Just got an Inspre1v2 looking for a Mac
- Thread starter RMF808
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With all due respect, you're doing it wrong. Using the I2 for mapping is like using a NASCAR to go to the corner store for milk. While I'm sure the I2 will take great photos, your limited flight time will insure days spent on any mapping job over 200 acres. If you're getting into mapping, the P4P is the best bird for that. I have Gen 1, and am perfectly happy with it. The mechanical shutter is a total deal-maker. That said...
Crunching the data DOES take a powerful computer. I assume you're using Ground Control Points, yes?
If you're using Pix4D to make your maps, you're going to want a powerful i7 machine with lots of RAM, an SSD OS disk, an SSD scratch disk (not necessary but can help in some situations), and a nice phat 4TB drive to store the data. I would add an external 4TB drive for redundancy. I'm not sure Pix4D supports Mac. And honestly, you'll spend 4x on the Mac version of the computer I just described.
Good luck.
D
Crunching the data DOES take a powerful computer. I assume you're using Ground Control Points, yes?
If you're using Pix4D to make your maps, you're going to want a powerful i7 machine with lots of RAM, an SSD OS disk, an SSD scratch disk (not necessary but can help in some situations), and a nice phat 4TB drive to store the data. I would add an external 4TB drive for redundancy. I'm not sure Pix4D supports Mac. And honestly, you'll spend 4x on the Mac version of the computer I just described.
Good luck.
D
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Hello,
I also have the Inspire. I also have a Mavic Air. Watching the little AIR map is so cool. The picture just isn’t the same. Also have to consider the wind. Anything smaller than an Inspire is risking not getting to work. If anything was within my budget I would step even higher to the Matrice which is weather rated for even some amount of moisture. Wouldn’t fly in a thunderstorm... LMBO but there are many reasons for that decision. As far as a computer is concerned... I use only Mac. There is a great open source “Free” software for GIS but the name escapes me. Most customers have their own GIS / engineering packages that you will supply data for. I run a small lightweight MacBook Air for mobile and a much more powerful Dual Zeon Mac Pro at home for a workstation / Server. I run Mac because it is more secure and less headache to just get some work done. Also ... if I need to supplement my mapping with some Video work ... nothing beats my Inspire. I can even bring along a separate controller and Camera operator for that extra PRO touch. If nothing else ... watching an Inspire reside her Landing Gear and hear those 13” props really makes my customers feel like their getting another level of service. I see folks all day long making money with $200 Phantoms but ... I was blessed to step up and I am so thankful. I hope everyone who has any Drone can make money and provide for their family but it’s getting harder every day.
I also have the Inspire. I also have a Mavic Air. Watching the little AIR map is so cool. The picture just isn’t the same. Also have to consider the wind. Anything smaller than an Inspire is risking not getting to work. If anything was within my budget I would step even higher to the Matrice which is weather rated for even some amount of moisture. Wouldn’t fly in a thunderstorm... LMBO but there are many reasons for that decision. As far as a computer is concerned... I use only Mac. There is a great open source “Free” software for GIS but the name escapes me. Most customers have their own GIS / engineering packages that you will supply data for. I run a small lightweight MacBook Air for mobile and a much more powerful Dual Zeon Mac Pro at home for a workstation / Server. I run Mac because it is more secure and less headache to just get some work done. Also ... if I need to supplement my mapping with some Video work ... nothing beats my Inspire. I can even bring along a separate controller and Camera operator for that extra PRO touch. If nothing else ... watching an Inspire reside her Landing Gear and hear those 13” props really makes my customers feel like their getting another level of service. I see folks all day long making money with $200 Phantoms but ... I was blessed to step up and I am so thankful. I hope everyone who has any Drone can make money and provide for their family but it’s getting harder every day.
I use an Inspire 2 for quite a bit of mapping. It is a workhorse and we have never been shut down by wind. Using an X4s, it has a mechanical shutter as does an X7. Sadly, the X4s is no longer made. Flight times safely reach 20 minutes. It is easy to maintain VLOS because of its size and color.
