Looking for help/guidance – Time lapse photography of construction project using Litchi waypoints

[keysol]

I am planning a project involving the construction of a multi-story long-term care facility. The construction is due to start this coming May. This project is not a moneymaking venture. I’m volunteering my time and resources to my previous employer now that I’m retired and have the time. I would like to film/document the progression during the course of the construction, which may last 2 years or more.

I have come across what I think, is a very well done example of such a project:

.

I have purchased a DJI Mini 2 and the new Litchi app. I’ve never piloted a drone other than four or five times and VERY cautiously. I have practiced creating virtual missions and I am looking forward to warmer weather so that I can test it out. I am relying on the UAV Forecast app to evaluate the situation. I would like to give a shout out to « The Varied Life”. for an excellent primer on the use of Litchi’s Waypoints. (

) Also, thanks to him, I thankfully connected with this excellent forum.

I apologize for being long-winded but I’m trying to give a comprehensive picture of my situation and what I’m aiming for.

So, for those of you who made it to this point, I’ll be very appreciative if you have any tips, resources, techniques or any information that might serve to help me succeed in my endeavor.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

On a previous one year time lapse of a commercial building, I used an app called AutoPilot. I am sure Litchi will do the same. Create a mission of the flight and save it. Make sure you plan for increased building height, or your fight mission may run into the building as it goes up. I flew twice a week, took clips from each flight, then made a video showing the building going up as your flew around it. Things to keep in mind since your using the A2s are weather. You will have days of rain, snow, high winds, extreme heat (maybe depending on location), and freezing temperatures. As the project may have an activity that may only occur once, your drone may not handle the weather that day. I was fortunate enough to have alternate drones to handle the situation. I flew in light snow (powder only, not wet), winds up to 45mph, and temps down to -20F. All of these can effect your ability to fly, and the end results of your video. Things will move fast in the early stages, so you may need to fly more often, and other stages will be long and slow. So keep in contact with the super and plan your flight accordingly. Good luck and we will be waiting to see your end results.

 

[cheddar-man]

If your "camera" (drone) is always going to be in the same place (which it will have to be for time lapse) then just use a tripod with markers to show exactly where to put it. Make sure you always have the tripod configuration each time, same leg extensions etc.

 

[keysol]

On a previous one year time lapse of a commercial building, I used an app called AutoPilot. I am sure Litchi will do the same. Create a mission of the flight and save it. Make sure you plan for increased building height, or your fight mission may run into the building as it goes up. I flew twice a week, took clips from each flight, then made a video showing the building going up as your flew around it. Things to keep in mind since your using the A2s are weather. You will have days of rain, snow, high winds, extreme heat (maybe depending on location), and freezing temperatures. As the project may have an activity that may only occur once, your drone may not handle the weather that day. I was fortunate enough to have alternate drones to handle the situation. I flew in light snow (powder only, not wet), winds up to 45mph, and temps down to -20F. All of these can effect your ability to fly, and the end results of your video. Things will move fast in the early stages, so you may need to fly more often, and other stages will be long and slow. So keep in contact with the super and plan your flight accordingly. Good luck and we will be waiting to see your end results.

Thanks, this is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

 

[DJ Wes]

I am planning a project involving the construction of a multi-story long-term care facility. The construction is due to start this coming May. This project is not a moneymaking venture. I’m volunteering my time and resources to my previous employer now that I’m retired and have the time. I would like to film/document the progression during the course of the construction, which may last 2 years or more.

I have come across what I think, is a very well done example of such a project:

.

I have purchased a DJI Mini 2 and the new Litchi app. I’ve never piloted a drone other than four or five times and VERY cautiously. I have practiced creating virtual missions and I am looking forward to warmer weather so that I can test it out. I am relying on the UAV Forecast app to evaluate the situation. I would like to give a shout out to « The Varied Life”. for an excellent primer on the use of Litchi’s Waypoints. (

) Also, thanks to him, I thankfully connected with this excellent forum.

I apologize for being long-winded but I’m trying to give a comprehensive picture of my situation and what I’m aiming for.

So, for those of you who made it to this point, I’ll be very appreciative if you have any tips, resources, techniques or any information that might serve to help me succeed in my endeavor.

I have done a couple projects similar to the one you describe. One of my projects involved flying the same path for 1 ½ years.

Litchi is an excellent choice for designing and flying your mission. Depending on the type of construction, you may need to estimate the height of the completed construction and configure your drone height and gimbal pitch angle accordingly.

Having done this twice, I have learned that despite flying the same exact mission, due to GPS (in)accuracy, your waypoints can vary up to 16 feet from one mission to the next. As a result, it may be difficult to match the footage from one mission to the previous. What I did to alleviate this was to capture video at a higher resolution from what the final rendering would be. This way, I could scale down the raw footage to maybe 110% of the final size, allowing me to shift the video as necessary to make it line up with the previous footage.

Depending on the nature of your flight, you might want to consider my “Spiral Mission Maker for Litchi”.

Litchi Mission Utilities

Wes Barris

www.wesbarris.com

Here is an example of one of my projects.

 

[norsehabanero]

Litchi works very good for that we use it to fly a 6 way point mission over a project and it does a great job for that. This was once a week Flys I just picked one shot to make the time laspe