CameraView Android Library

CameraView requires android.permission.CAMERA for pictures and videos. While the library manifest declares the camera permission, you must manually declare android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO in your AndroidManifest.xml if you intend to record videos with Audio.ON (the default setting).

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO"/>

If you want to use the latest changes before an official release, you can pull snapshots or specific commit hashes via JitPack in your build.gradle file.

implementation 'com.github.natario1:CameraView:main-SNAPSHOT'
implementation 'com.github.natario1:CameraView:<commit hash>'

To use the CameraView engine, add the CameraView component to your XML layout. It is designed to be hosted inside a UI component like a Fragment or Activity.

<com.otaliastudios.cameraview.CameraView
    android:id="@+id/camera"
    android:keepScreenOn="true"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

The camera component is bound to the host lifecycle. You should register the lifecycle owner as soon as possible to ensure proper management of camera resources.

// For activities
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    CameraView camera = findViewById(R.id.camera);
    camera.setLifecycleOwner(this);
}

// For fragments
@Override
public void onViewCreated(View view, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState);
    CameraView camera = findViewById(R.id.camera);
    camera.setLifecycleOwner(getViewLifecycleOwner());
}

For slow processing tasks, you can increase the number of background threads allocated for frame processing using setFrameProcessingExecutors(int).

Important: When increasing executors, you should also tune the setFrameProcessingPoolSize(int). The pool size represents the number of Frame instances that can exist simultaneously. A recommended pattern is to set the pool size to executors + 1.

Example for two threads:

cameraView.setFrameProcessingExecutors(2);
cameraView.setFrameProcessingPoolSize(3);

// Single threaded (default)
cameraView.setFrameProcessingExecutors(1);
cameraView.setFrameProcessingPoolSize(2);

// Two threads
cameraView.setFrameProcessingExecutors(2);
cameraView.setFrameProcessingPoolSize(3);

You can control how CameraView fills its container and handles aspect ratios using standard Android layout_width and layout_height attributes. The view is designed to never distort the preview; it will only crop if necessary.

You can dynamically add, remove, or modify overlays using standard View methods and OverlayLayout.LayoutParams.

• To add an overlay: Use addView(View, OverlayLayout.LayoutParams).
• To remove an overlay: Use removeView(View).
• To modify drawing flags: Cast the view's layout parameters to OverlayLayout.LayoutParams, update the boolean flags, and call setLayoutParams().

// Add an overlay
OverlayLayout.LayoutParams params = new OverlayLayout.LayoutParams();
cameraView.addView(overlay, params);

// Remove an overlay
cameraView.removeView(overlay);

// Modify drawing flags at runtime
View overlay = findViewById(R.id.watermark);
OverlayLayout.LayoutParams params = (OverlayLayout.LayoutParams) overlay.getLayoutParams();
params.drawOnPreview = true;
params.drawOnPictureSnapshot = true;
params.drawOnVideoSnapshot = true;
overlay.setLayoutParams(params);

For Android Marshmallow (API 23) and above, permissions must be granted at runtime. You have two options:

1. Manual Handling: Manage permissions yourself and call open() or setLifecycleOwner() only after permissions are acquired.
2. Automatic Handling: Let CameraView request permissions automatically. The library will present a request based on the current configuration.

Note: Automatic requests are performed at the Activity level. Therefore, the onRequestPermissionResults() callback will be invoked on the parent Activity, not the Fragment.

If you are not using support libraries and cannot resolve the LifecycleOwner interface, you must manually manage the camera lifecycle by overriding the host's lifecycle methods and calling open(), close(), and destroy().

@Override
protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();
    cameraView.open();
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
    super.onPause();
    cameraView.close();
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    cameraView.destroy();
}

To capture pictures while a video is currently being recorded, you must meet both of the following conditions:

1. Use the takePictureSnapshot() API (this will not be a high-quality picture).
2. Use a GL_SURFACE preview.