The Litchi Application

parkgt · Mar 14, 2020

newbie101 said:
I only have a mavic pro that does not have asteroid.

I think unless it is available in DJI GO 4 for your craft you are out of luck.

Frankfurter · Mar 15, 2020

After three months of having fun with my Mavic Air and reading quite a bit about Litchi, I’m curious, whether I could use it legally in Germany. Does anyone have an idea?

Kamau54 · Mar 15, 2020

Thanks to all for the input.
I purchased it last night. Now, I'm in the process of watching tutorial videos about its use (I do that with everything. I watched no less than 40 videos about the MA before I even used it for the first time). I'm hoping the weather permits me to try it out today here in SW Lower Michigan.
Again, thanks to all.

parkgt · Mar 15, 2020

Kamau54 said:
Thanks to all for the input.
I purchased it last night. Now, I'm in the process of watching tutorial videos about its use (I do that with everything. I watched no less than 40 videos about the MA before I even used it for the first time). I'm hoping the weather permits me to try it out today here in SW Lower Michigan.
Again, thanks to all.

Start small and close and work up from there.

MavicFlyer · Mar 15, 2020

Kamau54 said:
Is it really worth the $25 price? I've got the Mavic Air, and I just found out about it. It looks interesting, especially for the way point use.
Otherwise, I am absolutely loving this drone (only had it for 3 weeks now), and being a pilot. Actually, I'm already considering adding another drone (possibly the Mavic Pro 2) to my new hobby.

I have had my MA for almost two years, and have used Litchi for several months now...I don't regret either purchase.

Among other things, Litchi allows you to separate the direction in which a quad is flying from where the camera is pointing. The simplest example is by setting up a basic two waypoint mission for Litchi - fly a straight line; you can tell it to fly that straight line, and you can smoothly point the camera wherever you want...it creates some very neat effects. To do that smoothly with GO4, you'd fly a straight line, while trying to point the camera in a similar manner...and that's a challenge to do both at the same time!

The big thing that Litchi provides for the Mavic Air is the ability to fly using waypoints. You can define points of interest for the camera to look at, set the speed and altitude of the drone for each leg, and tell it what to do at waypoints, like hover for x seconds, point the camera to a certain angle, take photos, control video, etc.. Between Litchi and GO4 you're pretty well covered for most things you'd want to do.

One other thing Litchi, and any other similar tools, allow you to do is to define everything on the ground before the props start spinning, push a button, and let it do its thing...and to do it the same way each time you run the mission. Also, you may be surprised at how efficiently the mission is accomplished, because you don't have any wasted time trying to remember exactly what you need to do to get the result you want. As you plan the mission, you'll see the distance that will be covered, and an estimate of how long it will take.

RetiredInFL · Mar 15, 2020

I just purchased Litchi and have a question which for some reason is not absolutely clear to me. Let's say you are standing at point "A" and your "mission" is you want to photograph all around a lake which is about 1/4 mile away from where you are standing (and taking off from).

Would my mission "drawing" in Litchi just be the circle around the lake or does my mission settings have to include the place where I launched from over to the lake? Basically is the mission just the lake circle? The 1/4 mile trip to and from the lake does NOT get plotted?

parkgt · Mar 16, 2020

Many ways to do it. I like to put a first and last waypoint above Home at a height above all known obstacles in the area.

You should spend some time watching YT videos tutorials on Litchi, there are plenty.

RetiredInFL · Mar 16, 2020

It’s the YouTube videos that confuse me.

The way I See it now is that you can create a mission anywhere and when you start the mission your aircraft will fly to that mission zone and then upon completion RTH will/should fly it back without the necessity of having way points over your start location. Is that a correct assumption? I understand what you were saying which itself is a good idea but I was just trying to find out exactly how the app functions.

Kamau54 · Mar 16, 2020

RetiredInFL said:
It’s the YouTube videos that confuse me. The way I See it now is that you can create a mission anywhere and when you start the mission your aircraft will fly to that mission zone and then upon completion RTH will/should fly it back without the necessity of having way points over your start location. Is that a correct assumption? I understand what you were saying which itself is a good idea but I was just trying to find out exactly how the app functions.

