[TOMAJA Tutorial] Animated Battery Power Level Icon Indicator - Simple Basic Linear and Rotating Effects with Objects and Hand Dials

Here are the three basic possibilities we speak about in this tutorial.

This tutorial should show you in a simple way, at one place, how to elevate your watch faces with some basic expressions*.

Super Simple Percentage Number

This is maybe something you are already using at your watch faces. Tag #BLP# shows your watch battery level as a text.

Color Changing

Changing of the colors according to the power percentage could be done with a duplication of element. I use usually 3 elements in three colors. Visibility of different colored elements could be changed at the transparency. Here an example for

Green

$#BLN#>40?100:0$

Yellow

$#BLN#>=20&&#BLN#<=40?100:0$

Red

$#BLN#<20?100:0$

In those expressions a tag #BLN# is using instead of #BLP# because we need a “pure” number to be able to compare it with another value. This color change could be apply for any battery level indicator in this tutorial (number, hand, or object)

Linear Battery Indicator

For this effect I use the standard “Rectangle” you could find in Facer.io Creator as Shape or I create an image especially for this purposes. In the case of an own picture, please be sure that your “indicator” covers the full area of picture, like this:

Red line shows only the end of the image. The second important thing is to set correct align according to the “growing” object in the right way:

So, the last thing we need is to make the “Height” of the object dynamic & appropriate to the battery level. If the “full battery level” means for example the number “48”, the final expression would be:

Height:

(#BLN#*0.48)

And it’s done :wink:

For changing the colors please use the same process as at the “Super Simple Percentage Number” part.

Hand Indicator

For those purposes I recommend to use of your own hands saved as PNG image (or another one with transparent background). Very important is the position of the hand according to the image. In the standard settings the pictures and objects rotate around the image centre. So, if you wish to have a nice and smooth movements, please check that the image centre is also the centre of your hand, like this:

Red line again shows only the end of the image. White background should be 100% transparent.

After you find the correct position of your hand according to the dial, e.g.:

the last thing is to set a dynamic rotation. If you are not sure what angle is your starting and the end position, please just rotate your hand into the limit positions like:

and

Now we have the range we are moving in. In this case 300 degree (of 360 degree for a full circle), starting (Tag #BLN# = 0) at -150 degree. The battery level is divided into 100 parts. It means that 1% change of battery level are 3 degrees change at the rotation. So the final expression will be:

Rotation:

(-150+(#BLN#*3))

Done!

I hope, it could helps you and I would be happy, if you leave me a comment how well does it work at your watch face.


Here is an “inspection mode open” watch face, where you could see how does it work for linear battery and hand dials temperature:

*There are also another great tutorials and/ or explanations in the facer.io community done by e.g. @Bertso and @jimmycheung like battery indicator or hand rotation. If you know about further tutorials I will be happy to link it too.

25 Likes

@Tomas: Another brilliant Tutorial, so useful and simple to understand :thumbsup:

1 Like

Thank you for your comment and as well for the IDEA :wink:

@tomas, credit is all yours

So I have been trying to figure out why the battery bar is not working on my watch. A friend of mine uses that style for her watches but when I sync her faces to my watch, Samsung gear live, they don’t work. They work for her Samsung gear s2 however. I just made a face with just a rectangle shape and added your code, #BLN#*0.48 in the height. When I press play on the time machine in the creator it works but once the face is saved and sent to my watch it’s just a line about 1 or 2 pixels thin regardless of the battery level. Could this just be my particular watch that has issues with it?

…just a question, did you used also the bracket “()” ? like

(#BLN#*0.48)

instead of

#BLN#*0.48

…and could you please post here this particular watch face (link)? I will check it on my LG…

You were right, it was because I didn’t use the ( ). That was a pretty stupid mistake on my part but thank you for helping me figure that out. I appreciate the tutorial and taking the time to help me through it.

Well done

Great, that it’s working now! :wink:

Thank you for your inspiration :wink:

Thanks for these tutorials Tomas :wink:

I am happy if I could help somebody making great watchfaces…

Hello @ShaneAshleyA ! I just wanted to write you and see that you (hopefully) solved the issue already alone :wink:

This is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge

1 Like

I really wish i could understand this having tried all the steps im no closer to having a working battery indicator

@Tomas love this,very informative

Can you share your face that you’re working on and maybe we can help you better.

ive shared it on facer but i just want a battery symbol or dial that moves as the battery drains , having tried every step outlined above im still no closer to achieving it

Hi, I have maybe stupid question. But how do I tell the Facer Creator I want to create circle power indicator? I can only choose digits in the Information Elements. Or do I upload my own hand and give it (somehow) the function of battery indicator?
And also, where do I set the rotation and its borders?
Or do I simply need to be PRO member to have these functions enabled? :slight_smile:
Once again, I’m very sorry, if I placed wrong question, but I’m total newbie in here and this is the best topic I found :slight_smile:
Thanks for your help!

There’s no stupid questions :slight_smile:

For a circle power indicator, currently you have to create one, it’s not a built in function.

You don’t need to be a pro member to enable anything.

Here’s a good tutorial on how to do it:


Visualizing the method:

EDIT:
Or do you mean you want a large sphere to shrink over time to indicate how much battery power is left?

4 Likes