Recording takes in the app

The Spark iOS app can composite a real performer into your virtual scene in real time, with or without a green screen.

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Enter compositing mode

Tap the third button on the left side of the shooting view to enable compositing mode, then choose a keying method:

• Person / AR key — AI segmentation mattes the performer into the scene. No green screen needed.
• Chroma key — For a green, blue, or other flat-color screen. Use Pick Color and tap the screen once to pull the key, then fine-tune with the black/white clipping controls in the tools menu. A well-picked color gives a cleaner key than segmentation.
• Garbage matte — Scan around the edges of a small screen and the app auto-detects the screen area, so the virtual environment fills everything outside it. This lets a small screen (for example 10 by 10 feet) serve wide shots.

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View modes

Use the toggles to switch between four views while compositing:

• Live composite — The performer keyed over the virtual background.
• Camera feed — Raw iPhone or iPad camera footage.
• Depth map — Per-frame depth information.
• Matte channel — The matte used for keying.

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Placement and alignment

Before recording, seat the performer correctly in the virtual scene:

• Find the floor — If you drop into a scene too high or low, point the camera at the real floor and confirm. The app measures the distance and corrects your height. This cannot run while locked to a camera; exit to free drive mode first.
• Slide the world — Hold the slide button (three-arrow icon) and physically move; the world slides relative to you, so you can seat a real actor precisely inside virtual geometry (a car seat, behind a desk), including correct occlusion by foreground virtual objects.
• Camera lock — After jumping to a browser-authored camera position, the lock button pins the camera to that position, including a parented, moving position. Hit record and the camera rides the parent while you keep handheld control of framing.

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Record a take

1. Choose the simulated camera or the device’s native camera. The app auto-detects the device; 24 fps at 4K is the recommended setting, 25 fps is also supported. Autofocus is available with a manual option.
2. Frame the shot with the performer in position.
3. Tap Record. Run the action, then tap Stop.
4. Name and save the take.

After each take, the app asks whether to render the composite now or defer it (this prompt can be toggled in settings). Deferring is the recommended pattern for fast-moving sets — it conserves heat and battery, and you can batch-render everything later from the takes page with Render All. The take appears in your Gallery in the browser within seconds, ready for the team to watch and comment on.

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Output files

Every take produces a full set of separated elements, not just a baked composite: the raw camera footage, the live composite, the background plate movement, a depth map, the tracking data, and take metadata. Files are organized on the device by production, then script scene. See Spark Desktop and takes for how to get these files off the device and into the browser for the team to review.

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Offline behavior

The Spark iOS app uses the same real-time database as the Spark web app. A take recorded while the phone is offline saves locally and syncs to the web app the next time the phone reconnects.