Three waypoint questions: Single Waypoint Mission Possible? Improve waypoint repeatability? Re-order waypoints?

[johnmeyer]

I want to fly to the same point in the sky every day and take a picture of a project from the exact same location. When the project is finished, I will take the still photos and show a progress animation, using all the photos. The result will be a little like a timelapse of a building project done from a camera on a tripod.

I am using DJI GO4, not Licthi.

Here's the problem.

I flew to the point where I want to take the picture. I then adjusted the drone's orientation and gimbal to get the shot I wanted, and then pressed C1 to record the waypoint. I landed the drone, and edited the waypoint to tell DJI GO to take a still photo at the waypoint.

I then tried to run the waypoint mission, but when I pressed GO it said I did not have enough waypoints to run the mission.

Question #1: is it possible to have a mission consisting of only a single waypoint?

Second, I went ahead and added a second waypoint, just so I could continue with my testing, and then flew the mission several times. What I found is that the pictures taken were not even close to being the same field of view. The drone was rotated a little differently each time.

Question #2: are there any procedures I can follow to maximize the repeatability of the waypoint pictures so they look like they were taken from the same position, as if the camera was on a tripod in the sky?

Finally, I decided to add one more waypoint before the first waypoint, so I could have the drone almost all lined up before going to place where it will take the picture, and then, very slowly creep towards the photo point. I figured this would reduce any overshoot and therefore give me more consistent results. However, the waypoint I added was labeled #3. I wanted to make it waypoint #1 and simply re-number the two existing waypoints without touching them.

Question #3: can DJI GO change the order in which waypoints are flown, without making any changes to any of the waypoints?

 

[brett8883]

I want to fly to the same point in the sky every day and take a picture of a project from the exact same location. When the project is finished, I will take the still photos and show a progress animation, using all the photos. The result will be a little like a timelapse of a building project done from a camera on a tripod.

I am using DJI GO4, not Licthi.

Here's the problem.

I flew to the point where I want to take the picture. I then adjusted the drone's orientation and gimbal to get the shot I wanted, and then pressed C1 to record the waypoint. I landed the drone, and edited the waypoint to tell DJI GO to take a still photo at the waypoint.

I then tried to run the waypoint mission, but when I pressed GO it said I did not have enough waypoints to run the mission.

Question #1: is it possible to have a mission consisting of only a single waypoint?

Second, I went ahead and added a second waypoint, just so I could continue with my testing, and then flew the mission several times. What I found is that the pictures taken were not even close to being the same field of view. The drone was rotated a little differently each time.

Question #2: are there any procedures I can follow to maximize the repeatability of the waypoint pictures so they look like they were taken from the same position, as if the camera was on a tripod in the sky?

Finally, I decided to add one more waypoint before the first waypoint, so I could have the drone almost all lined up before going to place where it will take the picture, and then, very slowly creep towards the photo point. I figured this would reduce any overshoot and therefore give me more consistent results. However, the waypoint I added was labeled #3. I wanted to make it waypoint #1 and simply re-number the two existing waypoints without touching them.

Question #3: can DJI GO change the order in which waypoints are flown, without making any changes to any of the waypoints?

You are realizing why people get Litchi and don’t mess with DJI Go Waypoints because it’s worthless.

Get Litchi, make a waypoint mission and yes it has to have two waypoints, make a POI you want the drone to focus on.

Using a POI means the drones orientation will be based on the compass cardinal directions and it an absolute reference to be based on instead of a relative one because a relative waypoint isn’t as accurate.

 

[johnmeyer]

After posting I flew about a dozen short missions. The solution to not being able to fly a single waypoint is to, obviously, add a "pre-waypoint" to set up the one where I want to take a picture.

I don't think I can re-order the waypoints, so it sounds like Lichti could help me with that.

HOWEVER ...

I won't be bothering with Licthi for this particular job because I have convinced myself that the Mavic 2 doesn't have the ability to repeat a position with any sort of precision. I think this is probably because the gimbal is constantly reacting to the rapid "flutter" that any small drone does while trying to keep position. The gimball keeps the camera steady, but I think it introduces positioning inconsistencies from one flight to the next. I'm not complaining, because the technology is, of course, amazing.

I can probably still get close to what I want with some effort in post. I remember several years ago helping someone stabilize timelapse "video" created from a series of stills (similar to Hyperlapse) where the video wasn't smooth. The normal stabilization technology, like that found in Twixtor or Mercalli, doesn't really work for this.

If I can find my old post, I should be able to remember what technology I used to align all the images before stitching them into a timelapse.

 

[Former Member]

Have you ever tried Litchi? Just asking.

Its such a small investment for a great app.

Im almost tempted to get it for you as a gift lol

 

[johnmeyer]

Thanks for the offer. As I said, if I thought it would help with this particular problem, I'd get it. Having just bought not only the drone, but also a fully-featured iPad mini to control it, I'm not going to cheap out by not buying inexpensive app. And, I do like the really cool features, like typing it to Google Earth to pre-fly your mission, complete with real background.

 

[brett8883]

Thanks for the offer. As I said, if I thought it would help with this particular problem, I'd get it. Having just bought not only the drone, but also a fully-featured iPad mini to control it, I'm not going to cheap out by not buying inexpensive app. And, I do like the really cool features, like typing it to Google Earth to pre-fly your mission, complete with real background.

Ok cool well that makes much more logical sense. I thought you were saying there for a moment that Litchi couldn’t do it even though you hadn’t tried it ?