In the previous article we used 2D graphics via the Android Canvas to draw a custom UI widget. The Canvas approach is very useful when you need to draw relatively static graphics or when there is not too much complex animation. That is the typical case for UI widgets.
In this article we will develop a live wallpaper that displays a fire simulation that you might remember from the good old days of demo scene and DOS. Since we need very fast graphics, we will use OpenGL as the rendering engine. Although OpenGL is typically used for 3D graphics, it can also be used for hardware-accelerated 2D graphics, such as in this case.
Here’s our plan:
- Understand and implement the fire effect
- Enable OpenGL to render the fire on the screen
- Convert our simulation into a live wallpaper
The source code is available at the bottom of the article (but read on to learn some of its limitations).
Note: The part related to live wallpapers will only work on Android 2.1 or higher.
