Overview
Iris Studio is a real-time video production and collaboration platform. It lets you connect cameras and other video sources to cloud-based "Studios," remotely control PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras, and use AI-powered auto-tracking to follow subjects automatically. You can access Iris Studio through a web browser or the Iris desktop application.
A Studio is your workspace — it's where your video sources, camera controls, and production tools live. You can belong to multiple Studios and switch between them at any time. Multiple team members can view and control the same Studio simultaneously.
What you need
An Iris account. Sign up or log in at the login screen. Authentication is handled via a secure third-party provider.
A linked Bridge. A Bridge is the Iris desktop application that connects your cameras to the cloud. At least one Bridge must be linked to your Studio for video sources to appear.
A supported web browser (for the web version) or the Iris desktop app (for local features like recording to disk and local-mode connections).
An internet connection. Required for cloud-based operation. A local network connection is needed if you want to use Local Mode.
Permissions. Your role in the Studio determines what you can do. Users with control permissions can operate cameras, manage sources, and access production features. View-only users can watch but not control.
The Main Interface
When you open a Studio, you'll see a layout divided into several areas:
Header bar
The header bar runs across the top of the screen. From left to right, it contains:
Studio Switcher — Shows your current Studio name. Click the dropdown arrow to switch between Studios. Studios belonging to the device you're on are listed first, followed by Studios you own, then Studios you've been invited to.
Production controls (center) — Buttons for Recording and Output appear here if you have control permissions. These open a settings dialog where you can manage recording and streaming. A red indicator appears when recording or streaming is active.
Session avatars — Small profile pictures of everyone currently connected to this Studio.
Share button — Lets you invite other users to your Studio.
Local Mode switch — Toggles between Cloud mode (video routed through the cloud) and Local mode (direct connection on your local network for lower latency). Only available in the desktop app.
Bridge — Opens the Bridge management popover. Shows your connected Bridge.
Monitoring — Opens the monitoring panel showing real-time performance metrics for your video sources (resolution, bitrate, frame rate, quality scores). Only visible if you have control permissions and at least one Bridge is connected.
Notifications — Shows system notifications (recording started/stopped, errors, etc.).
Account menu — Your profile avatar and name. Click to access account settings, Studio settings, hot key configuration, controller setup, billing, and to log out.
Left panel — Sources
The left panel lists your video and audio sources. It has two tabs:
Video — Lists all connected video sources (cameras). Each source shows a thumbnail and name. Click a source to select it in the main viewer.
Audio — Lists all connected audio sources.
If you have control permissions, an Add button appears at the top, letting you add new video or audio sources.
You can switch between Video and Audio tabs using a keyboard shortcut.
Top bar — Tools
The top bar contains camera control tools. These only appear when you have control permissions and at least one video source is connected:
Arrangement toggle — Switch between Single view (one camera fills the screen) and Multi-view (grid of all cameras). Multi-view is disabled if you only have one camera.
Toolbar — Camera control tools, each with a keyboard shortcut:
Cursor —
Joystick — Click and drag on the video to pan and tilt the camera.
Center — Click a point in the video to center the camera on it. Has a variant called Cine Center.
Fast Frame — Click to quickly frame a region. Has a variant called Cine Frame.
Auto-Tracking — Enable AI-powered subject tracking (requires a compatible plan and a desktop Bridge). If your plan doesn't include auto-tracking, the tool shows a tooltip explaining the limitation. If your Bridge is offline or you only have embedded (camera-based) bridges, a relevant tooltip appears instead.
Grid Lines — Toggle an overlay grid on the video for composition guidance.
Tools that require camera calibration are disabled until the camera is calibrated. If a camera is currently being calibrated, all tools are disabled.
Main Content Area — Viewport
The center of the screen displays your live video feeds. In Single view, the selected camera fills the area. In Multi-view, cameras are arranged in a grid.
Click a camera in Multi-view to select it (highlighted with a colored outline).
The selected camera receives your tool interactions (joystick, click to center, etc.).
When auto-tracking is active, detection annotations (bounding boxes around detected subjects) may appear on the video.
If a video stream stalls (freezes), the system automatically attempts to recover it — retrying up to 30 times over a maximum of 2 minutes.
Right panel — Controls & Image
The right panel has two tabs (visible only with control permissions):
Controls — PTZ camera controls for the selected video source:
Focus controls
Quick Shots (preset camera positions)
Pan/Tilt speed
Zoom speed
D-Pad movement controls
Image — Image adjustment settings and presets for the selected camera. A slide-out drawer shows saved presets.
