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Pre-programmed drone and gimbal rotation

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Hi all,

I have a job where I need to match camera animation paths created in 3DS Max but i'm unsure how to get these pre-programmed with GS Pro or other software. I'm hoping someone out there can help me out on this.

I will be supplied a GPS start and finish point along with speed and altitude, I have achieved this in GS Pro but i'm having trouble matching gimbal movement. I've made a quick diagram below to try explain. The gimbal needs to slowly rotate to stay focused on the asterisk while the drone moves from point A to B

Point A Point B
+-----------------------------------------------------------+


*


I can pre-program the drone's orientation in GS Pro but the gimbal remains looking the direction it started. Essentially my question is, how do I pre-program gimbal movement? (Along with drone movement) In a way i'm after similar features to POI interest mode, just without it rotating, rather moving in a straight line. My current solution is to record a waypoint mission within DJI Go, play it back and operate the camera manually while the drone is moving, but this is an imperfect solution.

Would really appreciate any help, cheers!
Frank
 
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Frank:
Check out Litchi.

It will do what you are trying to do. There are great tutorials available on YouTube and Vimeo which explain what you want.

After that, look up Virtual Litchi Mission. You will be able to view your programmed mission virtually through Google Earth and fine tune your camera angles, rotation etc. You could even collaborate with your client to ensure you are getting the shots they visualized.
Downside is there is a bit of a learning curve, but if you have GS Pro handled, this will be easier.
 
Frank:
Check out Litchi.

It will do what you are trying to do. There are great tutorials available on YouTube and Vimeo which explain what you want.

After that, look up Virtual Litchi Mission. You will be able to view your programmed mission virtually through Google Earth and fine tune your camera angles, rotation etc. You could even collaborate with your client to ensure you are getting the shots they visualized.
Downside is there is a bit of a learning curve, but if you have GS Pro handled, this will be easier.


Perfect! This should do exactly what i'm after. I'll pre-program a few missions and give it a test today. Thank you so much!
 
I'll pre-program a few missions and give it a test today. Thank you so much!

Hi Frank. A minor heads up re Litchi:

I have a fair amount of experience using Litichi to execute the same sorts of exactly defined missions as you describe above, flown with my I2, and it works very well except for one frustrating intermittent problem: Gimbal Yaw calibration drift. Basically, Litchi flies the aircraft so that its nose points at my desired target(s), but the camera will actually be pointed a few degrees too far to the left. The severity of the problem comes and goes. I can fly the same mission 5 times (with battery changes between each one) and have 2 be essentially perfect (in terms of pointing exactly at my targets), 1 be pointing too far left by just a few degrees, and 2 be off by almost 10 degrees. On the flights where this happens, when I land, I can actually see that the camera is pointing a bit to the left, instead of pointing straight ahead. There are threads elsewhere about this general problem on I2s, but none of the solutions discussed in those threads has helped, including sending my X5S in to DJI. (X5S points a little left after it initializes, and Inspire 2 Camera Won't Look Straight Ahead - HELP!).

The only work around I've found to help is to go into Go4 app after each I2 restart and fine tune the Gimbal Yaw. Then quit Go4 (leaving the I2 running) and switch to the Litchi app. That seems to reduce the risk of the Gimbal drifting left during the Litchi mission, but feels like voodoo, which I hate. This is frustrating and a bit awkward to be doing when I've got a DP or artistic director/client waiting on me, but luckily I've earned their trust, so they put up with it.

I'd be curious to know if you (or anyone else) experience this type of problem, and if so how you deal with it.
 
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Hi all,

I have a job where I need to match camera animation paths created in 3DS Max but i'm unsure how to get these pre-programmed with GS Pro or other software. I'm hoping someone out there can help me out on this.

I will be supplied a GPS start and finish point along with speed and altitude, I have achieved this in GS Pro but i'm having trouble matching gimbal movement. I've made a quick diagram below to try explain. The gimbal needs to slowly rotate to stay focused on the asterisk while the drone moves from point A to B

Point A Point B
+-----------------------------------------------------------+


*


I can pre-program the drone's orientation in GS Pro but the gimbal remains looking the direction it started. Essentially my question is, how do I pre-program gimbal movement? (Along with drone movement) In a way i'm after similar features to POI interest mode, just without it rotating, rather moving in a straight line. My current solution is to record a waypoint mission within DJI Go, play it back and operate the camera manually while the drone is moving, but this is an imperfect solution.

Would really appreciate any help, cheers!
Frank

I've been using Autopilot with great success. Here's a quick example video (no color correction) that really shows off what the software can do. I think Autopilot is now Drone Pilot or something like that.


