This page was roughly updated from the SDL2 version, but needs to be inspected for details that are out of date, and a few SDL2isms need to be cleaned out still, too. Read this page with some skepticism for now.

Existing documentation

Pre-requisites

sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk ant android-sdk-platform-tools-common

PATH="/usr/src/android-ndk-rXXx:$PATH"                  # for 'ndk-build'
PATH="/usr/src/android-sdk-linux/tools:$PATH"           # for 'android'
PATH="/usr/src/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools:$PATH"  # for 'adb'
export ANDROID_HOME="/usr/src/android-sdk-linux"        # for gradle
export ANDROID_NDK_HOME="/usr/src/android-ndk-rXXx"     # for gradle

Simple builds

SDL wrapper for simple programs

cd /usr/src/SDL3/build-scripts/
./androidbuild.sh org.libsdl.testgles ../test/testgles.c

cd /usr/src/SDL3/build/org.libsdl.testgles/
./gradlew installDebug

Troubleshooting

android {
    buildToolsVersion "28.0.1"
    compileSdkVersion 28

externalNativeBuild {
    ndkBuild {
        arguments "APP_PLATFORM=android-14"
        abiFilters 'armeabi-v7a', 'arm64-v8a', 'x86', 'x86_64'

SDL wrapper + SDL_image NDK module

Let's modify SDL3_image/showimage.c to show a simple embedded image (e.g. XPM).

#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
#include <SDL3/SDL_main.h>
#include <SDL3/SDL_image.h>

/* XPM */
static char * icon_xpm[] = {
  "32 23 3 1",
  "     c #FFFFFF",
  ".    c #000000",
  "+    c #FFFF00",
  "                                ",
  "            ........            ",
  "          ..++++++++..          ",
  "         .++++++++++++.         ",
  "        .++++++++++++++.        ",
  "       .++++++++++++++++.       ",
  "      .++++++++++++++++++.      ",
  "      .+++....++++....+++.      ",
  "     .++++.. .++++.. .++++.     ",
  "     .++++....++++....++++.     ",
  "     .++++++++++++++++++++.     ",
  "     .++++++++++++++++++++.     ",
  "     .+++++++++..+++++++++.     ",
  "     .+++++++++..+++++++++.     ",
  "     .++++++++++++++++++++.     ",
  "      .++++++++++++++++++.      ",
  "      .++...++++++++...++.      ",
  "       .++............++.       ",
  "        .++..........++.        ",
  "         .+++......+++.         ",
  "          ..++++++++..          ",
  "            ........            ",
  "                                "};

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  SDL_Window *window;
  SDL_Renderer *renderer;
  SDL_Surface *surface;
  SDL_Texture *texture;
  int done;
  SDL_Event event;

  if (SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer("Show a simple image", 0, 0, 0, &window, &renderer) < 0) {
    SDL_LogError(SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_APPLICATION,
        "SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer() failed: %s", SDL_GetError());
    return(2);
  }

  surface = IMG_ReadXPMFromArray(icon_xpm);
  texture = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, surface);
  if (!texture) {
    SDL_LogError(SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_APPLICATION,
        "Couldn't load texture: %s", SDL_GetError());
    return(2);
  }
  SDL_SetWindowSize(window, 800, 480);

  done = 0;
  while (!done) {
    while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
      if (event.type == SDL_EVENT_QUIT)
        done = 1;
    }
    SDL_RenderTexture(renderer, texture, NULL, NULL);
    SDL_RenderPresent(renderer);
    SDL_Delay(100);
  }
  SDL_DestroyTexture(texture);

  SDL_Quit();
  return(0);
}

cd /usr/src/SDL3/build-scripts/
./androidbuild.sh org.libsdl.showimage /usr/src/SDL3_image/showimage.c
cd /usr/src/SDL3/build/org.libsdl.showimage/
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_image jni/
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_image/external/libwebp-0.3.0 jni/webp
sed -i -e 's/^LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES.*/& SDL3_image/' jni/src/Android.mk
ndk-build -j$(nproc)
ant debug install

Build an autotools-friendly environment

You use autotools in your project and can't be bothering understanding ndk-build's cryptic errors? This guide is for you!

