MavAir / Litchi / Waypoint Missions / Gimbal Pitch Issue

[RunnerGuy]

Hi MavicPilots- I've been experimenting with Litchi's Waypoint Mission videography, but having issues with Gimbal control during mission. My videos are pointed in the right direction of each POI, but the horizon stays locked in the middle of the frame... regardless of POI being low or high relative to the drone. I've tried to reproduce the online examples, but must be missing something basic.

Missions created in iOS App (current version), Saved
Heading : Custom
Path Mode: Curved Turns
Default Gimbal Pitch Mode: Focus POI
Each Waypoint: Pitch Angle seems to be calculated correctly, Waypoint arrows point to POI
Waypoint Altitude: +50-200'
Cruising Speed: +5-10mph (Slow enough?)
POI Altitude: About 10'
If signal lost: Continue Mission

Thanks, RunnerGuy from Ohio

 

[lisadoc]

Are you losing signal during your mission?

 

[namirda]

Hi MavicPilots- I've been experimenting with Litchi's Waypoint Mission videography, but having issues with Gimbal control during mission. My videos are pointed in the right direction of each POI, but the horizon stays locked in the middle of the frame... regardless of POI being low or high relative to the drone. I've tried to reproduce the online examples, but must be missing something basic.

Missions created in iOS App (current version), Saved
Heading : Custom
Path Mode: Curved Turns
Default Gimbal Pitch Mode: Focus POI
Each Waypoint: Pitch Angle seems to be calculated correctly, Waypoint arrows point to POI
Waypoint Altitude: +50-200'
Cruising Speed: +5-10mph (Slow enough?)
POI Altitude: About 10'
If signal lost: Continue Mission

Thanks, RunnerGuy from Ohio

Hi,

"The horizon stays locked in the middle of the screen" - that's how it is meant to work!

Using FOCUS POI, your POI should be centered in the middle of the screen so unless your POI is very high above ground, this will mean that the horizon is also centered. I often find that this results in too much sky in the frame and my approach is then to switch from FOCUS POI to INTERPOLATE and then wind the gimbal angle down by 5 degrees or so.

Try using VLM to check out your mission parameters - you can get all this stuff correct before you go out to fly.

N

 

[RunnerGuy]

Are you losing signal during your mission?

I’ve done one mission without losing signal, then repeated the mission, turning off my transmitter. Both same result.

 

[RunnerGuy]

Hi,

"The horizon stays locked in the middle of the screen" - that's how it is meant to work!

Using FOCUS POI, your POI should be centered in the middle of the screen so unless your POI is very high above ground, this will mean that the horizon is also centered. I often find that this results in too much sky in the frame and my approach is then to switch from FOCUS POI to INTERPOLATE and then wind the gimbal angle down by 5 degrees or so.

Try using VLM to check out your mission parameters - you can get all this stuff correct before you go out to fly.

N

Thank you for the update. I simply made the wrong assumption it would maintain POI centered L&R, U&D.

I’ll proceed to use in AAA, and come up with a reasonable adjustment. Sounds like a perfect way to do it. Just need to do some dinner calculations and see how it works

 

[lisadoc]

"The horizon stays locked in the middle of the screen" - that's how it is meant to work!

Using FOCUS POI, your POI should be centered in the middle of the screen so unless your POI is very high above ground, this will mean that the horizon is also centered.

I don't agree with this. The horizon has nothing to do with the POI, unless of course your gimbal pitch is looking off into the horizon. The horizon shouldn't be "centered" (meaning mid-way down your screen and directly across) unless you are looking off into the distance at a POI that is far away. At 200' altitude and a POI of 10' high, the horizon would only be centered in your screen if the POI was far off into the distance. If the distance to the POI was only a couple hundred feet, your horizon shouldn't even be in the shot.

Here's a perfect example of Focus POI and Interpolate, with the POI relatively near the Mavic's position showing that the gimbal pitch should change dramatically, depending on how the mission is programmed. Nary a horizon visible in the whole sequence, with the exception of when the Mavic moves far enough away from the POI.

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Unless we're talking about completely different terminologies here, I think think OP needs to elaborate on the situation further (or show a video example of the issue).

 

[namirda]

I don't agree with this. The horizon has nothing to do with the POI, unless of course your gimbal pitch is looking off into the horizon. The horizon shouldn't be "centered" (meaning mid-way down your screen and directly across) unless you are looking off into the distance at a POI that is far away. At 200' altitude and a POI of 10' high, the horizon would only be centered in your screen if the POI was far off into the distance. If the distance to the POI was only a couple hundred feet, your horizon shouldn't even be in the shot.

