Virtual Litchi Mission

[modbuilder]

I'm using VLM a bunch (Thanks Namirda!).

Would like to make GE Pro speed up the transit time from one WP to the next as I click along Viewng Waypoints in the Diagnostics folder, but I can't seem to find the magic words to get its attention. Any GE Pro sheriffs in here who can tell me how to speed up the fly-to speed from one WP to the next? I wouldn't even mind if it snapped to the next WP.

Much appreciated. Thanks............... R

OK, it occurred to me that GEPro might be flying my mission cruise speed from VLM, and sure enough, I think that's what it's doing. So now if I can find where VLM passes that instruction into GEPro, I can go into GEPro and reset it when I'm working up camera pitch changes etc.

 

[namirda]

OK, it occurred to me that GEPro might be flying my mission cruise speed from VLM, and sure enough, I think that's what it's doing. So now if I can find where VLM passes that instruction into GEPro, I can go into GEPro and reset it when I'm working up camera pitch changes etc.

Hi,

As you fly your virtual mission in Google Earth, you will see a small play slider in the lower left of the viewing window. There are the usual arrow keys alongside the slider which allow you to speed up the mission or even play it backwards if you want.

Does that answer the question?

N

 

[modbuilder]

Hhmmm...... Mine launches Google Earth Pro rather than Google Earth. I don't seem to have the slider you describe in my GEPro, even in full screen mode.

But......... With your prompts suggesting that there is a speed slider somewhere, I found it!. In GEPro, it's under TOOLS ----> OPTIONS ---> NAVIGATION ---> FLY-TO SPEED (a slider). Slide that over to faster settings, and it brings my changing WP's to life. I can make 'em jump to the next WP

Now I can trial/error my camera pitch settings much faster. VLM is such an AWESOME program. You are my hero!! Thanks N . Best regards............ .R

 

[namirda]

Hhmmm...... Mine launches Google Earth Pro rather than Google Earth. I don't seem to have the slider you describe in my GEPro, even in full screen mode.

But......... With your prompts suggesting that there is a speed slider somewhere, I found it!. In GEPro, it's under TOOLS ----> OPTIONS ---> NAVIGATION ---> FLY-TO SPEED (a slider). Slide that over to faster settings, and it brings my changing WP's to life. I can make 'em jump to the next WP

Now I can trial/error my camera pitch settings much faster. VLM is such an AWESOME program. You are my hero!! Thanks N . Best regards............ .R

Hi,

Sorry - I misunderstood your question!

Indeed if you want to jump quickly from one "Waypoint View" to the next you have found the answer.

If you simply want to fly your mission at high speed then dbl click on "Virtual Mission" in GEPro and you will then find the speed slider in the lower left hand corner of the viewing window.

N

 

[modbuilder]

Good morning, I'm new here and I have a Mavic Air, someone can tell me if there is a possibility and how to turn off the sound alarms for flights indor

You've posted a general question into a relatively narrow special interest forum. If you'll click on the "Home" tab in the navigation bar above, you can scroll down to a Mavic Air general subjects forum. You'll also want to use the search feature to see if your question hasn't already been answered, before posting your question to the Mavic Air forum. It's just general courtesy to not waste people's time asking questions that may have already been answered, and you could find by just taking a look for yourself.

Not trying to be snarky, just trying to get you pointed back in the right direction to get your question answered..

 

[flotte]

dear namirda . Thank you so much for the program you have done. but when installing the program I get this error. can you help me.
I'm using windows 8

error message
"vlm requires that your pc use a period as the decimal separator. it is currently set to.."

 

[namirda]

dear namirda . Thank you so much for the program you have done. but when installing the program I get this error. can you help me.
I'm using windows 8

error message
"vlm requires that your pc use a period as the decimal separator. it is currently set to.."

Hi flotte,

VLM reads the csv files which are exported by the Litchi app. These csv files use commas "," to split the lines into the different field and this causes a problem if you are in a country where you use commas as a decimal separator.

Please read post number #90 in this thread where I explained the problem to another user and provided a solution.

In the next few days I will try to provide a version of VLM which does not have this restriction.

Good luck

N

 

[namirda]

Thank you all for your generally positive feedback regarding VLM and for your suggestions for improvement. I have tried to include many of them into this next release - VLM V2.1.0.

Here is a list of the changes - I have added a pointer to each item where you can read the post which prompted the change.

1) The limit for the number of waypoints per mission is now 99 thus matching Litchi. (Post 213)

2) Fix bug related to disabled gimbal pitch (Post 247)

3) VLM will now give warning if the limits of your drone are exceeded. (Post 243)

4) Provided some user control of the WP smoothing. (Post 247)

5) Provided user control of colors for Google Earth (Post 233)

6) Pressing CTRL on startup gives option to reset VLM to initial settings. (Post 249)

7) VLM will now always run in locale “en-US” regardless of locale settings of PC (Post 90)

8) Sound option provided so that GE will announce when a WP is being passed.

Please note that this last sound option is very experimental and you may need to disable it. I have found that it causes GE to stagger badly when I run it on my laptop. However it does run smoothly on a more powerful desktop – so your mileage may vary. Also I have no idea how it will behave if you do not have any English language voices installed on your PC!!!

