Can't start Android Studio Layout Inspector: "Unexpected error: empty view hierarchy"

Question

Can't seem to launch Layout Inspector on Android Studio 3.0 (Canary 3)

When connected to my device and app running, choosing Tools > Android > Layout Inspector comes up with the following error dialog:

"Error obtaining view hierarchy: Unexpected error: empty view hierarchy"

Any setup I'm missing? I have Developer Options enabled on the device.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44414751/cant-start-android-studio-layout-inspector-unexpected-error-empty-view-hiera

Answer 1

In general I've this behavior when something is "moving" in the view so the layout inspector cannot retrieve a simple layout, that's why pausing a video will work but if you have something more complex like camera preview or Google Map is harder, not sure how to work around this