Android – creating Android assets (LPDI,MDPI,HDPI,XHDPI) for an app

androidandroid-layoutuser interface

I Need to create a Designs for a Andriod Application.

I can see everyone are speaking about this "ldpi,mdpi,hdpi & xhdpi….etc.," My biggest doubt is in WHAT RESOLUTIONS, I should create the designs in Photoshop?? As there are lots of screen sizes available now. WHAT DEFAULT SCREEN SIZES I SHOULD DESIGN WITH FOR EACH "ldpi,mdpi,hdpi & xhdpi ?" Like for Xhdpi – What Screen resolution Should I do ?

a. 720x1280 - 320 dpi
b. 2048x1536 - 320 dpi
c. 2560x1536 - 320 dpi
d. 2560x1600 - 320 dpi

Again the same resolutions for ldpi,mdpi and hdpi ? What Screen Resolutions for the respective DPI's
Which Screen Resolutions for

a. 120 dpi ?
b. 160 dpi ?
c. 240 dpi ?

PLEASE CLARIFY ME GUYS.
THANKS A TON IN ADVANCE

Best Answer

See this calculator.

ldpi is 120 dpi
mdpi is 160 dpi
hdpi is 240 dpi
xhdpi is 320 dpi
xxhdpi is 480 dpi 
xxxhdpi is 640 dpi

(Thanks to Tobor for adding those last two and correcting my typo, I accidentally overwrote his edit)

Also, I don't know why Maneti's initial advice was downvoted. When in doubt, use this tool (or the one in your android sdk) to generate your icons, then import those icons you generated into Photoshop. That's actually the most pragmatic and easiest solution (that doesn't require any thinking on your part and yet that solution works all the time for densities).

As to the size of an image (as defined by the Android guidelines/terminology), only worry about the size of that image if it's a image that could potentially take the entire width, or the entire height, of the screen (like a large background image for instance).

So in most cases, most developers end up not needing the size qualifier for their drawables (because it won't make a difference unless it's a large background image).

Related Solutions

Android – Drawable-hdpi, Drawable-mdpi, Drawable-ldpi Android

To declare different layouts and bitmaps you'd like to use for the different screens, you must place these alternative resources in separate directories/folders.

This means that if you generate a 200x200 image for xhdpi devices, you should generate the same resource in 150x150 for hdpi, 100x100 for mdpi, and 75x75 for ldpi devices.

Then, place the files in the appropriate drawable resource directory:

MyProject/
    res/
        drawable-xhdpi/
            awesomeimage.png
        drawable-hdpi/
            awesomeimage.png
        drawable-mdpi/
            awesomeimage.png
        drawable-ldpi/
            awesomeimage.png

Any time you reference @drawable/awesomeimage, the system selects the appropriate bitmap based on the screen's density.

Android – How mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi folder works

You can create different graphic objects for use at different pixel densities. Android treats mdpi (160 pixels/inch) as the base density. So for mdpi devices, 1 dp = 1 pixel. At higher densities, there are more pixels per inch (240 for hdpi, 320 for xhdpi). Android attempts to make graphic images occupy the same physical dimensions on the screen regardless of the device pixel density. So if all it finds is an mdpi resource, and the device is hdpi, it will scale the graphic by 240/160 = 150%, and it will double the size of the graphic for xhdpi.

If you don't want this automatic scaling (which can make graphics look poor), you can simply supply your own version of graphic resources for use at higher densities. These graphics should be of the same size that Android would scale an mdpi resource.

Note that the pixels/inch that was stored in the image file has nothing to do with this. It's all based on where you put the graphics files in the resources directory for your project. Any graphics placed in res/drawable are assumed to be properly sized for mdpi displays, as are graphics placed in res/drawable-mdpi. Image files that it finds in res/drawable-hdpi are assumed to be properly sized for hdpi displays, etc. When your program runs on a particular device, Android will first look for a graphic that matches the display density of that device. If it does not find one but instead finds one for a different density, it will use that and automatically scale the image based on the above rules.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Android – Drawable-hdpi, Drawable-mdpi, Drawable-ldpi Android

Android – How mdpi, hdpi, xhdpi folder works

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