A P4P would give you great maps with its camera at a much lower price point.
What else will your requirements be for the unit?
A P4P would give you great maps with its camera at a much lower price point.
What else will your requirements be for the unit?
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Last week I finally replaced my beloved 17” MacBook Pro.....a summer ‘09 model.
I bought the new MBP, 15.4”.....8 core i9, 32Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD and Radeon Pro 560 w/4Gb.....man is it FAST!
I use a little Sandisk Extreme 1Tb external for extra space and field transfers from SD and CF cards. At home it Time Machines to the 8Tb backup drive on the network and shares the 8Tb data drive with everything else. Going to all SSD on the laptop solution.....and the screaming 9th gen 8 core i9 is amazingly fast.
I bought the new MBP, 15.4”.....8 core i9, 32Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD and Radeon Pro 560 w/4Gb.....man is it FAST!
I use a little Sandisk Extreme 1Tb external for extra space and field transfers from SD and CF cards. At home it Time Machines to the 8Tb backup drive on the network and shares the 8Tb data drive with everything else. Going to all SSD on the laptop solution.....and the screaming 9th gen 8 core i9 is amazingly fast.
Without getting into specifics Its CPU, GPU and RAM. Get the fastest CPU you can afford, Definitely get a good GPU and then fork out for at least 32 gb of RAM
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Okay, so not a mapping result....BUT....
Today I threw together a quick iMove....6:00 minutes of clips just general flying around. Titles, transitions and an mp4 soundtrack from my iTunes library. Pretty standard fare, nothing fancy but complete. 1920x1080, 1080p, stereo, h.264...just under a gig at 987Mb.
My old 17" MBP, '09 model, would take nearly 30 minute to render this. The new MBP: 2:41. Just under 3 minutes....didn't even get hot on my lap.
Today I threw together a quick iMove....6:00 minutes of clips just general flying around. Titles, transitions and an mp4 soundtrack from my iTunes library. Pretty standard fare, nothing fancy but complete. 1920x1080, 1080p, stereo, h.264...just under a gig at 987Mb.
My old 17" MBP, '09 model, would take nearly 30 minute to render this. The new MBP: 2:41. Just under 3 minutes....didn't even get hot on my lap.
What computer did you ever settle on? I just bumped up to a 2019 Macbook Pro. 16in, 2.3Ghz i9, Graphics - AMD Radeon Pro 5500M / Intel UHD Graphics 630 & 1TB SSD. I love the portability and it's actually faster than my iMac 20in I had.
Old thread... but to chime in.
I like the I2 dual heated battery setup for city construction sites... especially cold days.
The X4S is the exact camera as the P4P, both mechanical up to 1/2000.
Little longer setup than my P4Pv2, but I can use the X4S for Mapping, then swap to the X5S 12mm for a video loop to later provide a time lapse composite. From worked flat ground, I setup a Litchi loop that I run throughout the project. The X4S & P4P make probably the best camera setup for mapping, the X5S better for videos, with SSD drive & Processors or MicroSD; Although I keep a M2P in rig for spare.
Have a 2018 MBP 15, i9, 32GB, 1TB SSD and for mapping, insure you switch to the alternate Radeon GPU.
The MBP has a mediocre GPU (Radeon) for mapping, the standard Intel GPU is sour bad for mapping. Both aren’t going to provide fast map / 3D modeling processing times compared to other options.
Video Edit & Photo work is good on the MBP (and 2018/20 iPad Pro & LumaFusion) but Mapping with Metashape, Reality Capture, Pix4D are optimized for Nvidia GPU and won’t be fast on any MBP.
When mapping or modeling, the biggest variable is GPU with minimal 4-6 GB, 32 GB minimal RAM and fast I/O to large SSD storage. The CPU plays secondary to GPU... something you won’t normally get on a notebook of any scale. The mapping program is optimized for GPU processing while CPU does minimal.
