Watch[P]Hands
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Work in progress. The purpose was to test whether it was for smartwatches more energy efficient to draw hands as raster images or as vector graphics. Since the to me known platforms did not support vector images, font was my next choice for vector source. Also maybe as base for debate, since in my tests none of the resources seemed significantly better.
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Info:Created on 16th November 2024. Last edited on Tue, 17th March.
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9 Comments
Oh....Likes then a legend of 1684 in a War!
This is a cumbersome method for creating digital watch face elements. Watch hands require fine lines, unique angles, and subtle changes in stroke width, all well beyond Fontstruct's capabilities. Your Tudor-style hour hand (J) is a case in point: the diagonals are much thicker than the rest of the outline. Anyone can tell it's a fake. How will you make hands for a Rolex Submariner or a Seiko SKX?
Are you working with Watch Face Studio, Facer, or other software? What's wrong with tiny transparent PNGs for watch hands?
@Frodo7 you are right, it is cumbersome to make some of the hands this way and it will be nearly impossible to make some shapes while maintaining constant "wall" thicknes (not to mention coloration and shading, yet I did not plan on exact replicas), but there are others which are made this way fast and easy.
I play mainly with Facer. Used to play with old and new Samsung tools, but there I cant try on device, since they stopped supporting my watch.
My premise was, the watchfaces in play store same as on Facer, are made in some fixed resolution, which only occasionally matches the native resolution of the watch and must be rescaled in every other case. I admit raster images prepared in some graphic tool are mostly good enough for tiny watch display and I always made them that way, but I wanted to test whether with vector image really would be sharp at any given resolution, while keeping the resource tiny. And font was the only way to "smuggle" vector based shape into watch.
@Peter (Petruuccio): There are three ways you can go. 1) Create your watch face in vector (Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer), and rasterize it later to the proper resolution. Vector editors give you a cartoonish style. 2) Create your watch face in a bitmap editor (Photoshop) at double or quadruple resolution and resize it later. Bitmap editors can give you photorealism, too. 3) High-end watch face designers start with a 3D model (using Cinema 4D, Blender) and render it to bitmap later. I would pick the first method as it suits my style the best. A digital watch face doesn't have to be pixel-perfect or photorealistic.
PS: Here is a link to a resource for 45-degree angles provided by Goatmeal.
@Frodo7 - Thank you for the link, Frodo7. I considered suggesting my tutorial, but with the advent of 'nudging,' I wasn't sure if was relevant anymore... ;^)
@Frodo7: Sorry, my last reply for some reason disappeared and there is only the header of it visible in live section.
To summ it up, thanks for the tips and link, thanks @Goatmeal too. I managed to correct the snowflake hand right away, but the tutorial saves me time next time.
For watch faces I mostly use second method, just with another tool and occasionaly for repated or exact geometry I help me with a CAD program. Like I said earlier, I saw potential in the vector graphic, as it in theory should be same sharp for any native display size (there are many different resolutions even within one platform), while occupying same tiny resource size. This I tested with questionable result. Seems smartwatches are not best at antialising fonts.
Frodo7: Exactly!
@Peter (Petruuccio) - You are most welcome. Happy that it was of use for you. I look forward to seeing more of your projects in the future! :^)
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