to make alterations to the above. The process will become obvious as you experiment and gain experience - But don't worry to much yet

Now add your 1st picture resize and position as necessary, do the same with your second and third images too - you can have as many image layers as you like, but to start with - keep it simple

Highlight your 1st image layer and in opacity type var_opacity1
Highlight your 2nd image layer and in opacity type var_opacity2
Do the same for each image layer increasing the var_opacity by 1 for each image

Now add a shape and open Tap Action, then open Run Script and type change()
Make this shape invisible by reducing opacity to 0

Finally add watch hands as desired

Even easier than going through all the above, download a watch that already has the code in place and then change the image layers for your own images



Here is one of +Iain Fry's to look at, but beware it has many layers - one for every day of the month











And here is my recent British Gangster Films, available at +Terry Zahn's website WatchAwear.com











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Grilled Sea Bass on Rocket and Sun dried Tomato Salad

Once along time ago I used to cook for a living, now I cook for enjoyment

So every now and then I will post up a recipe or cooking tips

Here's the first

Grilled Sea Bass on Rocket and Sun dried Tomato Salad

Nice and easy, but the beauty is in it's simplicity - fish should never in my opinion be served with complicated and heavy sauces, simply grilling brings out the natural flavours

Buy the fish whole, and always check for freshness, signs of a fish beyond it's best are sunken eyes, they should be full and wet looking, not dried and sunken, gills should be a pinky red colour and not dull grey the smell should be of the sea and not overly fishy

You can ask the fishmonger to fillet the fish and descale it for you, but once you get it home it is best to wash it again and with the back of a knife scrap the skin from tail end to head end to remove any scales that the fishmonger may have missed

Score the skin to assist with even cooking (need I say it - but wash hands after handling raw food!)

Now add some salad and rocket leaves to a bowl, maybe some herb leaves perhaps dill or parsley - add a small handful of roughly chopped Sun Dried tomatoes and black olives. mix all together with a tablespoon or two of good Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Spanish is best) and a squeeze of lemon juice

Arrange the salad on plate in a good tall pile. Now heat a Griddle or Pan so it is hot but not smoking and place the fish skin side down and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, turn the fillet over and cook for the same amount of time on this side. Ensure it is cooked through, the flesh should be a creamy white colour all the way through, and no look of rawness

Now serve the Sea Bass on top of the salad and enjoy a lovely light summer evening meal with glass of white or rose wine

One fillet is usually enough for a portion, but I put two in this photo

If you like this or know someone who might, then please share it

These Are a Few Of My Favourite Dims

This is a Self Indulgent Post

Watchmaker has lots going for it - a complex, yet easy to use app, great and helpful community, great designers that share their work, a dedicated website in the form of WatchAwear.com
But after all this I love a good dim, and have learned so much through the desire to make a good lume

So as usual and in no particular order here are some of my favourite watches that have I have given the Bowmore dim treatment

1.
Speake-Marin London Chronograph Special Edition for Harrods by +Ram Mor

A request came to me for a dim/lume of this truely stunning creation by Ram. Its a lovely watch and I did not want to mess it up. Ram draws his watches fresh in Photo-Shop which means that one has a very few layers to work with, and my approach to the dim was different from my usual method.

Using an app called ERASER, which as the title suggests allows parts of images to be erased, I erased the hour marker numerals from the main face plate image, leaving a .png image with gaps where the numbers were.

Then in the watchmaker app I added this new image on the top of the original face plate image, ensuring they were the same size, gave it a darker colour and set to dim only.

Between these two layers I added a round shape 100% opacity, increased to 520x520 and turned it green, set to dim only
On top of this I added a smaller shape, red in colour to show under the number 12, set to dim only

For the hands I used one of Rams layers that had a nice white blurry texture, copied them, moved them to the top layer, changed the colour to blue and set to dim only

After adding some code so the user can choose when the watch dims I was satisfied, and I have to say very proud

Without great artists like +Ram Mor, The WatchMaker community would be a poorer place

Thank you RAM

Download it from WatchAwear



2.
GRAHAM Overlord MarkIII by +Dimitar Simitchiev




Another request came through for this lovely Graham

Still using the Eraser app, but this time erasing everything and leaving the highlights which I laid on top of the face and hands - a round shape with 60% opacity was added under these new layers

And added the dim choice so the user can have Auto dim, Normal dim or no dim at all

The end result, even though I say so myself, is very impressive

It's available at WatchAwear


3.
Tag Monaco by +Robert Pope 
One of my first attempts at dim, I have often gone back to this and updated with improvements as I've learned new tricks - probably because I think it's such a stunning watch in the first place.

