Is it significantly better than Waypoints 2, which I have finally mastered?
HI Dale. I would say it is infinitely better and is what DJI should have included. Some balk at the cost which is about $20 but varies when different sales are on. Personally, I tend to use Litchi all the time, in preference to Go4. I have included below a (very) basic workflow e.g. for the above flight.
Sat on my sofa, open laptop and log in to Litchi site in your browser. You are presented with a google earth map.
As this is just a small flight, I right clicked to add a POI (in between the two trees) and I believe I set it to 3M above ground.
Added a number of waypoints using left click and then adjusted the height of each (always use 'above ground', especially in hilly areas), the heading of each (in this case all pointing at the POI but you can point the camera in any direction) and gimbal angle and finally the curve size. You can save the mission at any time. Below is a screen shot of what it looks like:
Then I go to a (free) program called 'Virtual Litchi Mission' which presents you with a similar screen and you open the mission. You then click on the blue 'Mission' button and select 'Export as CSV'. This will then open Google Earth on your PC and you can virtually fly the mission, checking heights, camera angles etc. If need be go back to the Litchi site and make adjustments.
Screenshot of a point in a mission in Google Earth - sorry, don't have a screen recorder.
This then gives you a very good idea of the mission. At this point in the mission it is flying sideways (for the completed mission please see
2 Pro - After The Storm (I know it's probably a bit long for you but it gives a very good idea of what it's capable of).
When happy, drive to the location and set the drone up and launch using Litchi. Go to Waypoints, upload the mission to drone and press 'Go'. It gives you the option of which WP to start from, which is very useful if you have a long mission as you can fly it in batches, so keeping within VLOS.
This is a very quick guide to give you an idea of what it does but I'm sure you can find plenty of discussions on this forum. IMHO Litchi far exceeds both DJI Go4 and DJI Fly. It can do everything those apps do and much more and it makes you wonder why DJI do not incorporate. By the way, all the mission planning is done with the drone off and locked away in the case.
