Litchi App

[VegasFlyer]

Litchi is OK but not a patch on Autopilot. If you want smooth curved paths for video, Litchi seems quite useless whereas Autopilot does very smooth video capture throughout. Having said all this, in my experience, there is little substitute for learning to fly the drone manually, especially if you have a Spotter. Its tricky coordinating all the controls but worth the effort.

Litchi absolutely captures smooth video throughout a flight! As @pmshop said, you have to use curved turns in the mission settings. I also use POI height to vary camera tilt from point to point. (Some options like start/stop recording, taking a photo, and others, are not available unless your Path Mode is set to Straight Lines) I always plan my missions beginning with Google Earth Pro (free) first because I can look at the target area in 3D, create the path, and then export it to a .KML file that is easily imported into Litchi Hub.

 

[Mavic Mac]

This YT video explains how to do Visual Mission Planning with Google Earth

 

[pmshop]

This is yours? I saw this flight a few weeks ago when I was on Litchi Hub looking for another place to plan a mission! In fact, I'm seriously considering this very spot.

Yes it is.
You can use my planning if you want.
Just add 30ft to all altitudes
And run it through Virtual Litchi Mission with Google Earth.

 

[Prismatic]

I have learned, since making this, that the Mavic Air can sideslip in high speed corners. In flight, it doesn't necessarily exactly adhere to the track displayed in the Mission Hub. It may instead swing rather wide of that track--up to 3 meters--in certain cornering manuevers.
Therefore, I would never fly this mission again. But I did, twice, and somehow skirted disaster:

This post explains how I used Virtual Litchi Mission to plan this flight:

Virtual Litchi Mission

1) Open your mission using the VLM Mission Hub Panel. 2) Then "Export as CSV" so that VLM performs the calculations and generates the smooth flightpath 3) Download the CSV file from Airdata into your watchfolder. VLM will the detect it, recognise it as an Airdata file and compare it with the...

mavicpilots.com

 

[pmshop]

I have learned, since making this, that the Mavic Air can sideslip in high speed corners. In flight, it doesn't necessarily exactly adhere to the track displayed in the Mission Hub. It may instead swing rather wide of that track--up to 3 meters--in certain cornering manuevers.
Therefore, I would never fly this mission again. But I did, twice, and somehow skirted disaster:

This post explains how I used Virtual Litchi Mission to plan this flight:

Virtual Litchi Mission

1) Open your mission using the VLM Mission Hub Panel. 2) Then "Export as CSV" so that VLM performs the calculations and generates the smooth flightpath 3) Download the CSV file from Airdata into your watchfolder. VLM will the detect it, recognise it as an Airdata file and compare it with the...

mavicpilots.com

You saw that behavior too?
This mission was supposed to be following the main road, circle the town square and continue on the main road.
I got this instead:

 

[VegasFlyer]

Yes it is.
You can use my planning if you want.
Just add 30ft to all altitudes
And run it through Virtual Litchi Mission with Google Earth.

Thanks! I only just found out about Virtual Litchi Mission tonight. It's seems pretty useful and it works so far. Looks good for fine tuning the turns and gimble pitch.

 

[VegasFlyer]

You saw that behavior too?
This mission was supposed to be following the main road, circle the town square and continue on the main road.
I got this instead:

Is this really unexpected, though? I wouldn't expect a drone to execute a tight turn at, say, 30 mph without slipping. Isn't it the same behavior we see when taking a corner too fast in a car? At least that's the way I see it.

 

[pmshop]

Thanks! I only just found out about Virtual Litchi Mission tonight. It's seems pretty useful and it works so far. Looks good for fine tuning the turns and gimble pitch.

Yes it is pretty awesome.
About the gimbal, don't the forget ' - ' for down
Biggest issue on my first mission.
Try to correct on the controller, it goes right back to what was set.

 

[pmshop]

Is this really unexpected, though? I wouldn't expect a drone to execute a tight turn at, say, 30 mph without slipping. Isn't it the same behavior we see when taking a corner too fast in a car? At least that's the way I see it.

My Spark would execute spot on.
Here is a comparison, same speeds, same mission on the Mavic Air and Spark:
Spark on the left, MA on the right

Not at 30.
And, not if you have curved missions.
Curved missions will "slime" across the point.
If you make a box, the curve should be tighter than the corner, not wider.
But turn off the curved mission, it will stop at the WP, turn to the next direction and then continue on.

 

[VegasFlyer]

My Spark would execute spot on.
Here is a comparison, same speeds, same mission on the Mavic Air and Spark:
Spark on the left, MA on the right

Not at 30.
And, not if you have curved missions.
Curved missions will "slime" across the point.
If you make a box, the curve should be tighter than the corner, not wider.
But turn off the curved mission, it will stop at the WP, turn to the next direction and then continue on.

Wow. That's quite a difference. Not even the weight differential between the two drones should result in this. I always use curved turns in my missions. Even on minor course changes I'll add a turn of 3-6 feet so the props don't come into view because of the drone wanting to stop before it changes direction. (happened on my P3P) When I make a box, I drag the WP out further and see where the line of the curve takes me. That's the mark I want to hit. I also use a lot of WPs because I want a more precise route. Understand that I'm not being critical here. Were these flights done on the same day? How fast were you flying?

Gotta love Foggy Mountain Breakdown! It always reminds me of a train (the banjo) going down the tracks and the other instruments are trying to catch up!

 

[VegasFlyer]

Yes it is.
You can use my planning if you want.
Just add 30ft to all altitudes
And run it through Virtual Litchi Mission with Google Earth.

