A Close-Up Look at the Intelligent ARRI Orbiter and Stellar App

Stellar, the lighting control app from ARRI, which has paved the way for modern intelligent lighting control, has just received a major update, moving it to version 2.0 and making life for production teams better than ever before. 

For a start, the professional lighting app available on iOS and Android phones and tablets can now control third-party lights, opening the door to integration with a range of other big brand lights, such as Litegear, Astera and KinoFlo, on top of the already exceptional pairing with their own branded set of ultra-bright, tunable, and directional LED fixtures, the Orbiter LED luminaire. 

On top of that, the 2.0 update brings a wealth of upgrades to the system, reimagining lighting control by automatically taking care of complex DMX settings and reworking their already beautiful and easy-to-use interface with new features and smooth graphics.

Stellar and Orbiter – A Match Made For The Stars

ARRI’s newest directions fixture, The Orbiter, is truly out of this world. Aside from not looking like any other lighting fixture on the market to date, it offers a six-colour wide gamut light engine and a powerful lighting operation system stylishly named LiOS.

The light rig also features an integrated color sensor that matches ambient light, a weatherproof housing, and a removable control panel, as well as a full suite of connectors and sensors that marry software and hardware in new and intuitive ways.

According to ARRI, the concept behind the Orbiter was to “utilize state-of-the-art technology and combine it with a versatile design.” As a result, it’s a pretty smart piece of kit. As it relies so much on software, it’s LiOS software receives frequent updates and integrates seamlessly with the Stellar intelligent lighting app.

When shooting, if any fixture needs to be swapped out, it can be easily exchanged, and with a quick scan, the Stellar app can detect a new fixture and replace the old one. It is also possible to group a range of fixtures, each with different CCT ranges, by prioritizing the fixture with the smallest range and cropping the rest. 

With so many personalization options, Stellar 2.0 can also work with personal values in place of the default intensity, which now also remains at the same level throughout all modes.

While there are other apps that allow DMX lighting control from a phone or tablet, Stellar is the perfect app to quickly and easily control intelligent light fixtures while on set without worrying about the mechanics of it all.

The SkyPanel allows for fast and flexible exploration of colours on the fly, making a color selection on set effortless and fast – which is why we love it so much at Moonji Production. 

By bringing together a diverse ecosystem of lighting control products, including Orbiter, the app reimagines lighting control on a shoot and is designed to create a complex lighting network that is easy to manage. And if either the Orbiter or any other third-party intelligent light fixture offers RDM functionality, the temperature and mode information will be automatically displayed in the app. 

Although Stellar is a paid-for app, with both monthly and yearly subscription options, it is a must-have tool for any professional or semi-professional production team.