So far it incorporates everything I've learnt - I think.
Shapes and layers as I've discussed before, the eraser app and this version has glow effect added to the dim.

Using the eraser app I erase everything except the hour markers, Then open the image in a picture editing app recommended to me by +Cyrille LE RAY - image editor get it here. Make the markers as white or light grey as possible using colour, hue or brightness as desired and then using the focus tab add a Gaussian blur. Save and add it to the watch, ensuring it is the same size and lines up with the original hour markers -  then tint it to the desired colour

Get it from WatchAwear






4.
INVICTA STINGRAY by +Mark Askey

Have a look at Marks work here

Just like me, Mark seams to have grown a designer as I have grown as a dimmer.

One of the first watches he asked me to work on was this motivational one requested for a chap celebrating one year dry, the result and the kind words this person had blew me away - I never knew our little hobby could help someone so much.



Since then I have been  privileged to work with Mark many times, usually on INVICTAS like this one

These complex watches with many layers have helped me perfect my dims

Muchas Gracias Amigo




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Dimming - The Ashley Way

I had an idea for a post and asked the very helpful +Ashley Hansgen for some input, the information he provided is worthy of it's own post - so here it is, a step by step guide to luming the Ashley way - Thankee !


Of the dim work I've done, I would say I'm most pleased with the dim version of +Robert Pope's "Graham Chronofighter" . I think this design best reflects my style and the techniques I use for dimming. 

I'm a big fan of gradient radial shading on lumes because it looks more natural and adds some character to the overall look. 

To achieve this, I need to incorporate a number of elements, markers, numbers, etc. into a single layer or image so I can add the shading.

I do this by first duplicating the face and renaming it "for parts".

Then I create a 512 diameter black circle to use as a background.

I can then move all the elements to be shaded above the background via the display order, making sure I change the color of all elements to white (ffffff) .

Now I'm ready to export/share the "black & white" image to my device.

Once saved, I import the image to the Eraser app (a free Android app that allows you to remove backgrounds and/or portions of images).

By using the Auto-Removal feature, I can select on the black background and automatically remove the entire background from the image, leaving behind only the white markers, text, etc to be lumed. 

Finally, I import this new image into my design and apply the gradient radial shading.

I change the "Start" color to black (000000) and the "End" to the desired lume color, adjusting the scale to the desired gradient and brightness.

The same technique is used on the hands and rotating star.

This seems like a lot of trouble to go through to add the effect, but once you do it a few times, it's quick and easy.

For more of Ashley's dim work and original designs too take a look at his profile here 

If you like what you see or think some one you know might like it, please share it

paypal.me/bowmore

The Glow Effect

For some time I have been fascinated by the lovely glow effect some designers get on their watches +Cyrille LE RAY and +Chris Chastain immediately spring to mind. (check them both out - very impressive stuff !)

And I wanted to add the glow to my dim/lumes to add that little bit of reality. But my attempt to develop my own glow technique had been poor at best. I had tried to keep it all within the watchmaker app, trying to use the shader and opacity tools to get the effect, but it was not to my liking

I also tried PhotoShop Touch, but even though it's meant to be easy, I just couldn't work it out.

It wasn't until Cyrille put me onto this image editor app, with easy to use Focus tools that I got my first real success.

Simply open the image in Image Editor, and make the image as white or light coloured as you can.

Then using the Focus tab add a Gaussian effect - there are several strengths to choose from. Don't forget to save it ! I did first time...

For adding extra circumference to the glow open the same image a second time and use a Blur effect under the Focus tab. Again don't forget to save it !

Back in WatchMaker lay these two new images where you need them for that really nice glowy effect.

You may have to use the ERASER app first to get rid of extra elements you don't want to glow


Below my recent glow on a my own Chronos b10 - you can get it on +Terry Zahn's WatchAwear site

If you like this or know someone who might like it, then please share it

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