Here's a perfect example of Focus POI and Interpolate, with the POI relatively near the Mavic's position showing that the gimbal pitch should change dramatically, depending on how the mission is programmed. Nary a horizon visible in the whole sequence, with the exception of when the Mavic moves far enough away from the POI.

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Unless we're talking about completely different terminologies here, I think think OP needs to elaborate on the situation further (or show a video example of the issue).

I agree with you for the case you describe where the POI is relatively close by. However for distant POI the result is usually that the horizon is in the middle of the frame.

It would indeed be better if we could see the OP's situation...

 

[Norm62]

Not sure if helpful or not, but I usually hit "focus poi" to adjust gimbal angle based on poi height and waypoint alt, then hit "interpolate" and leave it there. I've also found that I need to use lower than actual poi heights (5-10ft) to get the angle I'm looking for. Any changes to mission settings and I go back and do the same thing for each waypoint and poi. I've found that the gimbal angles do not auto adjust after changes in mission settings.

 

[RunnerGuy]

So in my ignorance, I was switching out of Waypoint into FPV to see the video feed. Although the mission continues, the Gimbal stops adjusting.

After leaving mode alone, and viewing feed from the pop-up in lower right, everything is perfect.

Next test will be to start a mission, then disconnect the controller (I understand this goes against the common-logic of staying connected during mission)

If everything works correctly, the mission should record and complete as expected.

 

[RunnerGuy]

I don't agree with this. The horizon has nothing to do with the POI, unless of course your gimbal pitch is looking off into the horizon. The horizon shouldn't be "centered" (meaning mid-way down your screen and directly across) unless you are looking off into the distance at a POI that is far away. At 200' altitude and a POI of 10' high, the horizon would only be centered in your screen if the POI was far off into the distance. If the distance to the POI was only a couple hundred feet, your horizon shouldn't even be in the shot.

Here's a perfect example of Focus POI and Interpolate, with the POI relatively near the Mavic's position showing that the gimbal pitch should change dramatically, depending on how the mission is programmed. Nary a horizon visible in the whole sequence, with the exception of when the Mavic moves far enough away from the POI.

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Unless we're talking about completely different terminologies here, I think think OP needs to elaborate on the situation further (or show a video example of the issue).

After watching your YouTube video, I’m not sure which is preferred. What is your preference? I think the POI looks smoother.

 

[lisadoc]

Next test will be to start a mission, then disconnect the controller (I understand this goes against the common-logic of staying connected during mission)

This is why I asked originally and I can already give you the answer to this test. Your gimbal will not adjust when you are not connected to the Mavic. The gimbal remains at the same angle as it was when the signal was dropped. The mission will continue properly and the aircraft will yaw to the POIs as expected but it will not change the gimbal angle. The same goes for the speed. It will remain the same as when the signal was dropped.

Read this thread for more details:
Litchi: Question and caution

 

[lisadoc]

After watching your YouTube video, I’m not sure which is preferred. What is your preference? I think the POI looks smoother.

A) not my video - just a good comparison between the two
B) My preference is based upon the mission type. If it's around a single POI, then Focus POI works well. If it is for multiple POIs, one after the other, then Interpolate works best. If it's for multiple POIs separated by larger distances, then Interpolate tends to slowly drift between two consecutive points and it can become a bit annoying, as the camera slowly swings around to a new direction. It's also how much I wish to see the "approach" and "exit" from a POI, so in this case, it's all dependent upon what I want/expect.

 

[dalebriggs]

I had the same problems. After setting the mission, I went into the settings, waypoint by waypoint and changed from interpolate to focus poi or visa versa and saw the gimble angle change everytime I changed it. Next time I ran the same mission, poi was where it was supposed to be instead of all sky.

 

[marklyn]

This is why I asked originally and I can already give you the answer to this test. Your gimbal will not adjust when you are not connected to the Mavic. The gimbal remains at the same angle as it was when the signal was dropped. The mission will continue properly and the aircraft will yaw to the POIs as expected but it will not change the gimbal angle. The same goes for the speed. It will remain the same as when the signal was dropped.

