My initial question dealt with building a translucent view that allowed manipulation of a view below it. Bluefalcon did an excellent job answering this and helped me understand view mechanics a little better:
How can I interact with elements behind a translucent Android app?
I'm still unsure of how to manipulate an underlying view that is not part of my app. The effect I'm trying to achieve is like the Screen Filter App:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en
In this app, once started, it seems a "filter" view is placed on top of everything but you can still interact with whatever is running under it. The app store, email, home screen etc.
I currently have getWindow().addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCHABLE); in my app's onCreate method. This seems to get close. If I swipe on my app nothing updates, but when i back out of the app the home screen updates as if i swiped.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!