I’m new to the watch face creation, but i’ve got 25+ years graphic design experience.
i’m having trouble finding a ‘starter’ pack so I can see a default example of basic elements, and a cheat sheet for expressions.
Right now I just want to make basic items. i’ve uploaded a really basic bg which isn’t a problem but i don’t know how to change/add fonts, etc.
Can someone point me to a starting point? I’d appreciate it.
Thank you!
Hello @johnt1 and welcome to facer!
Here is a link to the Facer Official Documents that are a great starting point. Here is where I learned most of the basic knowledge needed to operate the creator.
Here is a link to the official tutorials.
There are also a great deal of resources here in the community. If you use the search feature you can often find mini tutorials and just about anything you would need to know. If you still cant find the answer to the question you are looking for then feel free to ask specific questions and someone will answer and usually pretty quickly. This community is great, extremely friendly and helpful.
Also, don’t forget when you publish something to come back here and show it off. We love seeing everyone’s work and give good feedback to help improve your skills.
Best of luck and happy facing,
~Orakix
Fantastic! This is exactly what I’m looking for!
Thank you, and I will!
My pleasure. I look forward to your first creation.
A lot of it has to do with the elements you’re trying to add. I find myself just doing a trial and error and just kind of rough it in or drag what I need to the general area, then using the advanced options (little rocket ship looking icon in the bottom right corner when you have something selected) to fully dial in the final location of it.
The Cartesian Coordinate system is pretty flawed and X: 0 , Y: 0 is actually off the screen for the square faces.
The font size varies based on the font you’re using, so you may need to re-scale things if you change that. It is possible to import additional fonts if the list does not have what you’re looking for. The available list is very nice, but some of the faces that I’ve created needed something different.
If you are importing images, the size of them on the screen is dependent on the size of the original file. Again, it can be a bit of trial and error to find the proper size and XY location to make it fit what you’re trying to do. It’s best to have whatever image fairly large and shrink it down to fit the space instead of the other way around which can lead to poor picture quality.
It helps to just play with it and be patient, before too long you’ll be an advanced user and able to make fairly simple to moderately advanced faces. I have a library of faces that are only for me and most of them are just basic text/numbers so I can’t offer any advice on animated/moving elements.
You can upload faces to your watch from your drafts to see how it looks and never actually publish them to the community. Like I said, I have a library of faces that you’d only see if you met me in person or I showed you my drafts.
The Dimmed setting seems to use more battery than the stock faces do, so be careful of that as well.
Good luck.
Sorry I meant to respond to this.
I really appreciate your detailed reply here.
Not sure I follow your last sentence though. Are you saying the dimmed setting for a custom theme uses more battery than a normal lit screen? or that the dimmed mode in a custom theme and a default screen comparatively?
Sorry I’m a bit slow
Hi, @johnt1
I will try to answer your question.
As you know, the watch faces dim a few seconds after being awaked with a tap on the display.
In facer creator you can/should create a dim mode display. This could be the same as the main display but it would be better to darken it down/simplify it.
The brighter it is the more battery will be consumpted.
It´s you decision if and how much do you want to reduce the watch face in dim mode.
What @mhart13851 meant about the dimmed mode was a different thing. It is known that facer is generally consumpting a little bit more energy compared to stock faces, even in dimmed mode and you can help by create darker and less detailed dimmed versions.
Greetings, GAUSS
I apologize for the delayed response and for the confusion with what I had said.
Thank you, @GAUSS, for clarifying.
When you’re making a face, you will see at the top of the elements list an “Active” and “Dim” tab that you can change between. This is where you’ll control what shows up in the Dimmed setting.
Hi mhartt13851. I figured a lot of this out by poking around.
I also managed to get a slight handle on moving items using X and Y positioning and expressions.
What I’m not finding is how people are importing these special fonts. I know it sounds silly, it’s probably too rudimentary to see in the tutorials but I can’t get it.
Do you know of documentation on just that item?
EDIT:
UGH. once again the moment I post the question I figure out the answer. I see where to upload them.
Sorry again
Haha no worries, just glad you know how now.
Well now I do have a question.
I’ve uploaded two fonts. it accepts them, and shows their face in the ‘font’ selector drop down. But when I choose one, it doesn’t display.
are there some rules as to how the fonts display? do they have to be fixed width fonts?
I’m sure I’m missing something
Hello johnt1,
Are you using .ttf or .otf?
I use .ttf fonts in my designs all the time and have not had a problem.
Create your element first and following that select your font for each element. In my experience, it has to be done one-by-one, or each new element will show as the default until you edit/change it. In other words, if you tell the app that you want to use a special font, it won’t automatically show each element in that font (as if you were writing a Word doc.)
I would look into what @Linlay said and go from there. Sometimes certain fonts don’t have numbers or special characters included and that can pose a problem as well. I’d imagine that’s not your problem though.
I just made a face draft so I could record the steps:
Let me know if you have any questions. I thought I’d pay it forward because a couple of years ago I, too, asked, “How do I upload a custom font?” I had been looking for the upload at the top of the list (where upload was for a background at that time)- never thought to look down at the bottom. You’re not alone in the confusion there.
BTW: sometimes .otf-Fonts work when you change the extension in .ttf. 
They were both TTF and had numbers. i’m familiar with that part using them in Illustrator and PS.
I only tried two. I’m sure it was an anomoly. I’ll let you know if I see another
Thanks for this. good idea to document it. When i first started it took me forever to figure out where to upload.
I have that figured out now, and I have a font uploaded to use.
Now I’m having a strange problem.
I’ve uploaded a png file that’s a battery outline. the movement snaps and when it does it either runs the text to the top or bottom. i can’t center it. i could tweak the png and offset it, or turn the grid off but both are really just not good practices
is there a way to increase my grid points so i can use it?
You can’t change the grid. Try to hold down the Shift-Button while pressing the arrow buttons. This will give you a finer movement.
You can also open the advanced settings menu (rocket ship) and adjust the x and y coordinates to make sure it’s perfectly placed. I personally never never click and drag anything.
thank you