NVIDIA’s Camera App for Android Smartphones

Redefining user experience in mobile digital imaging

NVIDIA is a leading provider of GPUs (graphics processing units) for many platforms and processors. The company needed an Android app for mobile and video shooting.

Case Highlights

Leverages the power of the Tegra 4 processor
Features always-on HDR photos and videos
Supports persistent tap-to-track technology
Enables custom setting of autofocus and autoexposure

Problem

The client required a special app that would realize low-level communication between the processor, the device, and high-level interaction with the end-user.

To deliver the solution, we faced significant technical constraints:

Working with disparate APIs (some of them were under development)
Absence of real devices to test-drive the app (the team had to work with special development boards which simulated device behavior)
iOS-like app behavior running on Android (as requested by the customer)
Overall app sophistication given the number of complex technical and functional capabilities that needed to be implemented

The team also faced a tight development deadline of 6 months.

Solution

NVIDIA-Camera-App-for-Android-Smartphones

Functional Features

We equipped the application with the Tegra 4 processor and enabled innovative distinctive features:

Always-on high-dynamic range (HDR) photos and videos—imaging and photography with a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image compared to standard digital imaging.
Persistent tap-to-track technology—allows the user to touch the image of a person or object to focus on within a scene. The camera then locks in on that subject whether it moves or the camera is repositioned to a better angle, while maintaining proper focus. It also adjusts the camera exposure depending on any movement, helping avoid under or over-exposure of the image's subject or background.
Individual functions for setting autofocus and autoexposure

Photo Camera Modes

Base mode
"Big button" mode (a user taps any place on the screen to take a picture)
Burst mode (slow, negative shutter lag burst, hi-speed hi-res)
Interval mode
Timer mode

Video Camera Modes

Standard video modeVideo with buffer—once the mode is on, the camera starts immediately recording the scene. Once the user stops recording, the app performs automatic cut of the recording with a 5 sec buffer added to the main video.

Photo Editing and Sharing

Framing, cropping, transforming, and texturizing
Selective edit—after applying a filter the user can gradually remove it by swiping a finger or using a stylus with the original picture showing through
Social media sharing (built-in Twitter, Facebook, SinaWeibo and SmugMug functions) along with a standard Android-driven sharing function

Automation Features

Automatic focus
Automatic lightning
Automatic exposure—tapping anywhere on a person or object on the screen selectsa point (which can be repositioned or locked) serving as the exposition target
White balance, ISO, exposure (available depending on the device camera hardware)
Horizon guides
Composition guides

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Result

A Highly-interactive Camera App

Softeq implemented a highly-interactive camera application from scratch with the power of the Tegra 4 processor. We equipped the solution for mobile image-taking with advanced features, such as always-on HDR photos and videos, custom autofocus and autoexposure settings, numerous modes to capture, edit, and share photos and videos.