If no video source is selected, the Controls tab shows an empty state. If the selected device doesn't support PTZ control, an "Unsupported" message appears.
Bottom panel — Presets & Auto-Tracking
The bottom panel has two tabs:
Presets — Saved and browse camera positions presets. Click a preset to move the camera to that position.
Auto-Tracking — Auto-tracking controls. This tab automatically activates when you select the Auto-Tracking tool.
Adding a video source
Click the Add button in the left panel.
A wizard opens with the title "Add a video source."
Step 1 — Discover: The system scans for available cameras on your Bridge's network. Select a discovered device, or click "Manually Configure" to enter an RTSP URL by hand.
Step 2 — Video settings: Configure video parameters (resolution, codec, etc.) and see a live preview.
Step 3 — Control settings: Configure PTZ control protocol if applicable.
Click Continue at each step. The Continue button is disabled until a preview connection is established (you'll see "Waiting for preview..." while it connects).
On the final step, click to confirm. The device is added to your Studio.
For Iris-enabled devices, you may be prompted to enter credentials before proceeding.
Production features: Recording & Output
Click the Recording or Output button in the center of the header bar to open the Production Settings dialog. The dialog has tabs based on which features are enabled for your account:
Recording
Choose a save location for recordings (desktop app only — click "Change" to pick a folder, or "Open" to view the current folder).
Select which video and audio sources to record.
Click Start Recording to begin, or Stop Recording to end. A confirmation prompt appears before stopping.
Notifications appear when recording starts, stops, or fails.
Output (NDI & RTMP)
NDI Output — Enable NDI output for selected sources to make them available to other applications on your network.
RTMP Streaming — Add up to 25 RTMP destinations. For each destination, provide a nickname, server URL (must start with
rtmp://orrtmps://), and stream key. Choose a stream profile (resolution, codec, bitrate). Assign a video source to each destination and click to start streaming.
Notifications inform you when streaming starts, stops, or fails. If an RTMP stream fails to start, you'll see a message suggesting you verify your server URL and stream key.
Recording and output features are beta features, you can opt-in to test them.
Monitoring
Click the monitoring icon in the header to open the Monitoring panel. It shows:
Video Sources tab — For each camera: upstream quality (from Bridge to cloud) and downstream quality (from cloud to your browser), resolution, bitrate, and frame rate. Quality is shown on a 0–5 scale.
Audio Sources tab — Similar metrics for audio devices.
Warnings — Alerts appear for poor upstream quality (score below 2.5/5), poor downstream quality (score below 0.5/1.0), high system resource usage ("degraded mode"), or critical resource usage where video may be paused.
Account & Studio settings
Click your profile avatar in the top-right corner, then select your settings option. The settings dialog has three top-level sections:
Account — Profile (name, photo), Password, Hot Keys (customize keyboard shortcuts), Controllers (gamepad configuration).
Studio — Studio name and settings,
Billing (visible to admins/owners only).
Keyboard shortcuts
Iris Studio supports keyboard shortcuts for common actions:
Switch tools (Joystick, Center, Fast Frame, Zoom, Auto-Tracking)
Cycle to next/previous tool
Toggle video arrangement (Single/Multi-view)
Switch left panel tab (Video/Audio)
Switch right panel tab (Controls/Image)
Activate bottom panel presets
PTZ controls (pan left/right, tilt up/down, zoom in/out)
Temporarily engage joystick (hold Space while hovering over video)
You can view and customize all shortcuts in Account Settings > Hot Keys.
Limits and restrictions
Auto-Tracking requires a plan that includes auto-tracking and a desktop Bridge (not an embedded/camera-only bridge). If your Bridge is offline, auto-tracking is unavailable.
RTMP destinations — You can add up to 25 RTMP streaming destinations per Studio.
Camera limits — The number of cameras you can add may depend on your plan. When you reach the limit, you'll see a "Source Limit Reached" message when trying to link a new device.
Recording — Only available in the desktop app (not the web browser). Recording saves files to a local directory on the Bridge computer.
Local Mode — Only available in the desktop app. Requires the Bridge and your computer to be on the same local network.
Production features (Recording, NDI, RTMP) — May require early access opt-in or specific plan features to be visible.
Permissions — Users without control permissions see a read-only view: no camera controls, no right panel, no bottom panel, no production buttons.
What happens if…
…your Bridge goes offline?
