Apple Watch Series 4 new watch faces shot with practical effects, not CGI

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited September 2018
A new interview and behind-the-scenes footage reveals that the animated watchfaces on the Series 4 Watch -- Fire, Water, Liquid Metal, and Vapor -- were actually shot using live video, despite looking like digital effects.

Series 4 behind the scenes


"It's more of a story about the design team. We could have done this digitally, but we shot this all in a studio," Apple's VP of User Interface Design, Alan Dye, told Cool Hunting. "It's so indicative of how the design team works -- bringing our best and varied talents together to create these faces."

The behind-the-scenes clip shows that Apple's video crew used a vertical camera setup paired with a physical frame meant to simulate the dimensions of the Watch while also constraining the fire, water, and other materials shot towards the lens.





The Series 4 uses a larger OLED display than its predecessors, with thinner bezels. The new watchfaces are meant to highlight this, as effects rush toward the edges of the screen. The same faces are also available on other devices running watchOS 5, though they don't fill the entirety of the screen. Check out AppleInsider's hand's on with all the new watch faces.

Preorders of the product are still underway ahead of Friday's official launch. The first reviews are already beginning to appear online.



gilly017patchythepirate

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    Stunning 
    wlymwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 12
    Apple continues to amaze me!
    wlymrandominternetpersongilly017claire1watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 12
    Gecko1986Gecko1986 Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    Rest of the world: Look at these images, they are looking so real, you can hardly tell its CGI! Apple: Look at these images, they might not look real, but actually they are! Since when is the latter a "good" thing?
    edited September 2018 claire1
  • Reply 4 of 12
    This was noted by Alex Lindsay (from Pixel Corps) on day one. He could immediately tell the faces were practical effects.
    edited September 2018 patchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 12
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Gecko1986 said:
    Rest of the world: Look at these images, they are looking so real, you can hardly tell its CGI! Apple: Look at these images, they might not look real, but actually they are! Since when is the latter a "good" thing?
    Huh?!
    wlymrandominternetpersonclaire1patchythepirate
  • Reply 6 of 12
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Gecko1986 said:
    Rest of the world: Look at these images, they are looking so real, you can hardly tell its CGI! Apple: Look at these images, they might not look real, but actually they are! Since when is the latter a "good" thing?
    1st post on this forum, wow. I sense quite a bit of trolling in your future. 

    No, creating something that looks cool and isn't CGI has ALWAYS been more impressive. It's just that it's almost always much more complicated and expensive, as this certainly was. It's also more honest. One of the things Iove about Apple is they tend to go above and beyond in terms of effort and execution of what may seem like insignificant and benign aspects. 
    claire1watto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 7 of 12
    claire1claire1 Posts: 510unconfirmed, member
    The most honest company in the world continues to impress.

    Gecko1986 said:
    Rest of the world: Look at these images, they are looking so real, you can hardly tell its CGI! Apple: Look at these images, they might not look real, but actually they are! Since when is the latter a "good" thing?

    1-post moron, if you knew anything about art, realistic effects are much much much better than simulations.
    Musicians, artists, movie directors, we all know this. 
    watto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 8 of 12
    I really hope they make a vintage Apple Watch face, everything is super modern looking and would be cool to have a vintage old
    school watch face. 
  • Reply 9 of 12
    Things like this are the exact reason I  LOVE  Apple.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 12
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    mike1 said:
    Gecko1986 said:
    Rest of the world: Look at these images, they are looking so real, you can hardly tell its CGI! Apple: Look at these images, they might not look real, but actually they are! Since when is the latter a "good" thing?
    Huh?!
    Amazing that someone would sign up just to say that.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 12

    This doesn't surprise me. Even the Jellyfish watch face introduced with the first Apple Watch was actually shot and not rendered via CGI.

    I think they're doing a phenomenal job!

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 12
    Gecko1986Gecko1986 Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    "1-post moron, if you knew anything about art, realistic effects are much much much better than simulations. Musicians, artists, movie directors, we all know this. " | 2 post moron here: Did I ever state that I think otherwise? I actually agree with that statement. And hey, we were all 1-post people one day... Maybe not calling people morons when you think they don't agree with you...
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