I would like to try filming myself riding my bike in the woods. I'm thinking Active Track may be my best choice as I believe it uses ALL the obstacle avoidance sensors. Anybody tried using their drone in this circumstance? Tips? Suggestions? Thanks to all.
I have tracked a motorcycle in the woods. The lane was wider. I think you will have problems on a trail that narrow and closed-in. I will not fly fluidly while try to avoid many things close to the track that it will see as obstacles.
It will be jinking left and right. up and down and coming to a complete stop trying to follow you. Even at a walking speed it might be a challenge for a MP2 to keep up in the tight sections. It will not zoom through the woods like a Star Wars bike!
Small branches and twigs are not well detected and would probably bring down your drone on the trail shown trying to keep up with a bike.
Might want to try a more open trail to begin with. Just walk/run a section to judge how it is doing, then try a trail that is bit tighter if you a comfortable with it's actions.
"- There are no bears in Hungary.
- Are you sure?
- Yes.
Well, that's assuming
we're still in Hungary.
If we've crossed the border
into Romania, then there are bears.
If we're in Serbia,
then I'm not sure."
Based on the photo in post #1, I think you'd have problems with any DJI drone even at walking pace. There would be a constant 'obstacle avoid' going on that would bring the drone to a stop. If you are on a mountain bike, then you'll find that very quickly, you'll leave the drone back on the trail hovering by a tree - as it's not just the obstacle avoidance, but as soon as it loses you and your bike, it will stop and hover.
However - though the trail is a lot wider and open in the video posted above (#5), the ability of the Mavic 2 Pro to track and avoid is pretty impressive!
Forget it! Won't work. Been there; done that. Active track simply does not have the capability to follow even a beginning mountain biker, let alone a seasoned downhiller. Also, it tends to "cut corners", so unless you've got 20-30 feet to work with, flights will be very short, followed by lot's of money for props.
If the system had the capability to somehow follow your precise path (following the GPS location of the controller for example, as is supposed to work with "Follow me" or whatever it's called), that would be better, but that doesn't work either.
Best bet is to have another biker follow you with a chest or bike mounted Osmo or other steady-cam system. Have fun!
I have to agree, Bears aside for a sec,
Open Areas, Cinematic skills or a Budget, A nervous I2 operator, and many takes would be required for what you want
Noone asked but; Personally i wouldn't trust my Mavic to follow me on a walking path.
Maybe in an open field in Nebraska, but id have the controller in hand, finger on the pause/RTH button.
This is an oldie but a goodie, No trees, but footage/clip speaks for itself
I tried this on a trail leading down to the lake and it was just following me as I was walking so it was very slow however I had two incidents one it found a small branch that was almost invisible to the naked eye and wound up clipping it- I had to manually back it up and lower it. And then further down the trail it found another Branch this time the branch grabbed it flipped it upside down and body slammed my M2Z into the ground and it was still trying to run the rotors upside down on the ground, pretty harrowing. I would say you're going to have a tough time with a bike cuz if you're moving faster than just walking it's not going to be able to keep up and I would imagine you're going to have lots of incidents. I will say that you need to set it up to run very low just a few feet over your head if you want to be able to try and clear any obstacles that might be on the trail. It's possible if you can get it tight and low it might be able to follow you since the trail should be clear closer to the ground. Just my opinion from experience.
Tried it today. First of all, I tried to set up the active track just above head height and kept keeping a “too low” to track warning. This was to try and avoid any branches but the only way to get active track to work was to get it higher so I could draw the square around me. So I finally got it to track and for a while it was working great-avoiding and going around trees and some branches. Then around a wide bend it decided to go through some branches and crashed. Broken props only so no real damage but unfortunately, I guess I’m not going to be able to film one of the main things I bought this drone for. It did track me great in an open field but that’s not very interesting!?. Still love this bird though!
Thanks for all the advice and help.
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