Litchi mission: Pause, then curved backwards "Zipline"?

[Wysiwyg]

Background:

I'd like to set up a mission where:

- the quad is hovering about eye level a safe distance from a group of people, pointed at them, recording stationary for a few secs
- it then flies backwards and then gradually upwards in a straight line (direction-wise) but curved altitude-wise
- the camera points at us throughout, but as it reaches the end of the mission, smoothly transitions to pointing above us to reveal the large expanse of scenery behind us
- I can take this same mission and apply it to different locations around the world

My Modus Operandi:

My thought is to set up several waypoints at ascending altitudes with the gimbal pointing at POI #1 (where we are standing) for the first few waypoints. Then towards the end, the gimbal points at POI #2 which is roughly the same spot as POI #1 but at a higher altitude. At waypoint 1, is it set to "stay for" 5 secs. Mission is set to autorecord from the beginning, curved turns, heading "custom", default gimbal pitch mode "Focus POI".

My questions:

1) I did the above in one location and found that the results were inconsistent... sometimes it seemed to make that pause in the beginning, sometimes not. And a couple of times the focus (as in blur/sharp, not focus as in where the camera is pointing) went completely off suddenly mid-mission. What am I doing wrong?

2) Is there an easier way to do all the above?

3) Assuming the above is working well and consistently, how do I replicate this for other locations?



Thanks in advance for advice and pointers!

 

[rabidhyena]

The classic droney shot :0) perhaps do it in reverse and then that way you would have the benefit of obstacle avoidance and then reverse the video later?

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[Wysiwyg]

The classic droney shot :0) perhaps do it in reverse and then that way you would have the benefit of obstacle avoidance and then reverse the video later?

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Yes that's an option. But if there are people/vehicles in the background they would all be moving backwards haha... not ideal. Besides, a key point is I'd like to be able to replicate the exact same path and movement at different locations.




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[DodgeP]

I don't think you'll be able to do this in any other geographical location without actually recreating the waypoint mission because the waypoints are actually GPS coordinates right and not just lines that you draw on a screen? I mean they are lines but they're much more complicated than that. If Litichi allows you to use Google Maps and create missions there and then save/transfer/upload those missions later you can do it that way. I flight plan a lot this way using Autoflight Logic. As to why your mission not being completed the same every time; no idea!

 

[Wysiwyg]

I don't think you'll be able to do this in any other geographical location without actually recreating the waypoint mission because the waypoints are actually GPS coordinates right and not just lines that you draw on a screen? I mean they are lines but they're much more complicated than that. If Litichi allows you to use Google Maps and create missions there and then save/transfer/upload those missions later you can do it that way. I flight plan a lot this way using Autoflight Logic. As to why your mission not being completed the same every time; no idea!

If that's true, then that's what I was afraid of. Autopilot does allow you to take a waypoint mission from one location and apply it elsewhere right? I seemed to see something like that but decided against getting Autopilot because Litchi had better usability for a noob like me. Wondering if I should be regretting that now.




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[DodgeP]

If that's true, then that's what I was afraid of. Autopilot does allow you to take a waypoint mission from one location and apply it elsewhere right? I seemed to see something like that but decided against getting Autopilot because Litchi had better usability for a noob like me. Wondering if I should be regretting that now.

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I assume you can pre-plan missions in Litchi if you open the app and move the map to the area(s) you want to plan missions in, create the mission and then save the mission to be called up again once you're on location.

 

[Wysiwyg]

I assume you can pre-plan missions in Litchi if you open the app and move the map to the area(s) you want to plan missions in, create the mission and then save the mission to be called up again once you're on location.

Yes. But the parameters would be different in terms of e.g. height at a particular waypoint, or distance from waypoint to waypoint etc. I'm hoping there's a way to copy the "shape" and parameters of a mission and "paste" it into another map location, that way the parameters of the zip line shots would be the same across those different locations.




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[sonof40]

So create your "shape", impose it onto a map at the proper zoom level and then have the program create new way points.
It would be a nice feature.

 

[WolfgangStiller]

I would just manually fly the part with the stationary portion and then use waypoints for the pull-back. You can't easily transfer the waypoints trom one location to another but Litchi provides a great way to do that on the fly. If you have the default c1/c2 mapping (c1 sets a waypoint and c2 sets a POI), you can fly it first manually on whatever location (using C1 and C2 to set the waypoints and POI) and then fly the waypoint mission that you just setup after you collect the amount of stationary time that you want.

 

[Wysiwyg]

So create your "shape", impose it onto a map at the proper zoom level and then have the program create new way points.
It would be a nice feature.

Yeah, wouldn't it? There has to be a way to do this.




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[Wysiwyg]

I would just manually fly the part with the stationary portion and then use waypoints for the pull-back. You can't easily transfer the waypoints trom one location to another but Litchi provides a great way to do that on the fly. If you have the default c1/c2 mapping (c1 sets a waypoint and c2 sets a POI), you can fly it first manually on whatever location and then fly the waypoint mission that you just setup after you collect the amount of stationary time that you want.

For that stationary portion to work as you suggested... the craft would first have to be hovering precisely at Waypoint 1 during the stationary portion, in order for the transition to pullback to be one smooth shot. If the stationary hover then becomes a short journey to waypoint 1 it wouldn't be as elegant. There will also be a group of travelers in that shot so it wouldn't work as well if there was a cut in the edit from stationary to pullback.

The reason I'd like to get the exact same path in different locations (as close to it as possible anyway) is because it's a project for a shot I have in mind: that one camera move, same people, in a single long pullback but the background is dissolving across several places. Does that make sense?




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[WolfgangStiller]

For that stationary portion to work as you suggested... the craft would first have to be hovering precisely at Waypoint 1 during the stationary portion, in order for the transition to pullback to be one smooth shot. If the stationary hover then becomes a short journey to waypoint 1 it wouldn't be as elegant. There will also be a group of travelers in that shot so it wouldn't work as well if there was a cut in the edit from stationary to pullback.

The reason I'd like to get the exact same path in different locations (as close to it as possible anyway) is because it's a project for a shot I have in mind: that one camera move, same people, in a single long pullback but the background is dissolving across several places. Does that make sense?




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Yes, it makes sense and I have experienced the issue you talk about. The way to make sure you are exactly on waypoint one is start the mission and let it go to WP1 and immediately hit pause. You are now exactly at that location. You can also (since you just dropped the WPs) manually fly to WP2, film and then start the mission without any wandering in most conditions.