A fairly simple watchskin that I might develop further… trying to make an animated watch that isn’t limited by the 10 frames and 1fps digital array… so without using a digital array I came up with this smoothly rotating planet Earth… (the display below is a rather jerky animated gif)
Stock hands from the Z6 seemed to fit the job…
The gif doesn’t do it justice
@Andrew_Davis one thing is clear, your talent is not limited by any array …
It actually works well even though the map is flat. Masking it into a circle helps with the illusion.
I was experimenting with something similar, my idea was to use concentric rings with the center rings rotating slightly faster than the outer rings (i.e. the equator moves faster than the poles). But I think it might be hard to align all the rings so they slip at the proper rate.
@Andrew_Somers This was one of those ideas that came out of a different project… it’s very rough and ready - I just used a couple of stock images and slapped them together to see how it would look…
If you look closely you’ll see that New Zealand doesn’t figure very much…
Hmm, and I grew up in New Zealand.
The orbiting objects, could be the ISS, the black knight satellite and cryogenic Elvis.
Since talking with both Andrews I’ve also been working on smoother animations. This is the nut to crack I think.
If you want depth then light is the answer. Add shadow and highlights from within the mask.
If you deconstruct you’ll see - if you hadn’t already worked it out - that it’s a large rotating (second) ring with a repeated image and a round mask (black with stars)… I think it was 8 or so Earth maps (that I clumsily curved and roughly joined into a circle)… plenty of room for improvement here (a better map image for a start)…
On a “rotating” globe many things could be done (in addition to your excellent suggestions)… the large ring could be off-set so that the globe appears tilted (as the Earth is)… weather could be added (linked to notifications)… how about moon phases… the sun shining on different sections of the globe at different times of the day… am/pm light/dark… oooh!
The burning question is… what other repeated image rings could be used to create a believable animation?
Thinking caps on!
And the other trick was to reduce the size. I was trying to use the full screen (being round and all), but I was never happy with the result. Reducing the size means the ring straitens out for a better effect. @Andrew_Davis maybe we could collaborate on this one.
I had lots of graphics from when I was fiddling with the same concept, so I improved the ring. Here’s my addition, just with the globe: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BysDzZ6Uvo9nUXJwQXdzLTdjZG8 and including NZ :-). I increased the size of the earth so its diameter is 200pixels. I find the maths easier when things are factors/multiples of 400.
I added shading around the edges, offset up and right slightly. I tilted the earth 23.5 deg (I think). It needs clouds now.
@Andrew_Somers I’m happy… and so are my friends in NZ…
To get a curve into my rectangular Earth maps I (by eye) used Filters>Distorts>Curve Bend… at my first attempt I got 7 or 8 new curved maps to just about fit… how did you do it?
Same technique I use for my panoramas, I use the Polar Coordinates under distorts. Most of the work is done flat and the ring is made right at the end. Get everything right while it’s flat, like smooth blending between the left and right edges of the pictures. I got a flat map then copied it horizontally 8 times. The pic I used was designed to be panelised which made it easy. The filter seems to halve the Y size, so scale the Y to 800 pixels (keeping the aspect ratio). It looked too stretched horizontally so I scaled just the X down to 1800 (Y still 800). Extend the Y to the same as the X, 1800x1800 (note: don’t scale, use canvas size) with the image butting up at the top 800 pixels. Set layer to image size. Apply the Polar Coordinates filter and you get a nice ring 1800x1800 with the ring on the outside 400pixels. There might be a bit of a join seam at the top, so smooth with the smudge tool.
It is a pleasure to see how teachers (andrews) sharing knowledge
@Andrew_Somers I used Polar Coordinates in the Wave watches… had to tweak the ends when joining…
Array weather could add something to the watch but it would be static… clouds could be added - two largish rings rotating in opposite directions might look like changing air currents…
If the Earth was off set it could make room (see how I didn’t use the word space) for a realistic moon - that worked it’s way through the phases…
It might also get over the problem of hands… as a digital display could be used…
I’m playing with the moon (or something else) circling the earth in the Z axis
Here’s some more tweaks: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BysDzZ6Uvo9neG1keHJSa0w5bzg
I added the Moon (could be something else) circling and going behind the Earth. I used the pendulum technique for this. The Moon size is 27% of Earth, so it’s to scale. The slight curve of the arc helps the effect. The Moon’s arc must me almost vertical, perpendicular to the Earth’s rotation so the masks don’t clash. I also added a moon shadow. It goes over the background star field, but it’s just dark enough to not really notice.
I added a subtle highlight to the Earth, trimmed the shading and opened up the mask at the top and bottom to allow for the back Moon.
The angle and direction settings now mean the CSM and D5 don’t render the same. I put the settings for the CSM as comments next to the relevant items.
The star field looks good dark blue, makes the globe stand out and the shadowing work better. It’s funny how we can get fixated on the night sky being black, but as the impressionists tell us, nothing is really black.
I’m not sure where we’ll put the time, but I kinda like it as it is, and, as @SmartWatch_Ticks says, “why do we have to have the time on our wrists all the time”.
I’m with you on the time… I plonked the orbiting hands into the first incarnation but it was barely satisfactory…
As you say… it doesn’t translate well to CSM so I’m going to have to take a slower and longer look… with a view to reaching enlightened, cosmic understanding…
In the meantime… twerk on!
Is the pendulum idea the right one?
On my pendulum clock the idea was (on the watch) to see the pendulum swing through a complete arc and repeat… or to give the impression that it was one pendulum…
With the moon, you’d expect it’s orbit (at it’s widest points) to continue beyond our field of view… so an immediate return (like the pendulum) would look odd… a delay would be better… and the moon would need to be smaller as we saw it pass behind the Earth…
I’ll send you the orbit idea I was working through… deconstruct it in CSM…
I’m still looking at your masking