Read this thread for more details:
Litchi: Question and caution

Lisadoc, I have learned this is not true. I have many missions where I have zero radio contact and during that part of the mission at waypoints where I set the gimbal angle to change it definitely does change. In fact I had this discussion with a chap on Litchi's user FB page and he initially thought different too, so he set up a small mission with gimbal angle changes at waypoints, uploaded the mission and then turned his RC off once the mission started and he reported back to me that indeed the gimbal changes continued to work.
In those situations where there is no RC contact I have to extract the csv file from the Mavic to get the full telemetry data, including the signal strength, which confirms zero connection during those waypoints.

 

[lisadoc]

Lisadoc, I have learned this is not true. I have many missions where I have zero radio contact and during that part of the mission at waypoints where I set the gimbal angle to change it definitely does change.

I have a mission that I fly routinely and the gimbal angle (and speed) will not change once radio contact is lost.

The Litchi manual confirms this as well:

"Litchi can control the gimbal pitch automatically during the mission, as long as the aircraft is within range of the remote controller."

-and-

"Warning: This setting is only in effect when the aircraft is in range of the remote controller. If signal is lost during the mission, the aircraft will continue the mission at the speed it was travelling at when it lost signal."

Unless something has changed in recent days (the manual shows it was last updated June 13th), I suspect you're mistaken.

Help - Litchi

 

[marklyn]

Not sure what to tell you. I have proof in several flight videos with telemetry overlaid showing zero communication with RC. There isn't any doubt in my mind that the mission parameters uploaded take care of gimbal angle and other things. I see it regularly in my videos after the flight. Regardless, it works for me

 

[Rockowe]

Hi MavicPilots- I've been experimenting with Litchi's Waypoint Mission videography, but having issues with Gimbal control during mission. My videos are pointed in the right direction of each POI, but the horizon stays locked in the middle of the frame... regardless of POI being low or high relative to the drone. I've tried to reproduce the online examples, but must be missing something basic.

Missions created in iOS App (current version), Saved
Heading : Custom
Path Mode: Curved Turns
Default Gimbal Pitch Mode: Focus POI
Each Waypoint: Pitch Angle seems to be calculated correctly, Waypoint arrows point to POI
Waypoint Altitude: +50-200'
Cruising Speed: +5-10mph (Slow enough?)
POI Altitude: About 10'
If signal lost: Continue Mission

Thanks, RunnerGuy from Ohio

=================

Iv had this issue before- (On Long flights that kept Pitching the Camera to the Horizon)

I fixed it by FIRST Clicking on POI (in each waypoint) THEN Interpolate - for all points...
Its important to get the angle right - that's why the TWO clicks become important-

Somehow POI - does not work if theres a Signal issue - but INTERPOLATE will resume immediately the RIght angle and Pitch for the drone...

TRY It - Let me know

 

[Rockowe]

Not sure if helpful or not, but I usually hit "focus poi" to adjust gimbal angle based on poi height and waypoint alt, then hit "interpolate" and leave it there. I've also found that I need to use lower than actual poi heights (5-10ft) to get the angle I'm looking for. Any changes to mission settings and I go back and do the same thing for each waypoint and poi. I've found that the gimbal angles do not auto adjust after changes in mission settings.

see my post below - I tried this prior to seeing your Post - and this TOO worked for me-

 

[Rockowe]

I have a mission that I fly routinely and the gimbal angle (and speed) will not change once radio contact is lost.

The Litchi manual confirms this as well:

"Litchi can control the gimbal pitch automatically during the mission, as long as the aircraft is within range of the remote controller."

-and-

"Warning: This setting is only in effect when the aircraft is in range of the remote controller. If signal is lost during the mission, the aircraft will continue the mission at the speed it was travelling at when it lost signal."

Unless something has changed in recent days (the manual shows it was last updated June 13th), I suspect you're mistaken.

Help - Litchi

… definitely a glitch here- I confirm that the drone will adjust the Pitch AT THE WAYPOINT (but somehow low signal in between sometimes resets the Gimbal to some Equilibrium) - then at the next waypoint - Sets it right - again - (with or without RC reception) - I think the software does a reset- at the instant it loses signal-
Interpolate seems to fix this immediately)

 

[marklyn]

Just out of curiosity, do you use interpolate at every waypoint? I had an issue several months ago when I was only setting interpolate at waypoints where I wanted the gimbal angle to change and occasionally had glitches but once I set interpolate at every waypoint (even if it was the same as last WP) it works for me, even if I have lost RC communication.