Worth noting, this isn't just a drone flying in a rectangle shooting POI. There is linear camera movement throughout.

D
 
Hi Frank. A minor heads up re Litchi:

I have a fair amount of experience using Litichi to execute the same sorts of exactly defined missions as you describe above, flown with my I2, and it works very well except for one frustrating intermittent problem: Gimbal Yaw calibration drift. Basically, Litchi flies the aircraft so that its nose points at my desired target(s), but the camera will actually be pointed a few degrees too far to the left. The severity of the problem comes and goes. I can fly the same mission 5 times (with battery changes between each one) and have 2 be essentially perfect (in terms of pointing exactly at my targets), 1 be pointing too far left by just a few degrees, and 2 be off by almost 10 degrees. On the flights where this happens, when I land, I can actually see that the camera is pointing a bit to the left, instead of pointing straight ahead. There are threads elsewhere about this general problem on I2s, but none of the solutions discussed in those threads has helped, including sending my X5S in to DJI. (X5S points a little left after it initializes, and Inspire 2 Camera Won't Look Straight Ahead - HELP!).

The only work around I've found to help is to go into Go4 app after each I2 restart and fine tune the Gimbal Yaw. Then quit Go4 (leaving the I2 running) and switch to the Litchi app. That seems to reduce the risk of the Gimbal drifting left during the Litchi mission, but feels like voodoo, which I hate. This is frustrating and a bit awkward to be doing when I've got a DP or artistic director/client waiting on me, but luckily I've earned their trust, so they put up with it.

I'd be curious to know if you (or anyone else) experience this type of problem, and if so how you deal with it.
Yep... imperfect. What frustrated me is that I spent all this money on an I2 - expecting Litchi to pan the camera alone - left/right to keep a POI in focus... instead the entire bird yaws... there is a setting for "free rotate" (gimbal) but in my experience this doesn't do anything... and I fly the same mission every week... at the end of 2 years expected to assemble all these into a time lapse, but there are severe differences between each mission at times.

I also don't like the micro adjustments it makes... at times it seems to stutter to change camera angle very micro but there...

Been wanting to learn Drone Link (ex AutoPilot) but learning curve for my feeble 68 yo brain is very steep... but now that I have time inside, may try.
 
Yep... imperfect. What frustrated me is that I spent all this money on an I2 - expecting Litchi to pan the camera alone - left/right to keep a POI in focus... instead the entire bird yaws... there is a setting for "free rotate" (gimbal) but in my experience this doesn't do anything... and I fly the same mission every week... at the end of 2 years expected to assemble all these into a time lapse, but there are severe differences between each mission at times.

I also don't like the micro adjustments it makes... at times it seems to stutter to change camera angle very micro but there...

Been wanting to learn Drone Link (ex AutoPilot) but learning curve for my feeble 68 yo brain is very steep... but now that I have time inside, may try.
Thanks for adding your experience. Yes, the fact that Litchi turns the whole bird instead just the camera is very disappointing. It is especially awkward when using it to shoot 360 panoramas, IMHO, since the I2 is so big; That's a lot of mass to try to spin around the no parallax point! ;-)

Cool that you have the patience to be producing something using 2 years of repeat footage. If you ever get that in shape please share it.
 
Thanks for adding your experience. Yes, the fact that Litchi turns the whole bird instead just the camera is very disappointing. It is especially awkward when using it to shoot 360 panoramas, IMHO, since the I2 is so big; That's a lot of mass to try to spin around the no parallax point! ;-)

Cool that you have the patience to be producing something using 2 years of repeat footage. If you ever get that in shape please share it.
Maybe one day eh?

Here is the rather long video... was made for a trade show so it could run behind the exhibitors... two different projects here in Hawaii...
My intention when I sold the contract was to assemble the typical time-lapse... but soon realized that 1. didn't have anywhere near enough shots and two the gps fix varied week by week - sometime just marginally but sometimes quite substantially...

Meridian Pacific Showcase Reel
 
Maybe one day eh?

Here is the rather long video... was made for a trade show so it could run behind the exhibitors... two different projects here in Hawaii...
My intention when I sold the contract was to assemble the typical time-lapse... but soon realized that 1. didn't have anywhere near enough shots and two the gps fix varied week by week - sometime just marginally but sometimes quite substantially...

Meridian Pacific Showcase Reel
Thanks for sharing. Very ambitious project. I can see what you were after and how things didn't quite pan out as hoped due to the flight inaccuracies. Still a fun project, and an effective result.
 
I think you should also be able to do that using Drone Harmony, but it is Android only.
 

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