Is anyone else doing this??

[Qoncussion]

To date, you are the only other person I've seen try to morph videos like that. It's tough! I find that no 2 flights are exactly the same. To fix this, because I'm shooting in 4K, I can digitally zoom each track about 10%, which gives me some wiggle room in post to better align the not-perfectly-aligned videos. Even then, "perfect alignment" is the Holy Grail.

I've applied your same principles to this construction video:

I call this "test video" because I haven't color corrected or anything like that. This was done in Sony Vegas Pro 13, which I'm dissatisfied with. I now edit in Adobe Premiere Pro (which I'm still learning), and am going to revisit this project.

This construction project completed about 2 months ago, so I have roughly 8 more shoots to add to the final video.

Like you, I have also sped up the video (4x). Unlike you, I have been using Autopilot. I like Autopilot, but it DOES have its issues. For one, if I'm not careful, it will overheat my iPad Air Pro. If it's hotter than 80° outside, I have to keep the iPad in a cooler with some ice until it's ready to fly. And then I have to make sure the iPad stays in the shade. It can be maddening, but I kind of have it down to a science.

Good job on your videos.

D

I like the construction concept. That must have taken quite a while to shoot. Like you, I shoot in 4K, then crop down to 2.7k before I start matching transitions. Nice work!

 

[Andrewandron]

That is awesome!

 

[TNielsen]

Very nice.

I am doing something a bit simular. In the company where I work, we are making an extension on our bildings. This takes from start to finish about 8 month. I am every 2 week or so, if the weater is ok, making an orbit in 50 meter hight and 60 meter i diameter. This i want to stitch together to one orbit showing the complete building process. I am using an Mavic Air and Autopilot. I can already see now, that i have to make a lot of corrections on the clips in the computer. The Mavic Air dont exactly do the same every time, even that i runs the same looking at the map in the log. The angle and Yaw is not always 100% the same, but good enogh to get a nice result in the ending.

 

[Guy Driver]

That is just crazy. How do you get it so perfect?

 

[Qoncussion]

Very nice.

I am doing something a bit simular. In the company where I work, we are making an extension on our bildings. This takes from start to finish about 8 month. I am every 2 week or so, if the weater is ok, making an orbit in 50 meter hight and 60 meter i diameter. This i want to stitch together to one orbit showing the complete building process. I am using an Mavic Air and Autopilot. I can already see now, that i have to make a lot of corrections on the clips in the computer. The Mavic Air dont exactly do the same every time, even that i runs the same looking at the map in the log. The angle and Yaw is not always 100% the same, but good enogh to get a nice result in the ending.

I can offer you a few tips, if you want, to help with the alignment of the clips... First, you're absolutely correct about the yaw being off from flight to flight; in addition to the height, the camera angle, speed and trajectory - to name just a few ... After you've gathered all of your shots:

Choose a frame - I cut the start and end of all of my clips on the exact same frame (ish). Pick a moment at the beginning of the footage. It can be a moment like when a big rock, a tree branch or a particular building enters or leaves the frame... And I mean *the exact moment* - right down to the frame when the selected object enters or exits the frame. Do this at the beginning of every clip and the end of every clip, using the exact same moment on all of them - essentially making the content across all of the clips identical. So now each individual clip starts at an exact visual moment, and ends on an exact visual moment - down to within one or two frames. Now you just have to deal with matching up the lengths.

You're going to match each clip's length with that of the shortest clip in the bunch. So, speed up every other clip to match the length of the shortest clip. Remember, shorter is faster. In Vegas 16, I can hold Ctrl and drag the end of the longer clips to the exact length of the shortest clip - and boom, instant alignment.

Shooting in 4K - I then crop in on each clip to 2.7K, 2704x1520, to allow for alignments.

Anyway - hope that helps someone out there.

 

[Qoncussion]

That is just crazy. How do you get it so perfect?

See my post from a few minutes ago. You'll get a good idea of how I do my alignments.

 

[Qoncussion]

@Qoncussion
Thanks for posting that. What I like about yours is that because of the shallow depth of field, it looks like a 3d model. It's a really nice effect.

Secondly, your post led to some fascinating and amazing videos. Thanks for posting and starting an inspiring thread. It augmented my morning tea perfectly....

