Android Image Editor SDK

CE.SDK edits images on the device, so user content stays in your app while the editor provides real-time previews and export-ready output. You can start with the Photo Editor Starter Kit, customize the CE.SDK editor UI for your product, or drive the same image operations programmatically with CreativeEngine.

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Core Capabilities#

CE.SDK combines interactive image editing tools with the same engine APIs that power automated workflows. Typical Android image editing features include:

• Transformations: Crop, rotate, resize, scale, move, and flip image content.
• Adjustments and effects: Apply filters, blur, brightness, contrast, color, and style effects.
• Background removal: Add plugin-powered background removal to isolate subjects for compositing.
• Layers and compositing: Combine images with text, shapes, graphics, overlays, and masks.
• Programmatic editing: Create, update, and export scenes through CreativeEngine when edits should run without direct user input.

Supported Input Formats#

Android integrations can import common image formats from app storage, remote URLs, asset sources, or user-selected content.

Category	Supported Formats
Images	.png, .jpeg, .jpg, .gif, .webp, .svg, .bmp

For color-sensitive workflows, treat the file format and the color model as separate concerns. CE.SDK supports design colors across screen and print workflows, including sRGB, Display P3, CMYK, and spot colors. Imported raster image profile handling depends on the source asset and Android’s media decoding path, so test profile-sensitive images on your target devices. See Colors for color-space behavior in CE.SDK.

Constraint	Recommendation / Limit
Input Resolution	Maximum input resolution is 4096×4096 pixels. Images from external sources (e.g., Unsplash) are resized to this size before rendering on the canvas. You can modify this value using the maxImageSize setting.
Output Resolution	There is no enforced output resolution limit. Theoretically, the editor supports output sizes up to 16,384×16,384 pixels. However, practical limits depend on the device’s GPU capabilities and available memory.

All image processing in CE.SDK is handled client-side, so these values depend on the maximum texture size supported by the user’s hardware. The default limit of 4096×4096 is a safe baseline that works universally. Higher resolutions (e.g., 8192×8192) may work on certain devices but could fail on others during export if the GPU texture size is exceeded.

Output and Export Options#

Export edited scenes using the public Android MimeType values exposed by CE.SDK.

Category	Supported Formats
Images	.png (with transparency), .jpeg, .tga
Vector	.svg (scalable vector graphics with text paths)
Print	.pdf (supports underlayer printing and spot colors)
Video	.mp4 (for video scenes)
Binary data	application/octet-stream for binary export data

Screen-oriented exports such as PNG, JPEG, TGA, SVG, and MP4 should be treated as RGB output. For print workflows, PDF export supports spot colors, but CE.SDK does not produce true CMYK PDF or PDF/X output. See Colors for the current color conversion and print-color behavior.

You can choose export MIME type, target dimensions, compression quality, and whether the result includes transparency. Practical export limits depend on the device’s GPU capabilities and available memory.

UI-Based vs. Programmatic Editing#

Use the CE.SDK editor UI when users should directly adjust images through inspectors, canvas gestures, asset panels, and tool controls. The Android editor is built with Jetpack Compose and can be themed, localized, and configured for your product.

Use CreativeEngine when edits should be driven by app logic, templates, or automation. Programmatic workflows can create image blocks, update block properties, compose layers, and export the final scene without exposing every operation in the UI.

Many apps combine both approaches: users edit visually, while app code applies defaults, validates output, or performs batch operations in the background.

Customizing the Image Editor#

The Android editor surface can be adapted to match your app’s workflow:

• Tool availability: Show, hide, or reorder editor controls for the tasks your users need.
• UI appearance: Apply your theme, icons, typography, and localization.
• Asset and plugin setup: Add app-specific asset sources, quick actions, or plugin features such as background removal.
• Workflow integration: Open existing app images, save edited output back to your storage layer, or continue with CreativeEngine after a user finishes.

Performance Considerations#

Image editing is client-side and performance depends on the Android device. For large images, test target devices with representative files and set conservative resolution defaults when needed.

Keep these limits in mind:

• Higher input or export resolutions require more GPU memory.
• Real-time previews are optimized for interactive editing, but complex scenes with many layers can still increase memory pressure.
• Exporting at very high dimensions may fail on devices with smaller maximum texture sizes.

Working with Image Blocks#

Images in CE.SDK are represented as blocks in a scene. A page can contain one image or a layered composition with text, graphics, shapes, masks, and effects. The editor UI exposes common controls for these blocks, while CreativeEngine lets your app update the same scene data through code.

Use image blocks when you need direct control over the image content itself, and combine them with other block types when your workflow needs overlays, watermarks, annotations, or templates.

Next Steps#

• Transform Images - Crop, resize, rotate, scale, or flip image content.
• Photo Editor Starter Kit - Start from a complete Android photo editing UI.
• Background Removal - Add subject extraction to the Android editor.