For those who don’t know the tool: Mavis Studio is a touch-first live switcher for iPad that ingests cameras over NDI or a companion camera app, mixes audio, overlays HTML5 graphics, and outputs to stream, record, HDMI, or NDI.

The iPad gets a vision mixer job

Mavis ships a live production app for iPad that runs a Program and Preview workflow with an interactive multiview, source tiles, and a transition section that can take cuts or mixes between Preview and Program. The multiview is configurable, can be locked to hide setup controls, and can bank to a second multiview setup.

A show saves as a document that keeps the show assets and settings together, including imported media that gets stored inside the show document for faster playback.

Sources in, including remote phones and local NDI

You can bring in camera sources over NDI or by connecting up to four iPhones running the companion camera app. The app supports up to four NDI inputs, including NDI HX3 or full bandwidth NDI, and it includes an integrated tally system.

Camera discovery can happen through a cloud hub that helps devices find each other, or by finding nearby devices for local discovery. Nearby discovery uses the same underlying idea as AirDrop for bringing devices close to discover them, then letting the connection route over the most appropriate network path.

External cameras can also enter the chain via adapters that feed HDMI or SDI into a phone running the camera app, including Atomos hardware like Ninja Phone and Accsoon capture devices in the SeeMo line. That keeps the phone as the ingest point while still using larger cameras.

Players, layouts, and web graphics as a first class citizen

The built in Media Player can play videos, and the Image Player can show stills, with the option to auto play media when it appears on prgoram. Media control includes a jog wheel for frame accurate control.

Graphics can come from a Web Player that loads a URL and can be used as a keyed overlay, with HTML5 based graphics overlay support. The app also supports scene layouts, including preset and custom layouts, and layouts can use up to four layers plus a background. You can move, resize, and crop live video inside layouts, then cut layouts directly like any other source.

iPad web graphics come with platform constraints. iPadOS does not allow video playback inside these embedded web views, and heavy JavaScript pages can consume more system resources.

Audio is a mixer, not a checkbox

Studio includes a 16 channel audio desk with channel strips and controls that include faders, pan, gain, EQ, grouping, and master output control. Sources can present audio metering per tile, and grouping can act like VCA style control for managing multiple channels quickly during a show.

Outputs: stream, record, HDMI, and a flexible NDI send

Streaming can target YouTube and Twitch or other destinations using RTMP or SRT. Local recording writes the output directly to disk for archive or edit.

For hardware, the app can output over wired HDMI from the iPad. NDI output works as a send that can transmit a selectable source from the internal video matrix, rather than being locked to Program only. That allows workflows like sending Program, a layout, a media player, or a clean feed to another device on the local network while still running your main show.

If you rely on NDI, validate network stability, device thermals, and end to end latency before you bet a paid gig on it. streaimg is a harsh teacher.

Pricing, platform requirements, and what is still vague

The app is listed as a free download on the App Store with in app purchases. The listing shows four purchase options titled Remove Watermark at $24.99 and $79.99, and Remove Watermark + NDI at $39.99 and $129.99. The App Store listing also states that some features require an app subscription, but it does not specify durations for those price points.

The App Store listing states iPadOS 26.0 or later is required. It also lists compatibility for macOS 26.0 or later on Apple silicon Macs, and visionOS 26.0 or later.

https://mavis.cloud/studio

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The post Mavis Studio turns iPad into a live switcher first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Blackmagic Camera turns an iPhone into a manual camera app that can feed directly into Resolve workflows, now with wrist control via Apple Watch on iOS. Or the other professional controllers you might have.

A wrist remote for phone rigs

Phone cameras already live in all the inconvenient places. High on a stand. Gaffer-taped to a car. Wedged into a tiny corner for a cheat shot. The update to Blackmagic Camera targets that exact pain point with a companion app for Apple Watch that can control and monitor the iPhone camera remotely.

The Watch companion focuses on practical set tasks. It can start and stop recording, show framing, and display audio levels. It also exposes key controls from the wrist, including exposure, focus, and LUT selection. The whole point is simple: keep all hands off the phone when a touch would wobble the shot, it is too far away, or the camera’s protection against the environment (Animals, Art Directors, the Public) is already in place. The Watch companion installs through the Watch app on the iPhone, and it pairs up as a remote control surface for the camera app. If you want to see it in action, have a look at this video from 9 to 5 Mac:

New hooks for studio style control

This update also adds support for ATEM camera control when you use Blackmagic Camera with ATEM workflows. That matters for anyone building iPhone based multicam setups that need consistent shading and control.

The same update adds support for Blackmagic Focus and Zoom demands when used with Blackmagic Camera ProDock. That pairs the app with physical lens style controls, aimed at a more traditional camera operating feel on a phone rig. Those demands already exist as hardware controls for compatible lenses in Blackmagic’s camera ecosystem. Here, they extend into the phone rig world when you connect through the ProDock.

HDMI portrait output and other workflow fixes

The App Store release notes for the current version list several production-facing additions and fixes beyond the Watch comanion.

The update adds support for full-screen portrait mode HDMI output. That targets vertical capture pipelines where you still want proper monitoring on external displays, without awkward letterboxing or UI clutter.

Pricing and availability

Blackmagic Camera on the App Store is free. Hardware mentioned in the update, including Blackmagic Camera ProDock, carries its own pricing and availability outside the app listing. But you know that, don’t you?

The boring advice that saves shoots

New features feel exciting right up until they meet real world constraints like wireless congestion, rigging compromises, heat, storage, and a director who wants the fifth take to roll instantly. Treat the companion like any other control surface: test it, rehearse it, and build a fallback plan before you rely on it in production.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccamera

The post Apple Watch control for the Blackmagic Camera? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Spark Story sits in early previs and story workshops, pairing a browser build step with a mobile virtual production app, plus workflows that touch Blender and Unreal Engine.

NAB gets the hands-on bit

Spark Story is set for a public preview at NAB Show 2026, with an interactive booth demo that lets attendees create shots live and move between a browser session and a mobile virtual production app. The preview is scheduled on the show floor from April 19 through April 22 in Las Vegas (Booth N3148). Lightcraft calls Spark Story the first piece of a broader Spark platform that is still in development, with the NAB preview focused on rapid virtual-shot creation, script linkage, and a browser-to-mobile workflow. A beta notification signup page for the broader Spark platform is already live, indicating that a formal beta program is planned and more or less around the corner.

The pitch is simple: start workshopping a film on day one with the team, using rapid virtual shot building instead of waiting for later stages to see whether scenes and beats land. The preview demo uses scanned environments (Splats) and prompted environments as part of setting a scene, plus the ability to block and capture camera shots from a phone.

Browser to phone, with script in the loop

The preview description frames Spark Story as a real-time workflow that links a browser tool with a mobile app so teams can collaborate while building scenes and placing cameras. Script linkage sits near the center of that workflow, with an emphasis on connecting shots back to a screenplay, and on turning camera placement in a 3D scene into entries that feed a shot list tied to settings and framing.

A separate feature preview calls out collaborative screenplay editing and breakdown, aimed at real-time collaboration and development from partial ideas into a full screenplay. That matters less for the final file format and more for how teams keep intent, coverage, and revisions connected while the visuals evolve.

If you have lived through the classic version of previs, where shots float around in a folder tree while the script keeps changing in a different tool, this is clearly trying to make that disconnect go away. The claim is that a team can move much faster through early planning, pitching, and shoot preparation.

Environments: scans, prompts, and Gaussians

The preview highlights three main buckets of scene content: scanned environments, prompted environments, and more traditional 3D content. It also calls out support for Gaussian Splats and imported USD assets in the same workspace.

For Gaussian Splats, the industry standard is 3D Gaussian Splatting, a real-time radiance field rendering approach with an official, publicly available reference implementation. For USD, the relevant target is OpenUSD, positioned as a platform for building and exchanging 3D scenes at scale.

The interesting bit here is not that any one of those elements exists, but that the preview bundles them into one collaborative shot-building flow. If teh tool can keep scale, orientation, and camera intent consistent while teams mix splats with USD assets, that would remove a lot of glue work that currently happens in side scripts and one-off conversion steps.

Camera intent and virtual production capture

The preview copy states that Spark Story builds scenes around realistic digital environments, physically correct motion, and camera and lens models intended to keep early decisions consistent through shoot days. That is a marketing claim, but it is also a promise: camera behaviour and motion should (!!!!) translate from early planning into on-set execution without a full redo.

On the capture side, the preview positions a mobile app as the place where shots get captured from anywhere, with an integrated iOS experience described as push-button simple. For the platform piece, that points straight at iOS, no word of Anroid yet.

The practical production question is what data comes out the other end and how it plays with the rest of a pipeline. The preview text focuses on workflow and collaboration rather than interchange details beyond imported USD assets. So, at press time, there is no confirmed list of export formats, tracking data handoff details, or round-trip guarantees for specific DCCs in the NAB preview description. But there are importers for Fab.comMegascans, Unreal, Autoshot, as well as Blender, Nuke and After Effects. No word on Lightwave.

What is confirmed on the ecosystem side

Outside the NAB preview messaging, the public documentation site already carries Spark Story sections alongside broader tooling docs, including workflow pages that reference Blender and Unreal-related processes and USD troubleshooting topics. That is not a full product spec, but it does confirm that Spark Story documentation exists publicly and that USD sits inside the expected workflow surface area.

That matters because it suggests this is not a closed demo-only concept. There is already a documentation structure, including tutorials and debugging notes, which is usually where pipelines go first when they try to validate a tool against real production constraints.

What to test before you bet a schedule on it

Rapid collaborative previs sounds great right up until a production needs repeatability, versioning, and predictable handoffs. If you plan to evaluate Spark Story, put it through the boring tests early: multiple artists editing the same sequence, script changes mid-session (Thrice), asset relinking, and exporting or round-tripping anything your downstream tools require.

New tools and innovations should always be tested before use in production, preferably on something disposable, like a two-day internal short that still hits the same technical constraints as a real show.

The post Spark Story at NAB first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

For those who don’t know the tool: LumaFusion by LumaTouch is a professional non-linear video editor for mobile devices. It sits between consumer apps and desktop suites like Premiere or DaVinci Resolve, offering editing on phones and tablets.

Android version grows up

LumaTouch has released a major update to LumaFusion for Android, version 2.5. The company states that the Android edition now mirrors most of the editing power of its iOS counterpart. The update focuses on workflow speed, transition control, and codec flexibility for professional postproduction on mobile hardware.

Faster transitions with fewer taps

The new Head and Tail Transitions function automatically adds a cross-dissolve to both the start and end of any selected clip. This eliminates multiple manual steps for editors who rely on simple fades or dissolve patterns to soften cuts. A second option allows applying multiple transitions at once. Users can select several clips in the timeline, double-tap any transition in the Transitions Library, and the effect is instantly applied to all selected clips. This behaviour mirrors the quick-apply gestures familiar to desktop editing software.

Finding source media now works both ways

LumaFusion 2.5 introduces two linked search commands: Find Selected Clip in Library and Find Selected Clip in Timeline. Selecting a clip in the timeline and invoking the first command highlights the original file in the media library. In reverse, choosing a clip in the library and selecting the second command reveals all its instances on the timeline. The feature simplifies management of reused media in multi-sequence edits.

Interface flexibility

Users can now choose the layout of the Effects Editor. Controls and presets can appear on either side of the display, depending on personal workflow or screen orientation. LumaTouch says this update improves ergonomics on large tablets and ultrawide Android devices.

APV codec support

LumaFusion for Android now supports exporting projects in Samsung’s Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec. APV is a perceptually lossless intra-frame codec designed for mobile devices, offering high-quality compression for 4K and 8K video. LumaTouch notes that APV files consume around 20 per cent less storage than comparable formats while maintaining 10- to 16-bit depth and HDR support. The codec’s intra-frame structure also simplifies frame-accurate editing and colour correction.

Near parity with iOS version

LumaTouch developers describe this release as a milestone toward feature parity between Android and iOS versions. Given the platform differences in file system access and media handling, achieving functional equivalence has been technically complex. The company has not yet announced any timeline for full parity, but the Android version now includes nearly all editing, trimming, and transition options available on iOS.

Availability and pricing

LumaFusion for Android is available via Google Play and the Galaxy Store. At press time, the standard licence price listed by LumaTouch is approximately EUR 34.99 or USD 29.99, varying by region.

Verdict

LumaFusion 2.5 continues LumaTouch’s push to make mobile editing genuinely production-ready rather than a novelty. The update primarily benefits Android professionals working on tablets, foldables, or production field devices. Its new transition automation and APV codec export broaden both speed and fidelity options.

As with any mobile tool promising professional capability, Digital Production reminds readers to verify performance and codec compatibility in their specific pipelines before committing to critical projects. The latest version, while feature-rich, should be thoroughly tested for stability with complex timelines and HDR workflows.

The post LumaFusion for Android catches up with iOS sibling first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Blackmagic Design has released version 3.2 of its Blackmagic Camera app for iOS. The update introduces native live streaming directly to YouTube, Vimeo, and Twitch, without requiring additional encoders or third-party apps. The app continues to frame the iPhone as a production-ready camera interface with full manual control. Version 3.2 extends this idea to live workflows, letting operators start a professional broadcast straight from the app by entering a stream key for their chosen platform.

SRT for Professional Streams

Beyond platform streaming, the update adds SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) support. This protocol provides encrypted, low-latency transmission suitable for news, remote production, or event coverage over unstable networks. The app can now send SRT video directly to Blackmagic Streaming Decoders or any SRT-compatible receiver, positioning the iPhone as a viable field camera for broadcast environments. Support for custom RTMP and SRT servers allows integration with professional CDNs or in-house streaming systems. Or, you know, Vmix, Streamlabs, Facebook, and all the others.

Smarter Storage Feedback

External recording to SSDs remains supported via USB-C, but version 3.2 refines how the app reports media status. The update adds clear on-screen notifications if an external drive disconnects during recording, standby, or data upload. For mobile ProRes workflows, this is a practical safeguard against lost footage and unclear drive states.

Expanded Remote Control

Multi-view remote monitoring on iPad and Mac has been expanded. Users can now select the number of monitored angles, enabling more flexible layouts for multicamera setups. This builds on the app’s growing role as a companion tool for Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve Camera projects.

Under-the-Hood Fixes

Blackmagic Design lists two key bug fixes: a corrected recording issue linked to auto white balance and intermittent audio monitoring dropouts. General stability improvements are included, though no details on performance changes were provided.

Availability

Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.2 is available now as a free download on the App Store, with no subscription or in-app purchases. As with any newly introduced feature, live streaming and SRT workflows should be tested before critical productions to confirm stability and compatibility.

The post Blackmagic Camera 3.2: iPhone Streams Live, No Extra Steps first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.