Cheers

 

[TNielsen]

I can offer you a few tips, if you want, to help with the alignment of the clips....

Thanks a lot. I have made some test editing with the 5 clip i have taken until now. I is clear that I have to crop the video, to align it. My plan is to make the hole construction of the extension on one single orbit, so there is many places to find the exact same "point" on the videos. My other small problem is the weather change in Denmark, that goes from very sunny, to very cloudy and dark in winter. This give some white balance problems. And the last thing, is that orbit in high wind gives a bit unsteady orbit video. This has to stabilized. In all, a bit of a job, but also fun to see the construction progress in a small video. Again, thanks for all the tips..

 

[twoheadlines]

Not one to blow my own country's trumpet too loudly, but just caught this on YouTube.
You can never tell what type of flying will get the nod of approval once you have managed to be NZCAA "102 Certified", or something similar, here in New Zealand.

Anyone else like to have a go? Pretty sure night flying is permitted from this well set up launch site in this relatively isolated South Pacific area.
Watch from about the 16min. mark.

 

[snoopx]

Nice video.
Can I ask, what's the music?

 

[freefaller500]

I've spent some time this year flying multiple Litchi missions at two different locations, to create a single shot that changes with the seasons. I just finished editing this one today...

I completed this one earlier this year. This one really turned out nice - if I may say so myself

If anyone else is doing this, please post your work. I'd love to see it!

very good well impressed.

 

[freefaller500]

My wife and I call that "Hemingway Hate" It's when you admire an artists work so much that you kinda get mad they can perform at that level. I feel your pain brother

I must say I admire people with so much creativity, there are so many cleaver people out there.

 

[buddb55]

Nice video.
Can I ask, what's the music?

From YouTube - Silent Partner - Calm

 

[jefff]

I've spent some time this year flying multiple Litchi missions at two different locations, to create a single shot that changes with the seasons. I just finished editing this one today...

I completed this one earlier this year. This one really turned out nice - if I may say so myself

If anyone else is doing this, please post your work. I'd love to see it!

Brilliant videos - I love the transitions - perfect

 

[Donnie Frank]

I like the construction concept. That must have taken quite a while to shoot. Like you, I shoot in 4K, then crop down to 2.7k before I start matching transitions. Nice work!

The particular client has added 4 sites to my repertoire. I think I'm going to shoot a little wider so I can zoom in a little more for better matching. Too bad we don't live in the same city. It would be nice to collaborate on some projects.

BTW, I assume since this is the Mavic forum that you're using a Mavic. Which flavor? As of this writing, I'm still using my Inspire 1, v2.0, because if I didn't, the poor thing would probably sit in the case and NEVER get used.

Check this collaboration. 2 drones flying simultaneously. This is for traffic analysis.

D

 

[JDawg]

Qoncussion/Donnie - Once you have all of the video how many hours of editing does it take and what is you editing experience? Don't think I will ever try this but just curious. VERY impressive stuff.

 

[Qoncussion]

... BTW, I assume since this is the Mavic forum that you're using a Mavic. Which flavor? As of this writing, I'm still using my Inspire 1, v2.0, because if I didn't, the poor thing would probably sit in the case and NEVER get used.

I'm flying the original MP. It's almost two years old, without a single crash... (I shouldn't have said that - probably just jinxed myself)

 

[Qoncussion]

Qoncussion/Donnie - Once you have all of the video how many hours of editing does it take and what is you editing experience? Don't think I will ever try this but just curious. VERY impressive stuff.

The editing process varies. My first piece probably took about six or seven hours to edit. I know that sounds like a lot, but as the pieces start fitting together, it makes for a good time. My second piece took well over 10 hours to edit. During this one (the Bear Valley video) I was pulling my hair out and going grey simultaneously. It was not an easy edit. I threw away my work several times and started over. A few posts up in this thread I posted my procedure. I had to keep refining that until the clips flowed together better.

 

[buddb55]

I don't know if you watched my posted video or not, but I flew the Mavic Pro using Litchi and it was spot on for every pass.

 

[buddb55]

Qoncussion/Donnie - Once you have all of the video how many hours of editing does it take and what is you editing experience? Don't think I will ever try this but just curious. VERY impressive stuff.

The editing really isn't that bad, maybe an hour.