How to center vector drawable in layer-list without scaling

I ran into the same problem trying to center vectors drawables on a layered list.

I have a workaround, its not exactly the same but it works, you need to set a size for the entire drawable and add padding to the vector item:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item>
        <shape>
            <size android:height="120dp" android:width="120dp"/>
            <solid android:color="@color/grid_item_activated"/>
        </shape>
    </item>
    <item android:top="24dp"
          android:bottom="24dp"
          android:left="24dp"
          android:right="24dp"
          android:drawable="@drawable/ic_check_white_48dp"/>
</layer-list>

The size of the shape above sets the size of the entire drawable, 120dp in this example, the padding on the second item, 24dp in this example, centers the vector image.

Its not the same as using the gravity="center" but its working way of using vectors in API 21 and 22.

Been struggling with the same problem. The only way I found to fix this and avoid the drawable to scale up was to set the drawable size and using gravity to align it:

<layer-list>
    <item android:drawable="@color/grid_item_activated"/>
     <item
        android:gravity="center"
        android:width="48dp"
        android:height="48dp"
        android:drawable="@drawable/ic_check_white_48dp"/>
</layer-list>

Hope it helps!

Edited solution that will make your SplashScreen look great on all APIs including API21 to API23

First of all read this article and follow the GOOD way of making a splash screen.

If your logo is distorted or wont fit and you are only targeting APIs24+ you can simply scale down your vector drawable directly in its xml file like so:

<vector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:aapt="http://schemas.android.com/aapt"
android:viewportWidth="640"
android:viewportHeight="640"
android:width="240dp"
android:height="240dp">
<path
    android:pathData="M320.96 55.9L477.14 345L161.67 345L320.96 55.9Z"
    android:strokeColor="#292929"
    android:strokeWidth="24" />
</vector>

in the code above I am rescaling a drawable I drew on a 640x640 canvas to be 240x240. then i just put it in my splash screen drawable like so and it works great:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:opacity="opaque"
android:paddingBottom="20dp" android:paddingRight="20dp" android:paddingLeft="20dp" android:paddingTop="20dp">

<!-- The background color, preferably the same as your normal theme -->
<item>
    <shape>
        <size android:height="120dp" android:width="120dp"/>
        <solid android:color="@android:color/white"/>
    </shape>
</item>

<!-- Your product logo - 144dp color version of your app icon -->
<item
    android:drawable="@drawable/logo_vect"
    android:gravity="center">

</item>
</layer-list>

my code is actually only drawing the triangle in the picture at the bottom but here you see what you can achieve with this. Resolution is finally great as opposed to the pixelated edges I was getting when using bitmap. so use a vector drawable by all means (there is a site called vectr that I used to create mine without the hasle of downloading specialized software).

EDIT in order to make it work also on API21-22-23

While the solution above works for devices runing API24+ I got really disappointed after installing my app a device running API22. I noticed that the splashscreen was again trying to fill the entire view and looking like shit. After tearing my eyebrows out for half a day I finally brute-forced a solution by sheer willpower.

you need to create a second file named exactly like the splashscreen xml (lets say splash_screen.xml) and place it into 2 folders called drawable-v22 and drawable-v21 that you will create in the res/ folder (in order to see them you have to change your project view from Android to Project). This serves to tell your phone to redirect to files placed in those folders whenever the relevant device runs an API corresponding to the -vXX suffix in the drawable folder, see this link. place the following code in the Layer-list of the splash_screen.xml file that you create in these folders:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:opacity="opaque">

<!-- The background color, preferably the same as your normal theme -->
<item
    android:gravity="center">
    <shape android:shape="rectangle">
        <solid android:color="@android:color/white"/>

    </shape>
</item>

<!-- Your product logo - 144dp color version of your app icon -->
<item
    android:gravity="center">
    <bitmap
        android:gravity="center"
        android:src="@drawable/logo_vect"/>

</item>
</layer-list>

For some reason for these APIs you have to wrap your drawable in a bitmap in order to make it work and jet the final result looks the same. The issue is that you have to use the aproach with the aditional drawable folders as the second version of the splash_screen.xml file will lead to your splash screen not being shown at all on devices running APIs higher than 23. You might also have to place the first version of the splash_screen.xml into drawable-v24 as android defaults to the closest drawable-vXX folder it can find for resources.

I'm currently working on a splash screen with a vector drawable centered both horizontally and vertically. Here is what I got on API level 25:

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:opacity="opaque">

<!-- background color, same as theme -->
<item android:drawable="@android:color/white"/>

<!-- app logo -->

<item
    android:drawable="@drawable/my_app_logo"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal|center_vertical"
    android:width="200dp"
    android:height="200dp"
    />
</layer-list>

If you want to adjust the vector drawable's dimension, modify android:width and android:height attributes above, not necessarily modify the original drawable.

In addition, my experience is DO NOT put the vector drawable in a bitmap tag, which never works for me. Bitmap is for .png, .jpg and .gif format file, not for vector drawable.

Reference

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/drawable-resource#LayerList

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/more-resources.html#Dimension