I took a look at the mission and I couldn't see why it failed. When I first viewed the video a few weeks ago, I thought you had made an error in the planning. Looking at it now, I don't know that this a Google Maps error. What I do think caused the crash is the turn between WP #2 and #3. Because of the distance between those two points, I think (I'm not sure) that Google Maps is doing an interpolation between the two points. It knows the Lat/Lon of those two points, but does it have the same data for each point along the curve as well or is it simply applying a geometric formula to make the turn? I'm not sure. Looking at the image, the spot where you crashed appears to be lower than the WP #2/#5 pins. (they overlap) That said, I should think the 175 feet Above Ground value would have kept you safe. I attached a few POI pins to show altitude along the path compared to the WP altitude.

 

[pmshop]

the drone wanting to stop before it changes direction.

I noticed the drone will want to stop on curved missions if the curve (turquoise path) touches the waypoint.

Since I had to march up Frenchman's Mountain to recover the Spark, I took an altitude reading at the takeoff point before I started hiking.
Then, I took a reading at the crest I crashed into.
Turns out Google maps was off by 155 ft, thinking the crest was lower than it was.

On the comparison video, same day minutes after each other.
I was flying litchi Max 33.6mph but averages to about 27-30mph

Also in planning your missions, I have found that you need to put a waypoint just right before the last waypoint.
Most of my missions would slow down on the last leg of the mission as seen here at 3:04

The waypoint before the last ensures the continued speed.
*video was accelerated to fit the song.

 

[VegasFlyer]

I noticed the drone will want to stop on curved missions if the curve (turquoise path) touches the waypoint.

Since I had to march up Frenchman's Mountain to recover the Spark, I took an altitude reading at the takeoff point before I started hiking.
Then, I took a reading at the crest I crashed into.
Turns out Google maps was off by 155 ft, thinking the crest was lower than it was.

On the comparison video, same day minutes after each other.
I was flying litchi Max 33.6mph but averages to about 27-30mph

Also in planning your missions, I have found that you need to put a waypoint just right before the last waypoint.
Most of my missions would slow down on the last leg of the mission as seen here at 3:04

The waypoint before the last ensures the continued speed.
*video was accelerated to fit the song.

That's odd. I use a lot of waypoints in my missions; no doubt more than I need to. But I've never experienced anything you've mentioned so far. (except for adding a small turn on a WP that changes direction) Could it be the drone?? And how far is just right before the last waypoint? I viewed the final minute or so on one of my videos and that doesn't happen to me. The altitude issue is known not to be perfectly exact, but it's another area where I haven't experienced a problem when flying over a couple of mountains here.

You do have some great tastes in music!

 

[pmshop]

That's odd. I use a lot of waypoints in my missions; no doubt more than I need to. But I've never experienced anything you've mentioned so far. (except for adding a small turn on a WP that changes direction) Could it be the drone?? And how far is just right before the last waypoint? I viewed the final minute or so on one of my videos and that doesn't happen to me. The altitude issue is known not to be perfectly exact, but it's another area where I haven't experienced a problem when flying over a couple of mountains here.

You do have some great tastes in music!

No, I see the same effect with a Spark as a Mavic Air.
And for full effect of the stretch of any last leg of a mission to retain speed, I place the 2nd to the last WP just feet apart.
As close as the app will allow.
Just something to tell the program "this is not the last leg" of the last leg

 

[VegasFlyer]

No, I see the same effect with a Spark as a Mavic Air.
And for full effect of the stretch of any last leg of a mission to retain speed, I place the 2nd to the last WP just feet apart.
As close as the app will allow.
Just something to tell the program "this is not the last leg" of the last leg

What is your Finish Action set to under Settings? I have mine set to RTH just as a fail-safe. If you have yours set to Land, then maybe that's causing the slowdown. It kinda makes sense.

 

[pmshop]

What is your Finish Action set to under Settings? I have mine set to RTH just as a fail-safe. If you have yours set to Land, then maybe that's causing the slowdown. It kinda makes sense.

Always RTH.

Even Litchi support could not figure it out.
But, I am one of the exceptions.
I have had 11 warranty exchanges through DJI between two Mavic Air units I have had since March 23, 2019

 

[Prismatic]

You saw that behavior too?
This mission was supposed to be following the main road, circle the town square and continue on the main road.
I got this instead:

I don't think your issue is related to sideslip at high speed. For one thing, you would not even see the issue at the altitude of that flight. I'm talking about a subtle drift in a high speed corner, a matter of a yard or two. Sideslip only matters when you're slaloming between close obstacles.
I think your issue is about how Litchi handles gimbal angles between waypoints when using points of interest (POIs).

 

[pmshop]

I don't think your issue is related to sideslip at high speed. For one thing, you would not even see the issue at the altitude of that flight. I'm talking about a subtle drift in a high speed corner, a matter of a yard or two. Sideslip only matters when you're slaloming between close obstacles.
I think your issue is about how Litchi handles gimbal angles between waypoints when using points of interest (POIs).

No, the gimbal action was Litchi trying to correct for the Mavic Air being off course.
Again, the AC should have followed the road, not the left hand side of the road by a 1/2 block before it torned to the town square.

 

[dkuhne]

Could anyone highlight a few functions, that Litchi has, that DJI Go4 does not?

Waypoints on the DJI GO4, works just great for me.

 

[buddb55]

Could anyone highlight a few functions, that Litchi has, that DJI Go4 does not?

Waypoints on the DJI GO4, works just great for me.

What I like about Litchi is that I can plan my waypoint flights on a PC, test in Google Earth before even leaving the house. I have never tried waypoints in Go4.