androidfirebaseandroid-canvasandroid-paint

Android screen collaboration between devices


I wanna develop a pictionary style app. I've figured out the drawing part (using canvas, paint and related libraries) on the device, and now I need to update the drawings in real time on all devices that are connected.

The approach I have in mind is to take screenshots at very close intervals and upload them to the server (Firebase). The app will constantly check for server side updates. I know this is a horrible way to keep things in relative synchronization, is there any other way I can do this? Maybe like a video stream or something.


Solution

  • If you are drawing using paths, then you could send a list of paths to the other devices and redraw them there.

    I do not think there is a fast way to convert a series of bitmaps into a video(by bitmaps I mean images that are generated using the Android canvas).

    If you do your drawing using OpenGL, then you could convert the output of an OpenGL surface into a video using a video encoder