I'm making a game in SpriteKit, and positioning cards with code. The size of the card texture needs to be different based on screensize or the layout is screwed. Same with background images of course, or ANY other layout. How does the iphone6 share the same #2x assets with the lower-res screens? It makes no sense. I've heard to design for the 6, and let the older phones down scale. but this doesnt seem to be what is happening. Everything is just cut off when checking on 5s. My assets for 6+ are fine, but of course it uses its own set of 3x images.
Display scale factor doesn't tell you everything you might want for choosing assets and laying out your screen — e.g. if all you have are #2x assets, they're used on both iPhone (4 and newer) and iPad (3 and newer) even though the iPad and iPhone have very different screen sizes.
SpriteKit's image loading falls back to UIKit's, which automatically picks the right scale factor for your device but not the right dimensions. So, much like how you have to do your own heavy lifting to choose different images for iPhone 4/4s vs iPhone 5/5s, you'll also need to look at the screen size yourself to pick images and/or do layout calculations on 3.5", 4", and 4.7" displays.
(Actually, you can get UIKit to automatically pick iPhone 3.5" vs iPhone 4" images if you use Xcode asset catalogs, but it doesn't look like those cover the 4" vs 4.7" issue. That's probably worth filing a bug about.)
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I am creating a game and want to use the iPad size settings (landscape: 1024x768). From what I've learnt, using the iPad settings will crop out part of the height only on an iPhone. Say I have a 2048x1536 background image for iPad (1024x768) and a 2208x1242 image for iPhone 6+ (736x414),
i. how can I determine the 'safe region' from the iPad that will appear on the iPhone 6+ both point and pixel wise?
ii. will the 'safe region' for the iPhone 6+ be the same as the iPhone 6 (667x375) with a 1334x750 image? If not, how can it also be determined both point and pixel wise?
I assume you wish to create a universal game that runs both on iPad and iPhone. If that's the case, there are two possible approaches when defining your graphics assets in the Attributes Inspector (far right on your Xcode interface while Assets.xcassets is selected). In the Devices section, you can select among Universal, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac and any combination of those.
If you select "Universal" only, then you will have to make sure that the assets you insert there will look good both on iPhone and iPad. If that's the case, see below some hints of how to make your assets safe for using universally.
If you select "iPad" and "iPhone", you will have to include separate assets for iPad and iPhone, with their appropriate resolutions and aspect ratios. In my past experience, I've always headed this way. For the iPad (1x) you will have to provide a 1024x768 background, for the iPad (2x) you will have to provide a 2048x1536, unless you choose "Single Scale" and use a single vector PDF file. Respectively, for the iPhone, you will have to provide a 480x320 (1x, only in case you need to support old devices such as iPhone 3G/3GS, quite unlikely given the fact Sprite-Kit was introduced with iOS7), then 1334x750 (2x), and 2208x1242 (3x, for the iPhone 6+, 6S+, 7+). With this approach you don't need to worry about "safe" zones, as the graphics you supply will be used on each device properly with no "cutting" off the edge. Just bear in mind that iPhone 4S and iPhone 5/5S/SE would need some background scaling in order to fit the whole 2x picture on the screen. Otherwise it would look zoomed in.
If you go with the first approach, then you should consider the following information in order to make your "universal" graphics safe for use with all devices:
iPhone 5/5S/SE...and all newer have a 16:9 display aspect ratio.
iPhone 4S has 3:2 aspect ratio (you only worry about that if your game will support iOS 9).
iPad screen aspect ratio is 4:3.
With the above in mind, there are two paths you could go:
1. Use 16:9 universal assets that will have their left/right parts cut off on iPad and iPhone 4S.
2. Use 4:3 universal assets that will have their upper/lower parts cut off on iPhones.
The above applies to your 2x assets as these will be used for both retina iPads and retina iPhones (4S, 5/5S, SE, 6/6S/7).
1x assets will only be used for non-retina iPads (iPad 2 in case you would support iOS 9, otherwise skip these too).
3x assets will only be used for the "Plus" iPhone models. So I suggest you provide these in 16:9 ratio (2208x1242) only.
