[Android Apps and Games] billygalbreath:
!!! NOW FREE IN THE MARKET !!!​

This is a LiveWallpaper app based on the Nexus LiveWallpaper from Google, but with full controls over everything you can imagine giving you full control over this wallpaper without the need of a themer or developer to modify it for you.

This is an FAQ/Instruction type post which outlines the capabilities and controls of Pl3x Wallpaper 4.x

Why would I stop charging for this app and give it out for free? I've learned that people love free things, and are more apt to try my works if I offer them for free. Later down the road, when I publish more apps I might throw a paid app back out there. ;)

Now on to the good stuff! How to work this thing!

The Wallpaper Items:

There are 3 main parts to this wallpaper, the images. We'll cover those first, as the rest of the controls dont mean squat unless you pick these images wisely.

The Background Image

This one is quite obvious. Its the actual wallpaper of this application, and is automatically resized to 854x960 for you (will upscale/downscale from there for different devices automatically), so you can feel free to use images from your Camera's save folder. If you use an image that is not in this 854x960 aspect ratio (8:9) it will automatically be stretched and skewed to fit. (better ratio/size controls will be introduced in v5)

The Sprite Image

The Sprite is the "square dot" on the Nexus LWP, or the Circle 3 in the above left screenshot. It is a small image, at only 64x64. You can use larger images if you want, they will be automatically resized to 64x64 for you. Just be careful of stretching/skewing!

This image is very special, as its not used straight up as you might expect. Google uses their private API named RenderScript to modify this image heavily, giving it a "glow" effect of a light. In that regard, it acts just like an actual light. White would be the brightest of all colors, while black is technically no light at all so it doesnt show up at all (black is transparent). Darker colors are effected by this too, as they appear to be more "See through" or "opague" than brighter colors because of this rendering effect. I have tried many times and many different ways to disable this effect so we can use black as a Sprite color, but sadly I keep failing. As I progress in this project, I continue to dissect Google's RenderScript API (which is not documented at all) looking for a way to allow dark/black colors.

The Trail Image

This image is the long trailing color behind the sprite that slowly appears to fade out to nothing. This is also a fairly small image, but it is NOT in the size you would expect. It is 128x128 and a simple gradient FG->Transparent. I usually dont change this image, and dont recommend changing it either, but I hate limiting people on their controls, so I have included it in this app.

The coloring of the trail is the same color as its sprite it is attached too, and also goes under the same RenderScript effects as the sprite.

The length (or size) of the trail can be adjusted, shorter or longer. The width can also be adjusted smaller or wider. However, its not as simple as it sounds. The two are somehow tied very closely together, and I havent looked into the equation to figure it out yet. Play with the settings until you find what suits you best.

The Controls:

Selecting an Image

Selecting an image is really simple. Just click on Background/Sprite/Trail at the top of the main screen to open the Image Selector screen.

Here you will see a list of folders to visually navigate through. Clicking on folders will open them, pressing the back button or "[parent folder]" will go back a folder. Pressing back on the root (/) directory will close the Image Selector screen and return you to the main screen.

If a folder contains any images, they will be presented to you at the bottom of your screen in a Gallery View. Scroll/Flick through this Gallery to select your image. The Gallery populates itself and caches thumbnails to your SDCard. You can clear the cache at any time, instructions for that are down towards the bottom of this post.

The Image Confirmation screen will show you a small, resized (if larger than screen) preview of the image you just clicked on. Click the Set button to set this and go back to the main screen. Click Cancel to go back to the Image Selector screen to pick another image file.

The Color Controls

There are 4 colors that can be adjusted to anything you want. Have them all the same, or all different. Its up to you. All 16.7 million colors are available to you.

There is a row of 4 large, colored dots. Click on one to bring up a color wheel. Drag your finger around the wheel until the center dot displays the color that you want. Or you can type in the Hex # if you want. Click that center dot to set that color. Do the same for all 4 colors.

Number of Sprites

This allows you to set how many free floating Sprites there are on the screen.

Max Number of Sprites on Tap

When you Tap on the screen (not in preview mode) 4 Sprites shoot out in all directions from where your finger is. You can have so many Extra Sprites on the screen at any given time. The default is 20, so after 5 quick taps it stops drawing extra Sprites until the previous ones disappear offscreen. Raise this to raise that limit.

Speed

This is the set speed of how fast the Sprites are moving across the screen.

Speed Variance

Notice not all Sprites move at the same speed, some slower, some faster. This setting controls that. It is a Variance control, meaning it goes both high and low of the set speed. If speed is 5, and variance is 2, then your sprites will randomly be set at speeds between 3 and 7.

Max Redraw Offscreen Delay

This is how long the Sprites stay "alive" while offscreen before they are redrawn.

Trail Length

This is the trail's length control.

Trail Width

This is the trail's width control.

Allow Tap

You can allow the Tap that was mentioned previously or not. Jus tuncheck this and taps ont he screen will no longer draw extra Sprites.

Menu Button Controls

The following settings are found by pressing your device's Menu button.

Color Schemes

I have included the standard color schemes that can be found in CM's Nexus LWP mod, plus a few more (more will be added with each version). These are a named set of 4 colors, predefined in the app. Select one from the list, and the colors will automatically be set on the main screen. You can then decide to use these colors, or modify them with the above mentioned Color Controls.

Load Defaults

This will simply unset any custom images you have set, and restore all slider/checkbox values to their default preset values.

Clear Cache

This clears the Gallery View images from the cache located on the SDCard

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If you have any issues at all with this wallpaper app, please report the bug to me in PM, and as a temporary fix try clearing the Pl3x Wallpaper data.

*Currently this app is ONLY for Froyo HDPI devices. IF you cant find it in the Market, then your device is most likely not supported.