After lots of digging (I was getting the problem under linux), it appears to have been a problem with the latest android tools, and appears to have been fixed in 3.2.3 of the Titanium SDK. The other solution (which I haven't tried) was to downgrade android tools. Relevant bug reports/links:
- The "official" link to the problem is https://developer.appcelerator.com/question/164116/cannot-start-android-emulator-on-mac-os-x, which pointed here http://www.appcelerator.com/blog/2014/03/updating-to-android-22-6-1-tools/ (the JIRA bug ticket is here https://jira.appcelerator.org/browse/TIMOB-16640)
- However, down in the comments, and in the JIRA ticket, was mentioned the direct download link for the latest SDK (3.2.3 Alpha) required to work http://builds.appcelerator.com/#3_2_X
To install the newly downloaded SDK, go through Help->Install Titanium SDK->Install from URL, and choose the folder that you downloaded the SDK to.
For running the AVD from the command-line (and to appear as an AVD in Titanium), I had to open the android tools AVD manager (there were no actual AVDs created, only device definitions on the right hand side). I created a device based on a definition, gave it a name etc, then substituted that name into the command line, and it ran fine. However, there was no place to choose that newly-created AVD in the Run Configurations section in Titanium, but it seems this SDK fixes that, and I could see the newly created AVD, and build/run the project against it.
Some other useful things (that may not be necessary now that there seems to be an official fix, but might be useful if you need to use another SDK) were:
- In the official link I posted, the actual fix is to downgrade android tools version (windows download here)
- This guy found a config.ini not present when initially building the kitchensink app, and had a temp workaround - http://developer.appcelerator.com/question/160667/emulator-process-exited-with-code-1
- Also in a link I posted above, another suggestion was to install an alternative android emulator called Genymotion - http://www.appcelerator.com/blog/2013/11/genymotion-an-android-emulator-you-can-use/. I haven't tried this.
Hope it helps!