Android Launch Image

[emily1]

Hi,

in my project I’m working in LETTERBOX mode and everything works fine, except I don’t know how to get a good looking launch image for android devices.
The launch image is automatically added in the android build using the one image provided for iPhone and ADDING ugly black bars up and down to fill the empty room.

Some versions ago, Corona didn’t add automatically a launch image for android devices, and this was good - I was able to create a launch image with a custom .lua scene, handling all the resolutions in the proper way.

So I’d like to ask you:

• is there a way to control the rendering/appearance of the launch image automatically added by Corona in apps built for android devices_
• or, in alternative, is there a way to disable the automatically added launch image?

Thank you for your help
E.

[import]uid: 47531 topic_id: 31998 reply_id: 331998[/import]

[brindleware]

Yeah, I handled this myself like you in some of my early android works.

The only way to resolve this so that looks ok is to make the launch images with background black - that way the ugly bars are hidden/blend in…

+1 on making this configurable. please and thank you! [import]uid: 9070 topic_id: 31998 reply_id: 127584[/import]

[emily1]

I hear you!
Trouble is the launch image is provided by my customer and… it’s hard to explain they cannot get the same styled launch image they have already in use in other apps (which is on a colorful branded image…). If it were for a personal project, I’d go with a black background for sure.
Sometimes it is a matter of look & feel consistency and as a developer it is hard - and not very satisfying - having to say “Sorry, I can’t”.

BTW can you remember which is the last build without the automatic launch image for android devices?

+1 I hope this will become configurable too.

[import]uid: 47531 topic_id: 31998 reply_id: 127586[/import]

[brindleware]

Cant tell you exactly when the labs version of splash screen showed up - but I think it was well before build 704.
I can check my files later today… [import]uid: 9070 topic_id: 31998 reply_id: 127600[/import]

[brindleware]

Yeah, I handled this myself like you in some of my early android works.

The only way to resolve this so that looks ok is to make the launch images with background black - that way the ugly bars are hidden/blend in…

+1 on making this configurable. please and thank you! [import]uid: 9070 topic_id: 31998 reply_id: 127584[/import]

[emily1]

I hear you!
Trouble is the launch image is provided by my customer and… it’s hard to explain they cannot get the same styled launch image they have already in use in other apps (which is on a colorful branded image…). If it were for a personal project, I’d go with a black background for sure.
Sometimes it is a matter of look & feel consistency and as a developer it is hard - and not very satisfying - having to say “Sorry, I can’t”.

BTW can you remember which is the last build without the automatic launch image for android devices?

+1 I hope this will become configurable too.

[import]uid: 47531 topic_id: 31998 reply_id: 127586[/import]

[brindleware]

Cant tell you exactly when the labs version of splash screen showed up - but I think it was well before build 704.
I can check my files later today… [import]uid: 9070 topic_id: 31998 reply_id: 127600[/import]

[crissia]

Did anyone ever answer this question?  If not … will they?  Please? I would like to know as well.  The sizes given in the documentation for the launch images work great on iOS, but look awful on many of the new Android phones because the different sizes cause ugly letter boxing, especially on tablet-phone hybrids like the Galaxy Note 2.

This is an old topic - can anyone tell me if anything has changed or been done about this since then?  Is there any way around this that anyone has found?  Are there any work arounds to just turn the launch images off, since Android doesn’t actually need the same splash screen process that iOS uses anyway?  

If not, then since the problem is that Corona is doing this automatically and forcing the images to be used, maybe they could turn it into a useful feature instead by creating some kind of special naming convention for the images that supports a wider range of phones - something like “Default-sw600.png”, etc. perhaps, to go along with the new size qualifier system that Android is using (http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html), while the default.png, default@2x.png and so forth could continue to map correctly for iOS devices?  Any chance of something like that happening in the future?  

Personally though, I’d just be happy with being able to turn the launch image off for Android in the config or build settings.  

Thank you for your time. 

[bjsorrentino]

Hi @crissia,

Since, as you say, launch images aren’t really “native” to Android, I think the best solution is to build your splash screen as a sort of intro/scene which then transitions to the main menu or whatever. I generally suggest this on iOS too, in fact… although many different orientations/sizes are supported, Apple doesn’t seem to promote these as an actual launch image (but rather like some kind of preview screen of what your app will look like).