So, how do you calculate your "safe" zones. Pretty straightforward:
Case 1 (16:9 assets to be used for iPad too): height 1536 (this is the retina iPad height in pixels, although if you wish to be pixel-perfect on iPad Pro 12.9" then you should increase that to 2048), width = 1536 * 16 / 9 = 2732 pixels wide (3640 pixels for iPad Pro support). Note that you will have to scale it down in run-time in order to fit for the iPhones. In order to avoid cutting off important content from your background, don't put anything to the left or right of the middle 2048 pixels of the 2732x1536 universal image (342 pixel "danger" zones on the left and right). If you go with a 3640x2048 image (supporting iPad Pro 12.9"), then only use the middle 2732 pixels, leaving only unimportant stuff in the 454-pixel-wide left and right boundaries.
Case 1b (same as above but with a smaller image): Another approach would be to use a native (iPhone 6/6S/7) 1334/750 pixels image, but then you will have to scale up for iPads, and scale down for iPhone 4S/5/5S/SE. In this case, your "safe" zone is 1000x750 (visible both on 4:3 iPads and 16:9 iPhones).
Case 2 (4:3 assets to be used for iPhones too): For the 2x assets use 2048x1536 pixel images. Depending on how you position the sprite on the screen there will be loses on the upper and/or lower parts. If it's centered, then your "safe" zone is 2048 / 16 * 9 = 1152, which leads to 2048x1152 in the middle of the 2048x1536 asset.
If you need any further clarification I will be happy to elaborate.
I am building an iPhone app using Swift, XCode 7.3.1 in Portrait orientation. We have been provided Visual Displays (from our designer) for the screens that need to be in our app. As developers we need to match the app screen elements exactly to the Visual Displays provided. We have used Auto-Layout but the match for the various elements in the screen is not exact. eg. We are having problems in changing the font size as per the iPhone model etc.
So currently we have a switch statement where we are checking the deviceModel and increasing the size of elements by a fixed percentage for iPhone 6+ and decreasing by a fixed percentage for iPhone 5/5S. Our Visual Display is based on iPhone 6 screen size so we are keeping iPhone 6 as base line.
I am sure there is a better way of doing this.Can some one please help me on this issue.
Okay let me share my way to handle this situation.
My application is designed for :
iPhone 5 - Screen Size 4.0 inch
iPhone 6 - Screen Size 4.7 inch
iPhone 6+ - Screen Size 5.5 inch
My BASE phone is iPhone 5 Screen (4 inch)
So I asked designer to have PSD design having 4 inch size,
and same I have followed while implementing in Xcode's Storyboard
and most important once you have proper design, and font for the layout.
we need to carefully define Auto-Layout.
Note: All the required assets/icons goes in three sizes
1x for iPhone 5
2x for iPhone 6
3x for iPhone 6+
The trick is in the splash.
Default-568h#2x.png 640 x 1136
Default.png 320 x 480
Default#2x.png 640 x 960
Just add in project, only drag and drop no more, you don't need add this splash anywhere, just leave them in the source project. The project search by this names and read with the same design the app in all devices, inclusive ipad.
More info here
First, you don't use a switch based on three possible devices. First, you mess up iPhone 4s users and you mess up gazillions of iPad users (if you don't have an iPad version then the iPad displays a blown up 4s screen). Second, you have no idea what resolutions future devices have. And if you ever want your up to run properly on an iPad, there are two sizes, you should be able to rotate, and then you have five ways to split the screen.
The big mistake is at the very start: That you insist on matching a given design pixel by pixel. Send your designers on a course where they learn how an iOS device works. I'll quote Fogmeister, print this out in large font and hang it on your designer's desks: "They are different devices. Your app will look different on them all. Your app should look different on each of them. Your designer should know this and provide designs that fit each device."
Even if you wanted to have the 5, 6 and 6+ screens look the same except for size, that's bad design. Larger fonts are not just larger. The same font at 36 pt is not just 18 pt under a magnifying glass, there are subtle differences. Thickness of lines should not be scaled up when the size is larger, so you get bad design there.