Sadly the Macs dropped Nvidia GPUs in 2013... the 2013 iMac 27” i7 had the last decent Nvidia GPU in Mac. The 2013 iMac w Nvidia 6GB, 32GB Ram, 1 TB SSD HD’s isn’t bad performer, but Metashape (MS)is the last one still providing version in MacOS. All other locally processing programs require Win10... Bootcamp.
None yet recognize Metal (until recent 10/2020 MS 1.7) but they recognize openCL CUDA... not as nicely / optimized as native Nvidia CUDA.
So you could run current MBP Radeon GPU’s in Window10 Bootcamp, but it won’t approach current Nvidia GPU’s. The current Metashape 1.7 MacOS version is greatly improved to use Mac Radeon and finally recognizes Metal GPU to take advantage of the GPU. For a Mac’er, the Agisoft MS 1.7 is the only locally processing MacOS option, and it’s getting much better!
If you want to process locally, and want a MPB, then you’ll need to add a eGPU box with Nvidia GPU.
If you want Mac power... a great option to explore and nice priced is to modify a 2009-2012 MacPro 5,1 Dual CPU Core system with modern Nvidia GPU... add 128GB Ram, 3.46Mhz Xeon Dual Core, 12 processors, BT4.2, AC WiFi, AirPlay, PCIe Bus SSD’s (or NVMe SSDs), USB-C 3.1 10GPs, 10GbE NIC and a upper performing Nvidia GPU. A great option is a Nvidia 1080Ti 11GB GPU with MacOS Firmware and Pixlas Power Supply mod to support the GPU. Sounds like a lot, but simplistic to revamp an older system that performs above majority of new Mac systems costing several $1000s more. The MacPro 5,1 had ample large quite fans, bullet strong PS, and built to continue modifying.
This is a very popular modification, many YouTubes and forums cover these mods. So much so, the price on the older MacPro 5,1 has recently increased from demand & popularity.
You can certainly do it lower cost with a Windows box and get newer processors but if your a Mac’er... and want the Mac hardware, these Rock for less than $4-5k completed.
Disadvantage... if running Nvidia GPU on MacOS, you can’t go above High Sierra to use also in Mac environment. But they will run Windows 10 just as well as a Windows box... and you have MacOS too for Mac programs. I run Win10 20H2 with zero driver / component errors, recognizing all 12 Xeon processors.
If you go Radeon GPU, go with a Radeon Vega64 GPU w Mac boot FW... then you cap out at Mojave natively and Catalina OS (Hacked). Big Sur will be provided by the hackers in future too. MacPro 5,1 isn’t supported by Catalina & BigSur due to original hardware, but runs fine on modified newer components.
If you go with cloud mapping & modeling processing, and only working images locally... then all systems work about the same. You don‘t require much local power.
In comparison... a small construction mapping & 3D modeling; Local Processing Metashape using GPU. On my MBP i9 project took over 4 hrs, 2013 iMac 27 i7, 2+ hrs, MacPro, 25 minutes. MapsMadeEasy on Cloud - took 3 hrs (shared time).
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Lots of good information. I'll just reiterate that the mechanical shutter is a real deal-maker for mapping. I've been using a P4P for years now and couldn't be happier. Reliable, robust, and takes great photos.
QUALIFIER: I always use manual camera settings - specifically shutter priority @ ISO 100. On sunny days I shoot around shutter 1/2000 and on cloudy days 1/1000. This leaves room for the aperture to auto adjust to changing EV's due to changing ground conditions. If, for some reason it gets REALLY dark, the ISO will adjust up a notch to 200. This insures very consistent exposure even if we're shooting over 1,000 photos. Also worth noting, I never trust Auto WB, as it has proven to be very inconsistent. In the software I use for mapping, I can only set WB to Auto, Sun or Cloudy. So I'll use "Sun" or "Cloudy" depending on the day.
D