The main viewer area shows an offline message. If you have a single Bridge, you'll see a "Bridge Offline" screen with the Bridge name and version. If all Bridges are offline, a general offline message appears. Video feeds stop, but you remain in the Studio and can reconnect when the Bridge comes back.
…your internet drops?
The application detects the loss of connectivity. If you're completely offline during initial login, an offline error message is displayed. The app attempts to gracefully degrade — it will use cached data where possible and reconnect automatically when your connection returns.
…a video stream freezes?
The system automatically detects stalled video (no new frames for 3 seconds) and attempts recovery by resubscribing to the video track. It retries up to 30 times over a maximum of 2 minutes before giving up.
…you close the desktop app?
A confirmation dialog asks whether you want to Quit Bridge (fully exit, stopping all background processes) or Keep Running (hide the window but keep the Bridge running in the background).
…recording fails?
A notification appears: "Recording failed — [device name] unexpectedly stopped recording. Go to Recording Settings to restart your recording." If recording fails to start, you'll see: "Recording failed to start — Go to Recording Settings and try recording again."
…RTMP streaming fails?
A notification appears: "RTMP streaming failed — [destination name] unexpectedly stopped streaming." If it fails to start: "RTMP failed to start — Verify your RTMP server URL and stream key for [destination name]."
…you don't have control permissions?
You can view video feeds but cannot control cameras, add/remove sources, access production features, or modify settings. The toolbar, right panel, and bottom panel are hidden.
…no Bridge is linked?
The main viewer area shows an no bridge message. You need a bridge in order to use Iris.
Troubleshooting
Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
"Waiting for preview..." won't go away when adding a source | Camera not reachable or RTSP URL incorrect | Verify the camera is powered on, on the same network as the Bridge, and the URL/credentials are correct. |
Auto-Tracking tool is grayed out | Plan doesn't include auto-tracking, Bridge is offline, or only embedded bridges are connected | Upgrade your plan, ensure your desktop Bridge is online, or connect a desktop Bridge. |
No video sources listed | No Bridge linked, or Bridge is offline | Open the Bridge tray in the header and link a Bridge. Check that the Bridge computer is running and connected to the internet. |
Recording button not visible | Recording feature not enabled for your account | Contact your administrator or opt in via early access if available. |
"No production features are currently enabled" | Recording, NDI, and RTMP features are all disabled | Contact your administrator to enable production features. |
Video feed is frozen | Network instability or WebRTC issue | The system auto-recovers. If it persists, try refreshing the page or switching between Cloud and Local mode. |
Camera controls don't respond | Camera not calibrated, or you lack control permissions | Complete camera calibration first. Verify your role has control permissions. |
Poor video quality warning | Unstable internet connection | Check your upload speed (upstream) and download speed (downstream). Consider switching to Local Mode if on the same network. |
FAQ
Q: What is a Bridge?
A Bridge is the Iris desktop application running on a computer. It connects your cameras to the cloud so you can view and control them from anywhere.
Q: Can multiple people use the same Studio at the same time?
Yes. Multiple users can connect to the same Studio simultaneously. You'll see their avatars in the header bar. All users with control permissions can operate cameras.
Q: What's the difference between Cloud mode and Local mode?
Cloud mode routes video through Iris's cloud servers, allowing access from anywhere. Local mode creates a direct connection between your computer and the Bridge on your local network, providing lower latency. Local mode is only available in the desktop app.
Q: How do I add a new Studio?
In the Iris desktop app, download and install Iris on a new computer, then log in. A new Studio is automatically created and linked to your account.
Q: Can I customize keyboard shortcuts?
Yes. Go to Account Settings > Hot Keys to view and customize all keyboard shortcuts. Click a shortcut to edit it, press your desired key combination, then press Enter to save.
Q: What video protocols are supported for adding cameras?
NDI and RTSP cameras can be discovered automatically on the network, or you can manually configure an RTSP source. Iris-enabled devices have a streamlined connection flow.
Q: Where are my recordings saved?
Recordings are saved to a local directory on the Bridge computer. You can view and change the save location in Recording Settings. Click "Open" to navigate to the folder, or "Change" to select a different directory.
Q: What happens to my cameras if I switch Studios?
Each Studio has its own set of linked Bridges and cameras. Switching Studios loads the cameras associated with that Studio. Your previous Studio continues operating in the background.
Q: Is gamepad control supported?
Yes. Iris Studio supports gamepad input for camera control. You can configure your gamepad in Account Settings > Controllers.
Q: How do I invite someone to my Studio?
Click the Share button in the header bar to send an invitation to another user.