To actually use the larger screen size, either build against the iOS 9 SDK, or supply launch screens in the required sizes (up to iOS 8, Apple assumes that if you don't have a 6+ sized launch screen for example, then you don't know how to handle the device, so they simulate a smaller one).
Then you read the screen size and use that to scale things, or use auto layout. Auto layout is a beast that you must learn how to handle. It takes time. And make sure that a 6+ can display more information than a 6 or 5, otherwise owners of larger phones will be annoyed with you.
What's the size in pixels of the universal storyboard in Xcode? I want to create a custom design in Photoshop so I need to know the size for the universal storyboard.
By default the storyboard size is 600x600px but you should not rely on this. Usually you create a design in 640 x 1136px (#2X resolution) and then create icons for each resolution (#1X, #2X - our base, #3X). DPI resolution doesn't matter is this case, just use default DPI 72.
Here you can find resolutions for various iOS device.
Sounds like you are asking about designing the views in your app, right? You should not design to the universal storyboard size of 600x600 because there will never be a 600x600 device. You should instead design for you target devices. Focus your design around points rather than pixels. Unless you are working on really high end graphics, your app will be built in points.
I design everything based on the iPhone 6 and then allow for some variability in the layouts for the iPhone 6 Plus and the iPhone 5 and then finally the iPhone 4 (as an after thought--just squeeze everything in). iPad layouts (sorry about this) are last on the list.
Here's a great chart showing all of the device sizes: http://www.paintcodeapp.com/news/ultimate-guide-to-iphone-resolutions
So I have a game that I made in Swift and I built it and all of its assets for the iPhone 5s. So naturally when built for a 4s or an iPad the game looks distorted and the image views are in the wrong place.
How do I get around this so that the game can work on both the 4/4s and 5/5s? Where do I put the smaller images? I see the 1x and 2x but what exactly does this mean?
Every iPhone since the iPhone 4 in 2010 has a Retina Display. Now we have iPads with Retina Display, too.
You can have an asset named "image1.png" and a higher resolution version of the same asset named "image1#2x.png". Adding the "#2x" to the end of the file name, iOS knows which asset to use based on the current device's display.
Regarding your "So naturally when built for a 4s or an iPad the game looks distorted and the image views are in the wrong place" comment: what you want to pay attention to here is the actual screen size of the devise you're designing for.
The iPhone 4/4S has a screen resolution of 640 x 960 pixels, while the iPhone 5/5c/5s has a screen resolution of 640 x 1136. The iPad's screen resolution for Retina Display models is 2048 x 1536.
So, I think that your problem is not about creating the assets, but about how you arrange them on screen.
I'd recommend taking a look into an AutoLayout tutorial.
Hope I've shed some light on your problem.
I am making a Universal app on xCode 4.4, using Storyboards. I am making the images for this app in Photoshop. I want to make a background image that fills the whole screen.
What I want to know is:
What resolution do I make the images?
Do I need 1 for iPad and 1 for iPhone, or more?
How do you make it work with the iPhone 5 as well?
You might need up to 10 background images:
There's the retina iPad: 2048x1536, non retina iPad and iPad Mini: 1024x768, retina iPhone: 640x960, non-retina iPhone: 320x480 and the new iPhone 5 (retina only): 640x1136.
That's 5. If you want to support both landscape and portrait, then you have 10 combinations.
PS: If you decide to keep the status bar visible (as most apps do), then reduce the height with 20 pixels (40 pixels for retina displays). That's how much room is needed for the status bar.
You should consider the approach of using only one image. The user experience of most apps is poor if you dont respect the available canvas size.
And you might want to focus special areas of your artwork to the user.
I would propose you to implement different scenarios at least for iPad and iPhone.
The resolution itself is described within the specs. So use one for iPhone and one for iPad, the different logos are posted in two resolution, with a postfix #2x or for the new Appstore dimensions with another prefix, but all these details are within the specs.
My experience is that in most cases you have to organise the user interface separately in order to provide a good user experience.