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Any tips on how to improve video timelapse videos (with Mavic Waypoints)

fdewarren

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Hello to the community,

I have been trying to make these video timelapse or hyperlapse over long period of times for construction sites.
I am using waypoints missions to ensure the drone always fly the same route and angles so that I can create smooth transitions over time.

Do you have any tips on how to ensure the exact same mission? I have realized that I can't get an exact overlap even when:
- I always take off from the same point
- I recalibrate the compass before a new mission
- I avoid to fly in high winds.

Yet, the differences are quite visible and I have to resort to blur transitions to hide the not-so-perfect-overlap.
Should I use polyline instead or arc? Should I use a slow horizontal speed?
I can't find many examples of such construction hyperplapse, and I don't want to spend hours in the editing software trying to compensate...


Drone hyperlapse
 
You are heavily tied to which GPS accuracy you can get ... that will regulate the possible difference between the missions. The civil GPS accuracy is in the ballpark of approx a 10-33ft radius. All other outside coming factors like wind will further lower the accuracy.
 
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I would say not to worry about the blur transitions. But if you are adamantly against that, perhaps there is a work-around.

Noting that the positioning isn't perfect, what you may experiment with in post is blowing the footage up to something like 110% (more or less) which gives you the ability to reposition the footage within the boundaries of the view and perhaps get closer. With waypoints you should be pretty close anyway so I'm thinking that all it might need is some positioning tweaks in post. Just a thought.
 
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Your timing is amazing: I have been doing the same thing for a client. We re-sided our house and I worked out a deal with the contractor to time-lapse the project for his marketing purposes.

You are dealing with a lot more real estate than I was, but this was my method. (In order to adapt it you might have to give up some of the in-flight video.) First I identified which vantage points I wanted--this was only going to be about 1:30-1:45 long. Then I physically marked each drone leg's position on the ground with either chalk or marking paint so that it would be as exact as possible each time. Also I don't know what you are flying/shooting with, but I'm on the MP2 so I could take advantage of its large sensor: I stayed out a distance so that in post I could zoom in and manipulate image placement for further detail placement and precision.

That is probably the key--start out away from your subject then zoom in in post and move each image as needed to get the subject in the same location in the frame each time. Then I use a simple cross-dissolve to get from one image to the next because your GPS is simply not going to be that exact: your perspective is going to be just a little off each time, and the cross-disolve eases that transition each time.

Again, think of using less moving image material and more stills, and keep your transitions simple.

Hope that helps a bit
 
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Winston has some good points about framing more loosely, then cropping. It'll still cause some parallax-esque errors, but it'll be even closer than what you currently have, which does look good. In my opinion, the sound effect is unnecessary.

Also, you could look at "flowing" between the two shots with something like interpolated frames between the cut. Might look too artificial in some cases, but could work well in others.
 
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In addition to the repositioning exercise, watch the lighting carefully. Always fly at a time when the sun angles are as close to one another as possible, and the same amount of cloud cover.
 
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I don't know what software you use, but I tend to use transitions between old and new combining video or stills or one to the other sometimes. I like making local history films.

I use Premiere Pro and I don't think you can ever get a perfect transition. You can however alter pretty much everything geometry wise to give a good overlap - including each element can be keyframed. Meaning you can (for example) alter width at the start of the shot to be one value to merge in with the previous shot, and have it move slowly to a different value to blend with the next shot. You can alter width, height, vertical and horizontal position as well as scale to make the best overlap possible. There are other things to alter in the way of keystone, so the options are there.

Movies are about illusion, and drawing your eye to what the film maker wants you to see. The other thing to consider is what your focal point is - where is the greatest change? Maybe consider doing some tighter shots on certain areas where development is of interest. That may be easier to transition if there are less points to use when transitioning and the fact you are fading between something small, and something big with using the mountains at the back as your markers would possibly be easier to do, plus hide a lot - also it would be spectacular. In the film I've just done, I transition between two shots taken on a station platform some 50 years apart. I focus on the station sign as everything else in the shot has changed. I even took the today shot from a different position. Because I concentrated on one fixed object the changes were accentuated. It would have worked even better if it had been film.

Sometimes you simply can't get the shots to merge as well as you'd like, or when you do after hours of effort it leaves you flat. so sometimes you need to look for different ways of highlighting your changes.

Also, I think you could fade slower on some shots - try it and see what looks best. EG 34 second in you have a very fast transition between old and new. I'd be inclined to have that slower.

But as others have said, time of day and similar weather conditions help a smooth transition. Also, what you have is already very good, but I would definitely consider a variety of smaller shots to add to the mix - even stills.
 

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