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danielzeller/depth-lib-android-

★ 4,533JavaAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

TLDR

An Android Java library that adds 3D depth illusions, realistic shadows, particle effects, and wave animations to standard UI views to make flat screens feel more physical.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((depth-lib-android))
    What it does
      3D depth illusion
      Custom shadows
      Particle effects
      Wave animations
    Tech stack
      Java
      Android Canvas
      Facebook Rebound
    Visual effects
      Depth shadows
      Particle systems
      Grain texture
    Use cases
      UI enhancement
      Smooth animations
      Visual effects
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Add a 3D depth and shadow effect to Android buttons, images, and text views without replacing the standard widget system.

USE CASE 2

Apply particle systems or wave animations to Android UI elements using the library's built-in Canvas-based renderers.

USE CASE 3

Use the bundled tweening curves to make Android UI animations feel smooth and natural with physical bounce and easing.

Tech stack

JavaAndroidCanvas APIFacebook Rebound

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

The README has no installation instructions and the code is a rough prototype, expect to read the source to understand how to integrate it.

In plain English

Depth-LIB-Android is an Android library that adds a depth or thickness illusion to UI views. In Android development, a view is a building block of the screen, such as a button, image, or block of text. This library applies visual depth effects to those elements, making them appear to have physical thickness rather than being flat surfaces. The project grew out of dissatisfaction with Android's default shadow system, which the author found misbehaving when views are rotated. The library includes a custom shadow solution, along with additional visual techniques such as particle systems, wave effects, and a grain texture, all drawn using Android's Canvas drawing API. It also bundles tweening functions for animations, which are mathematical curves used to make motion feel smooth and natural. Some animation effects rely on the Facebook Rebound library under the hood. The author notes openly that the library was written as a quick prototype: the visuals look good, but the code is acknowledged to be rougher than it would be in a more polished project. The README is brief and does not include setup or installation instructions. A demo video is linked from the README. The same developer also made two companion libraries: Metaballs LIB for fluid blob-merging effects, and Blur LIB for blur transitions, both of which are linked from this README. The project is written in Java. The author can be contacted via Twitter or their personal website.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I add Depth-LIB-Android as a dependency to my Android project and apply a depth shadow effect to a Button view?
Prompt 2
Show me how to use the wave effect from Depth-LIB-Android on an ImageView and control the animation speed and amplitude.
Prompt 3
How do I use the tweening functions in Depth-LIB-Android to create a bounce animation on a card view when it is tapped?
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