As someone who is just getting the understanding of Litchi, take my advice with a grain of salt.
But as he said, I'd just place a last point above your RTH point. That may not be what the instructions say, but it also doubles your chances of your drone returning safely and promptly to your location, and all it cost you was a fraction of a second to put in that point.
Good Luck.

RetiredInFL · Mar 16, 2020

I wonder if Litchi can be programmed for my MPP to go to Wendy's pick-up window and get my lunch. The way things are being locked down here that may not be a joke in a day or two.

Kamau54 · Mar 16, 2020

RetiredInFL said:
I wonder if Litchi can be programmed for my MPP to go to Wendy's pick-up window and get my lunch. The way things are being locked down here that may not be a joke in a day or two.

Maybe grab a roll or two of toilet paper on the way.

parkgt · Mar 16, 2020

parkgt said:
Many ways to do it. I like to put a first and last waypoint above Home at a height above all known obstacles in the area.

You should spend some time watching YT videos tutorials on Litchi, there are plenty.

Jeff A · Mar 16, 2020

RetiredInFL said:
It’s the YouTube videos that confuse me. The way I See it now is that you can create a mission anywhere and when you start the mission your aircraft will fly to that mission zone and then upon completion RTH will/should fly it back without the necessity of having way points over your start location. Is that a correct assumption? I understand what you were saying which itself is a good idea but I was just trying to find out exactly how the app functions.

When I do my Missions, I do the following:

1. Load the Mission on your Control Screen by touching the Litchi Logo, then choosing the Waypoints symbol (I think it is the second one)
2.Take Off, then hover (4-6 feet OK)
3. Select the Waypoint number that you want to start at, usually #1 for me
4. Press Start or Go (I forgot what it actually says
5. When the Aircraft finishes the mission, it will do a Return to Home, Land and then shuts down the engines (As long as that is what you chose it to do when you did the Mission planning).

It is was just so **** cool when I did my first one, I did it three times, one right after the other! You can get that for $25.00? Amazing!

parkgt · Mar 16, 2020

Effects said:
When I do my Missions, I do the following:

1. Load the Mission on your Control Screen by touching the Litchi Logo, then choosing the Waypoints symbol (I think it is the second one)
2.Take Off, then hover (4-6 feet OK)
3. Select the Waypoint number that you want to start at, usually #1 for me
4. Press Start or Go (I forgot what it actually says
5. When the Aircraft finishes the mission, it will do a Return to Home, Land and then shuts down the engines (As long as that is what you chose it to do when you did the Mission planning).

It is was just so **** cool when I did my first one, I did it three times, one right after the other! You can get that for $25.00? Amazing!

The hazard of that approach is that if you don't climb high enough before starting a mission you may run into an obstacle between the point at which you start the mission and the first WP.

Much safer IMO to climb to say 100 feet (clearing tree and buildings in my area and then starting the mission. Other places one might have to start missions at much higher altitudes to be safe. Also gives you more time to assess that all is well with you craft before it heads out on it's own. Too many have run into obstacles as the craft flies a straight line between start point and WP1.

Stooge · Mar 16, 2020

Kamau54 said:
Is it really worth the $25 price? I've got the Mavic Air, and I just found out about it. It looks interesting, especially for the way point use.
Otherwise, I am absolutely loving this drone (only had it for 3 weeks now), and being a pilot. Actually, I'm already considering adding another drone (possibly the Mavic Pro 2) to my new hobby.

Not sure if I should ask my question here but, Has anyone had experience with Litchi and the Epson Moverio BT 300 AR Glasses?

pelagic_one · Mar 17, 2020

Stooge said:
Not sure if I should ask my question here but, Has anyone had experience with Litchi and the Epson Moverio BT 300 AR Glasses?

Great question. I have some new-to-me BT 300 glasses, and was hoping to see Litchi’s newest competitor, Dronelink, on BT 300, but got no responses. So I’ll try Lichi next, since there appears to be plenty running Litchi on their Moverios. Just not sure it works well on the Mavic 2 series. Here’s a search from the Moverio section: