Syphon, Camera & External Inputs
Arkestra can receive video from a camera, a Syphon server on the same Mac, or other external sources, and can also send its canvas back out via Syphon.
All external inputs are added as content in a Layer track — they appear in the track chain like any other generator and can have effects applied on top.
Adding an external input
Section titled “Adding an external input”Open the Add Content browser (the + icon in the right sidebar), select the External category, and click + next to the source you want. The source is added as the first item in the selected track’s chain.
Camera Input
Section titled “Camera Input”Use a connected camera, built-in webcam, or Continuity Camera as a live video source in any Layer track.
Setting up
Section titled “Setting up”- Add Camera Input from the External category.
- In the Inspector, open the Camera dropdown and choose a device. The session starts immediately.
Mirror Output
Section titled “Mirror Output”The Mirror Output toggle (on by default) flips the camera image horizontally. This gives a natural selfie-mirror look for front-facing cameras. Disable it for rear-facing cameras or external cameras already mounted to face the correct direction.
Vision Tracking
Section titled “Vision Tracking”Activating a Camera Input automatically feeds frames to the Vision Tracking system when Vision is in Camera mode. A compact set of detector toggles (Face, + Landmarks, Hand, Body) appears directly in the camera inspector for quick access — these are the same toggles as in the full Vision Tracking panel.
See Vision Tracking → for full details on mapping detected values to parameters.
Syphon
Section titled “Syphon”Syphon is a macOS framework for sharing GPU textures between apps at zero copy overhead. It is supported by VJ software (Resolume, MadMapper, VDMX), compositing tools (Millumin, Modul8), and many other creative applications.
Syphon output
Section titled “Syphon output”Open the Output panel in the right sidebar and enable Syphon Output. Arkestra immediately publishes its canvas as a Syphon server named Arkestra Output, available to any Syphon-compatible app on the same machine.
Syphon input
Section titled “Syphon input”Add Syphon Input from the External category. In the Inspector, pick the server name from the dropdown to connect. Any Syphon server visible on the machine — including other Arkestra instances — can be used as a source.
Routing example
Section titled “Routing example”A common live setup:
Arkestra (Syphon out) → Resolume Arena (Syphon in) → output mapping → projectorsArkestra handles all shader-based generation; Resolume handles multi-projector warping and masking.
NDI input and output are not currently available in Arkestra.