Analyze a frame from an Android application with Frame Advisor
Introduction
Understand Frame Advisor and get support
Capture a trace in Frame Advisor
Analyze draw calls in Frame Advisor
Analyze frame construction with the Render Graph in Frame Advisor
Analyze mesh geometry with Content Metrics on Frame Advisor
Next Steps
Analyze a frame from an Android application with Frame Advisor
Who is this for?
This Learning Path is for Android application developers who want to learn how to use Frame Advisor.
What will you learn?
Upon completion of this Learning Path, you will be able to:
- Capture data from a significant frame in your Android application
- Inspect draw calls for rendering inefficiencies
- Use the Render Graph to analyze how the frame is constructed
- Analyze mesh geometry for inefficiencies
Prerequisites
Before starting, you will need the following:
- An Android device in developer mode with USB debugging enabled. These Arm Performance Studio supported devices have been tested internally within Arm and confirmed to work with Arm Performance Studio.
- A debuggable build of your application. The application must be installed on your device and built with OpenGL ES versions 2.0 to 3.2 or Vulkan versions 1.0 to 1.2. For OpenGL ES applications, your device must be running Android 10 or later. For Vulkan applications, your device must be running Android 9 or later.
- Arm Performance Studio downloaded and installed from Product Download Hub . It’s supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS host platforms. For installation instructions, see the Arm Performance Studio install guide .
- Android SDK Platform tools
downloaded and installed
. SDK Platform tools is required for
Android Debug bridge (adb)
. Add the path to ADB to your
PATHenvironment variable. - The device connected through USB and accessible through ADB. To test the connection, open a command prompt and enter the
adb devicescommand.
Summary
This summary was drafted with an approved AI-assisted workflow and reviewed by Arm contributors before publication. Human technical review remains part of the process so the final page reflects engineering rigor, accuracy, and Arm editorial standards.
You’ll capture and analyze a representative frame with Frame Advisor in Arm Performance Studio. First, you’ll choose the graphics API, record a problem area, and inspect render passes and draw calls in the Analysis view. Then, you’ll use the Render Graph view to find unnecessary work. Finally, you’ll use the Content Metrics view to locate complex geometry and navigate to its draw call in the framebuffer.
Frequently asked questions
These FAQs were drafted with an approved AI-assisted workflow and reviewed by Arm contributors before publication. Human technical review remains part of the process so the final page reflects engineering rigor, accuracy, and Arm editorial standards.
Open New Trace and check that your device and the target application appear in the lists.
Select Vulkan for Vulkan applications and OpenGL ES for OpenGL ES applications. Set this under API settings before starting the capture session.
After you start the session, you can play to the problem area while the application launches automatically on the device and captures. When analysis completes, you’ll see the Frame hierarchy with frames, render passes, and draw calls.
In the Render Graph, follow the flow from left to right and look for the pass that outputs to the swapchain. That pass is the final stage that renders to the screen.
Open Content Metrics, choose Draws, and sort by the highest number of primitives to surface complex objects. Right-click a candidate and select Navigate to call to highlight it in the Frame hierarchy and view it in the framebuffer.