01
Lock on
Tap your subject in the live preview. Helm locks on with on‑device Apple Vision and holds that identity — even through crossings and brief occlusions.
How it works
Three moves. None of them yours.
Helm closes the loop on the real camera’s framing — the rig’s own motion is the feedback. No cloud, no wearables, no one behind the tripod.
02
The rig follows
Real motors pan and tilt the camera itself. Patience before a move, full commitment during it — motion you’d otherwise hire an operator for.
03
Walk the room
Cross the stage, work the whiteboard, sit back down. Lead‑room framing gives you space to move into, and the frame settles the moment you do.
What’s aboard
Built like an instrument.
The control law is pure math, tuned against a measured model of the physical rig — then proven on it.
Pursuit
Two-axis smooth tracking
A world-space observer with dead-time compensation drives both pan and tilt. Every move commits — no hunting, no stop‑start.
Framing
Head-anchored framing
Helm frames on the head, not the bounding box — holding natural headroom as your subject steps closer or drifts away.
Anticipation
Lead room
A walking subject is framed toward the trailing third, with room to move into. Stop, and the shot recenters — smoothly.
Hands-on
MIDI jog
Trim the shot from a MIDI controller when you want a hand on the wheel. Helm folds your adjustment into the frame and keeps tracking.
Workshop
Mock-hardware dev mode
A full developer simulator with a virtual rig and mock serial hardware — rehearse, tune, and test with nothing plugged in.
Upkeep
Sparkle auto-updates
Signed, notarized, and updated in place via Sparkle. Helm keeps itself current so you can keep shooting.