Compile a shared binaries bundle for SDL and SDL_*

cd /usr/src/
wget https://libsdl.org/release/SDL2-2.0.5.tar.gz
wget https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/release/SDL2_image-2.0.1.tar.gz
wget https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_mixer/release/SDL2_mixer-2.0.1.tar.gz
wget https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_net/release/SDL2_net-2.0.1.tar.gz
wget https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/release/SDL2_ttf-2.0.14.tar.gz

tar xf SDL2-2.0.5.tar.gz
tar xf SDL2_image-2.0.1.tar.gz
tar xf SDL2_mixer-2.0.1.tar.gz
tar xf SDL2_net-2.0.1.tar.gz
tar xf SDL2_ttf-2.0.14.tar.gz

ln -s SDL2-2.0.5 SDL2
ln -s SDL2_image-2.0.1 SDL2_image
ln -s SDL2_mixer-2.0.1 SDL2_mixer
ln -s SDL2_net-2.0.1 SDL2_net
ln -s SDL2_ttf-2.0.14 SDL2_ttf

cd /usr/src/SDL3/
#git checkout -- .  # remove traces of previous builds
cd build-scripts/
# edit androidbuild.sh and modify $ANDROID update project --target android-XX
./androidbuild.sh org.libsdl /dev/null
# doesn't matter if the actual build fails, it's just for setup
cd ../build/org.libsdl/

ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_image jni/
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_image/external/libwebp-0.3.0 jni/webp
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_mixer jni/
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_mixer/external/libmikmod-3.1.12 jni/libmikmod
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_mixer/external/smpeg2-2.0.0 jni/smpeg2
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_net jni/
ln -s /usr/src/SDL3_ttf jni/

ndk-build -j$(nproc)

Note: no need to add System.loadLibrary calls in SDLActivity.java, your application will be linked to them and Android's ld-linux loads them automatically.

Install SDL in a GCC toolchain

/usr/src/android-ndk-r8c/build/tools/make-standalone-toolchain.sh \
  --platform=android-14 --install-dir=/usr/src/ndk-standalone-14-arm --arch=arm

NDK_STANDALONE=/usr/src/ndk-standalone-14-arm
PATH=$NDK_STANDALONE/bin:$PATH

cd /usr/src/SDL3/build/org.libsdl/
for i in libs/armeabi/*; do ln -nfs $(pwd)/$i $NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr/lib/; done
mkdir $NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr/include/SDL3/
cp jni/SDL/include/* $NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr/include/SDL3/
cp jni/*/SDL*.h $NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr/include/SDL3/

VERSION=0.9.12
cd /usr/src/
wget http://rabbit.dereferenced.org/~nenolod/distfiles/pkgconf-$VERSION.tar.gz
tar xf pkgconf-$VERSION.tar.gz
cd pkgconf-$VERSION/
mkdir native-android/ && cd native-android/
../configure --prefix=$NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr
make -j$(nproc)
make install
ln -s ../sysroot/usr/bin/pkgconf $NDK_STANDALONE/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-pkg-config
mkdir $NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr/lib/pkgconfig/

Walking With Dinosaurs Prehistoric Planet 3d -

Moreover, 3D enhances the show’s scientific storytelling. Courtship displays (like the Carnotaurus ’s arm-waving dance) gain kinetic depth. Nesting grounds feel like crowded, chaotic villages. And the ocean sequences—where light shafts pierce the surface—become cathedrals of blue, making you feel the weight and cold of the Mesozoic sea. The phrase “walking with dinosaurs prehistoric planet 3D” is not just a title mashup. It is a chronological and technical roadmap. Walking with Dinosaurs taught us to look. Prehistoric Planet taught us to believe. And 3D—whether through VR headsets, high-end televisions, or IMAX screens—teaches us to move within that belief.