I suppose you can “turn them off” in iOS by simply not including them in the project, but you can’t do that for the iPhone5 tall one which is required by Apple. As such, an option is to just provide all of them as solid black images, which will load but the user won’t see it. Then, start up your app with the proper scene, configured exactly as you wish, on both Android and iOS.

If you need a list of the sizes for all of these, they’re listed here under “Launch Images”:

http://docs.coronalabs.com/guide/distribution/buildSettings/index.html#launchimage

Hope this helps,

Brent

[crissia]

Hi Brent, 

Thank you for your answer and suggestions. 

I agree about the function of the launch screens, they’re not vital to anything, but it’s bad when the first glimpse of your app a user gets is something that doesn’t properly fit their screen, it’s not the kind of first impression you want to make. 

That’s a good solution for removing the image from both iOS and Android, thank you.  I just wish it didn’t have to be an all or nothing situation.  iOS users (and clients) tend to expect to see a splash screen on iPhones and iPads and showing them a solid black screen, especially if it takes a few seconds for the app to load, is again not the best first impression possible.  

I understand if it’s basically an either-or choice at this point, but I really hope and recommend that some thought be put into a more flexible way to handle this in future versions of Corona. It would make good software even better. :) 

[Beloudest]

Launch image is stupid. I was fine before, now I have more to mess about with it and need to take up more space for images. Its like the most simple thing a coder can do themselves. 

[crissia]

Did anyone ever answer this question?  If not … will they?  Please? I would like to know as well.  The sizes given in the documentation for the launch images work great on iOS, but look awful on many of the new Android phones because the different sizes cause ugly letter boxing, especially on tablet-phone hybrids like the Galaxy Note 2.

This is an old topic - can anyone tell me if anything has changed or been done about this since then?  Is there any way around this that anyone has found?  Are there any work arounds to just turn the launch images off, since Android doesn’t actually need the same splash screen process that iOS uses anyway?  

If not, then since the problem is that Corona is doing this automatically and forcing the images to be used, maybe they could turn it into a useful feature instead by creating some kind of special naming convention for the images that supports a wider range of phones - something like “Default-sw600.png”, etc. perhaps, to go along with the new size qualifier system that Android is using (http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html), while the default.png, default@2x.png and so forth could continue to map correctly for iOS devices?  Any chance of something like that happening in the future?  

Personally though, I’d just be happy with being able to turn the launch image off for Android in the config or build settings.  

Thank you for your time. 

[bjsorrentino]

Hi @crissia,

Since, as you say, launch images aren’t really “native” to Android, I think the best solution is to build your splash screen as a sort of intro/scene which then transitions to the main menu or whatever. I generally suggest this on iOS too, in fact… although many different orientations/sizes are supported, Apple doesn’t seem to promote these as an actual launch image (but rather like some kind of preview screen of what your app will look like).

I suppose you can “turn them off” in iOS by simply not including them in the project, but you can’t do that for the iPhone5 tall one which is required by Apple. As such, an option is to just provide all of them as solid black images, which will load but the user won’t see it. Then, start up your app with the proper scene, configured exactly as you wish, on both Android and iOS.

If you need a list of the sizes for all of these, they’re listed here under “Launch Images”:

http://docs.coronalabs.com/guide/distribution/buildSettings/index.html#launchimage

Hope this helps,

Brent

[crissia]

Hi Brent, 

Thank you for your answer and suggestions. 

I agree about the function of the launch screens, they’re not vital to anything, but it’s bad when the first glimpse of your app a user gets is something that doesn’t properly fit their screen, it’s not the kind of first impression you want to make. 

That’s a good solution for removing the image from both iOS and Android, thank you.  I just wish it didn’t have to be an all or nothing situation.  iOS users (and clients) tend to expect to see a splash screen on iPhones and iPads and showing them a solid black screen, especially if it takes a few seconds for the app to load, is again not the best first impression possible.  

I understand if it’s basically an either-or choice at this point, but I really hope and recommend that some thought be put into a more flexible way to handle this in future versions of Corona. It would make good software even better. :) 

[Beloudest]

Launch image is stupid. I was fine before, now I have more to mess about with it and need to take up more space for images. Its like the most simple thing a coder can do themselves.