Wallpaper Engine 1.7 - FREE Android App Coming Soon - New Features & Bug Fixes
Wallpaper Engine · published
Hello everyone, today we are happy to announce that we will soon be releasing a free Android version of Wallpaper Engine. On top of that, we are also releasing Wallpaper Engine 1.7 today which brings a new set of features including video-based textures and support for web wallpapers with video livestreams.
Wallpaper Engine Android Companion App
In the past few months, we have developed an Android app of Wallpaper Engine that offers support for dynamic scene and video wallpapers. The Wallpaper Engine companion app will be available for free to everyone, users of Wallpaper Engine on Windows will be able to share their wallpaper collection wirelessly with their Android phones and tablets. We developed an easy way to securely transfer your Workshop wallpapers to your mobile devices. Since accessing the Workshop is not possible on Android, the Windows version of Wallpaper Engine will serve as a hub to take your wallpapers on the go.
Just like the Windows app, the Android app will also not contain any sort of hidden costs or advertisements and it will also not collect any personal data - we consider the app a free add-on for existing Wallpaper Engine users.
Developing the new Android app was quite an intensive undertaking. However, when it came to porting Wallpaper Engine to any new additional platforms, it was the most rational platform to add next due the huge user base of Android around the globe. The work we have done to support Android will also benefit any future potential ports to other platforms, though Android was still comparatively simple compared to other operating systems. If you are hoping to see Wallpaper Engine on other platforms in the future, please be patient, it is simply not possible for us to port Wallpaper Engine to every single platform at once since it is a tremendous amount of work to do so.
Sneak Peek of Wallpaper Engine for Android
We have prepared a small preview of what Wallpaper Engine looks like on Android. The feature set is very extensive and just like Wallpaper Engine for Windows, the wallpapers are fully dynamic and allow for a great level of user customization. You can also configure a wallpaper playlist, set an FPS limit and configure other battery-saving features and import local videos and GIFs straight into the app.
Wallpapers created in the Wallpaper Engine editor will first be converted into a mobile-compatible format before being sent to your phone. The process is pretty straight-forward for end-users but a more extensive description of this will follow at the time of the release.
Check out the following previews of the Android app:
Real-time dynamic wallpapers on Android
Customize your wallpapers to your liking
Visualize your music with audio responsive wallpapers. Credit: Cube Visualizer
Wirelessly transfer your Workshop wallpapers from your computer
Steam Workshop Agreement
Accessing the Steam Workshop from mobile devices is not possible since this is not supported by Steam. However, we developed a convenient way to allow you to transfer compatible wallpapers from your desktop computer to your mobile device with ease, as long as both devices are using the same local network connection.
Since this has never been done before on Steam, we require all content creators to agree to our addendum to the Steam Workshop agreement before their content can be transferred to mobile devices, otherwise Wallpaper Engine will not allow users to transfer their wallpapers.
If you have uploaded any wallpapers to Wallpaper Engine, please review and accept the addendum to the Steam Workshop Agreement for Wallpaper Engine here so that your users can use your wallpapers on Android once the app has been released:
- View in web browser: Workshop Agreement
- View in Steam: Workshop Agreement
Android App Release
The Android version of Wallpaper Engine will likely be available on various app stores in late November, though an accurate estimate is difficult to make - make sure to keep an eye on our Steam update news for more information in the future. The Android app is already in a stable state, but we still have to do some final testing and prepare the release on various app stores. The app will support devices running Android 8.1 or newer.
It is also important to us that a large number of content creators review and accept our addendum to the Steam Workshop Agreement before the app is available so that users can choose from a large selection of Android-compatible wallpapers. If you are a content creator, be sure to review the Workshop Agreement, see the section above for more information. If you are a user and want to make sure your favorite content creator is aware of the upcoming Android release, share the link to this news with them or send them a link to our help website which also explains this in more detail:
Wallpaper Engine 1.7 Changes
Aside from Android, we have also been working on another update for Wallpaper Engine on Windows. With Wallpaper Engine 1.7, we are adding video texture support for Scene wallpapers and a new Livestream Mode, among other new features and bug fixes.
Video Textures
Up until now, the Wallpaper Engine editor only supported static image as a basis for all imported materials. We have now created a way that users can import .mp4 video files as image layers in the editor and they can used just like any other image layer, meaning effects can be applied to them and other assets may be placed over them, allowing for video-based wallpapers to become just as interactive and dynamic as static wallpapers previously. We recommend using H.264 compression for the best compatibility across systems.
You can also use video files as base textures of your wallpaper, to do this, click on "Use a Template" in the editor welcome window, select "2D Scene" and configure the resolution of your video file. Then simply drag and drop your video file into the new project and it will be added as a new image layer in your project.
Web Livestream Support
A relatively specific feature request in the past was to support setting web livestreams as wallpapers. Due to license issues, this is not easily possible and required us to implement a whole new web framework solely to enable livestream video formats for websites. To access the new Livestream Mode, click on "Open Wallpaper" in the lower left corner of Wallpaper Engine, then select "Open from URL".
You can now enable the new "Use Livestream Mode" option for URLs with livestreams in them. The first time you access this feature, Wallpaper Engine will install the new Microsoft's Edge WebView browser which is automatically maintained by Microsoft and includes support for the required video formats. It's also somewhat limited in its Wallpaper Engine functions, so we only recommend using it if you specifically want to set a livestream as a wallpaper. Specifically, there is no keyboard input and using the mouse for input requires hiding the icons first with the built-in hotkey.
The full changelog for Wallpaper Engine 1.7 can be found here:
Additions / Changes
- Added Workshop EULA to prepare the Wallpaper Engine Android release.
- Added video texture support for scenes.
- Added LiveStream Mode to "Open URL" dialog which uses Edge WebView to support video streams.
- Added option to sync static lock-screen image & static Windows wallpaper with live wallpaper.
- Added audio recording icon to application rule program list.
- Added new option to only show editor performance stats when needed.
- Added support for custom titles to local wallpapers.
- Added JPEG rotation EXIF support so JPEG files get rotated pre-import.
- Editor update project.json of web wallpapers every time apply is used to ensure audio responsiveness works more reliably while developing.
- Added safety measure to avoid crashes with video files when the playback rate cannot be properly read from video files.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed wallpapers not muting when screensaver is active.
- Fixed screensaver playlists not being editable properly.
- Fixed screensavers also changing Windows theme colors.
- Fixed local preview images not being cropped.
- Fixed lighting settings not being editable after previewing.
- Fixed unsubscribed items not disappearing.
- Fixed user interface crash if Steam was extremely out-of-date.
- Fixed undo functionality in editor in combination with the light height slider.
- Fixed undo/redo getting stuck when going too fast.
- Fixed UI without hardware acceleration not disabling effects.
- Fixed asset updating.
- Fixed preset update system to account for new Steam behavior.
- Fixed effect copy/paste using selected item instead of right clicked item.
- Fixed scene audio playback not playing again if wallpaper is paused at the same time a song finishes.
- Fixed wrong user properties being applied to cloned wallpapers in screensaver mode without DWM live image copy.
Wallpaper Engine 1.7.12 Hotfix
- Fixed black screen after screensaver if Wallpaper Engine is only used for screensavers and not wallpapers.
- Screensavers now do not override the lock-screen image and Windows wallpaper even if the options for this are enabled.
- Fixed some log entries being generated regarding "missing files".