When you add “3D” to this equation (as the show’s spatial sound and depth-of-field already invite), the experience becomes radically different. In 3D, a herd of Triceratops isn’t a flat procession; it’s a layered mass of horns and frills receding into dust. A Quetzalcoatlus landing on a cliff face creates genuine vertigo. The feathers on a Dreadnoughtus hatchling don’t just look soft—they seem to float inches from your face. Historically, 3D cinema has been associated with gimmicks—things leaping at the screen. But for a genre built on the word “walking with,” 3D serves a different purpose: proxemics . Dinosaurs were enormous, but their scale is lost on a flat screen. Stereoscopic depth restores the true spatial relationship between a human-sized viewer and a forty-foot theropod. When a Tyrannosaurus rex exhales in Prehistoric Planet ’s forest, fog curls around the camera’s lens. In 3D, that fog exists in real space between you and the beast. You are there . walking with dinosaurs prehistoric planet 3d

The phrase “walking with dinosaurs prehistoric planet 3D” reads like a collision of two eras in natural history filmmaking. On one side is Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), the BBC’s groundbreaking series that redefined the paleo-documentary. On the other is Prehistoric Planet (2022–2023), Apple TV+’s photorealistic, big-budget successor. Combined with “3D,” this phrase becomes a wish: to not just see dinosaurs, but to inhabit their world with the depth, texture, and behavioral intimacy that only modern technology can provide. This essay argues that the journey from Walking with Dinosaurs to Prehistoric Planet is the story of paleo-media evolving from a speculative museum diorama into a living, breathing, stereoscopic reality. 1. The Legacy of Walking with Dinosaurs When Walking with Dinosaurs aired, it was revolutionary. Using animatronics, CGI (then in its infancy), and cinematic nature-documentary tropes—the whispering narrator, the golden-hour lighting, the predator-prey suspense—it treated dinosaurs not as movie monsters but as animals. Viewers watched a Coelophysis cough up a lungfish or an Ornithocheirus struggle to take off from a cliff. However, the technology was limited. Textures were waxy, movements were slightly robotic, and the “3D” effect was purely psychological, achieved through careful composition. Moreover, 3D enhances the show’s scientific storytelling

Imagine a future interactive documentary: you choose to “walk with” a herd of Edmontosaurus across a floodplain, your viewpoint floating beside them. The 3D is not a gimmick but a tool for empathy. You feel the heat radiating from a volcano. You duck as a Pteranodon skims overhead. You understand, not intellectually but viscerally, what it meant to be a warm-blooded animal on a violent, beautiful, alien world. The essay’s title— Walking with Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet 3D —is a ghost of an impossible film. But it is also a statement of intent. The first series taught us the grammar of the paleo-documentary. The second perfected its syntax. 3D, properly used, completes the sentence, turning the page from watching dinosaurs to being with them. We are no longer content to see their bones in a museum hall or their shadows on a screen. We want to walk beside them, feel the ground shake, and watch the prehistoric planet turn beneath a real, depth-filled sky. And for the first time, technology has caught up to that dream. And the ocean sequences—where light shafts pierce the

The phrase “walking with” implies immersion, but the original series kept viewers at a remove. It was a diorama that moved, not a world you could step inside. Prehistoric Planet took the core philosophy of its predecessor—scientific accuracy, behavioral storytelling, and no time-traveling gimmicks—and fused it with cutting-edge CGI, ray-traced lighting, and photogrammetry. But the key innovation is its spatial logic. The camera doesn’t just observe; it weaves through ferns, follows a Pachycephalosaurus over a ridge, and plunges into the Arctic Ocean with a Mosasaurus . Every frame feels like a nature documentary shot by a drone that somehow traveled back 66 million years.

Building other dependencies

You can add any other libraries (e.g.: SDL2_gfx, freetype, gettext, gmp...) using commands like:

mkdir cross-android/ && cd cross-android/
../configure --host=arm-linux-androideabi --prefix=$NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr \
  --with-some-option --enable-another-option \
  --disable-shared
make -j$(nproc)
make install

Static builds (--disable-shared) are recommended for simplicity (no additional .so to declare).

Example with SDL2_gfx:
VERSION=1.0.3
wget http://www.ferzkopp.net/Software/SDL2_gfx/SDL2_gfx-$VERSION.tar.gz
tar xf SDL2_gfx-$VERSION.tar.gz
mv SDL2_gfx-$VERSION/ SDL2_gfx/
cd SDL2_gfx/
mkdir cross-android/ && cd cross-android/
../configure --host=arm-linux-androideabi --prefix=$NDK_STANDALONE/sysroot/usr \
  --disable-shared --disable-mmx
make -j$(nproc)
make install

You can compile YOUR application using this technique, with some more steps to tell Android how to run it using JNI.

Build your autotools app

mkdir -p libs/armeabi/
for i in /usr/src/SDL3/build/org.libsdl/libs/armeabi/*; do ln -nfs $i libs/armeabi/; done

AM_CONDITIONAL(ANDROID, test "$host" = "arm-unknown-linux-androideabi")

if ANDROID
<!--  Build .so JNI libs rather than executables -->
  AM_CFLAGS = -fPIC
  AM_LDFLAGS += -shared
  COMMON_OBJS += SDL_android_main.c
endif

PATH=$NDK_STANDALONE/bin:$PATH
mkdir cross-android/ && cd cross-android/
../configure --host=arm-linux-androideabi \
  --prefix=/android-aint-posix \
  --with-your-option --enable-your-other-option ...
make

mkdir cross-android-v7a/ && cd cross-android-v7a/
# .o: -march=armv5te -mtune=xscale -msoft-float -mthumb  =>  -march=armv7-a -mfpu=vfpv3-d16 -mfloat-abi=softfp -mthumb
# .so: -march=armv7-a -Wl,--fix-cortex-a8
CFLAGS="-g -O2 -march=armv7-a -mfpu=vfpv3-d16 -mfloat-abi=softfp -mthumb" LFDLAGS="-march=armv7-a -Wl,--fix-cortex-a8" \
  ../configure --host=arm-linux-androideabi \
  ...

android update project --name your_app --path . --target android-XX
ant debug
ant installd

adb shell am start -a android.intenon.MAIN -n org.libsdl.app/org.libsdl.app.SDLActivity  # replace with your app package

Build your CMake app

# CMake toolchain file
SET(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME Linux)  # Tell CMake we're cross-compiling
include(CMakeForceCompiler)
# Prefix detection only works with compiler id "GNU"
CMAKE_FORCE_C_COMPILER(arm-linux-androideabi-gcc GNU)
SET(ANDROID TRUE)

PATH=$NDK_STANDALONE/bin:$PATH
cmake \
  -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../android_toolchain.cmake \
  ...

Troubleshootings

If ant installd categorically refuses to install with Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE], even if you have free local storage, that may mean anything. Check logcat first:

If the error logs are not helpful (likely ;')) try locating all past traces of the application:

find / -name "org...."

adb install -s bin/app-debug.apk

SDL: Couldn't locate Java callbacks, check that they're named and typed correctly

this probably means your SDLActivity.java is out-of-sync with your libSDL3.so.

Walking With Dinosaurs Prehistoric Planet 3d -

Draft

Existing documentation

Pre-requisites

Simple builds

SDL wrapper for simple programs

Troubleshooting

SDL wrapper + SDL_image NDK module

Build an autotools-friendly environment

Compile a shared binaries bundle for SDL and SDL_*

Install SDL in a GCC toolchain

Walking With Dinosaurs Prehistoric Planet 3d -

Building other dependencies

Build your autotools app

Build your CMake app

Troubleshootings