Here is the link to the installer - Dropbox - Virtual Litchi Mission V2.1.0.zip

I hope it works well for you and that I have not introduced any new bugs!

Please let me know how you get on with it and if you have any further suggestions for the next release.

And finally please help get the word out about VLM – I think there are many Litchi users who are still not aware of it.

Thanks

N

 

[Peio64270]

Thank you all for your generally positive feedback regarding VLM and for your suggestions for improvement. I have tried to include many of them into this next release - VLM V2.1.0.
(...)
N

Thank you very much.
I'll try this new version today and let you know how it works on my computer.

 

[modbuilder]

N -- My existing WP missions are running fine with the new version of VLM. Only observation is the "stumbling" you've already described when the voice is turned on with my laptop.

 

[Bill Ludwig]

I'm experimenting with the new version, and the only thing so far that I miss from the old version is the ability to speed up the mission beyond 60 mph. Is there a reason for that? It's painfully slow to go through a long mission at 60 mph. Thanks.

 

[houldsworth1]

And finally please help get the word out about VLM – I think there are many Litchi users who are still not aware of it.

Thanks

N

First, thank you for creating this great piece of software. It's super easy to use and really helps with the planning efforts. I literally joined this forum so that I could connect with you and say that.

I like to create training videos that I share with people and was thinking of doing that to show how to install and use this (it will be a short video). Ideally, that would be better if there were a consistent location (URL) to find the latest version. Would it be possible to have a directory instead of a link to a specific version?

Otherwise, the only way to be sure that we have the latest version is to come here and search the thread. Since not everyone uses this forum it would assist with spreading the word as requested.

Thanks!!!

 

[djiboi]

Fantastic app but anyway to turn off the start up sound?

 

[Bill Ludwig]

Regarding the slow speed post above...I just re-installed VLM and, for some reason, it is much faster now.

 

[Peio64270]

Fabulous improvements !
The profile plots are of a great help for looking rapidly at the health of the mission from all point of view.

Virtual mission works flawlessly in Google Earth. Only the sound seems perfectible. In my laptop (Windows 10, Geforce GTX 1060, Dynaudio card) The "drone" stops for a second at each waypoint while the waypoint number is announced. It is annouced completely but in two times when set to "Microsoft Hortense desktop - French" but only the word "waypoint" without its number is announced if set to "Microsoft Zira desktop -English" (but the "drone" still stops). However, the sound test works perfectly in both settings. These stops destroy a little bit the dynamics of the virtual flight, specially when consecutive waypoints are close from each other, that's why I'm not going to use this feature for the moment.

Anyway, this application is a great one which becomes quickly essential for planing a perfect mission and I can not thank you enough for sharing it with us...!

 

[candyaurelio]

Dear Namirda, thank you so much for your great work!

 

[modbuilder]

Fabulous improvements !
The profile plots are of a great help for looking rapidly at the health of the mission from all point of view.

+1 on the profile plots. Very helpful!

 

[namirda]

First, thank you for creating this great piece of software. It's super easy to use and really helps with the planning efforts. I literally joined this forum so that I could connect with you and say that.

I like to create training videos that I share with people and was thinking of doing that to show how to install and use this (it will be a short video). Ideally, that would be better if there were a consistent location (URL) to find the latest version. Would it be possible to have a directory instead of a link to a specific version?

Otherwise, the only way to be sure that we have the latest version is to come here and search the thread. Since not everyone uses this forum it would assist with spreading the word as requested.

Thanks!!!

Hi - thanks for the kind words - I'm glad you are making good use of VLM.

I don't have a website where I could provide an index page for the various releases of VLM and I don't believe dropbox provide that as an option. As the next best alternative, I have been editing the first post in this thread to provide links to all the releases in one place and will continue to do so. Perhaps I should edit that first post more dramatically to make the links more visible?

Thanks for offering to make a training video - people seem to prefer watching videos rather than reading manuals these days. I sometimes think everybody has forgotten how to read! If you do make a video then please post it back to this forum and, if you post it elsewhere, please provide a link to this thread and make the usual courtesy reference to the author.

I also request that you do not attempt to make money from your video using ads, a youtube channel or whatever. I provide VLM free to everybody in the hope that it will be helpful to my fellow mavic pilots - if you do go ahead and make a training video please do so in the same spirit.

Thanks

Neil

 

[candyaurelio]

Hello Namirda. I renew my compliments for your wonderful work really useful for us (very essential for me). I would ask if it's possible to have the possibility of reproduce the stay for state in waypoints. This for having a more accurate idea of the point of wiew that we have when we shoot a photo.
Thank you again!

 

[namirda]

Hello Namirda. I renew my compliments for your wonderful work really useful for us (very essential for me). I would ask if it's possible to have the possibility of reproduce the stay for state in waypoints. This for having a more accurate idea of the point of wiew that we have when we shoot a photo.
Thank you again!

Hi canyaurelio,

I was thinking about doing something like this - perhaps in the next release.

In the meantime, you can see the view as seen at each waypoint by selecting Diagnostics/Waypoint Views/WP001 etc in the Google Earth Temporary Places. If you press ctrl and roll your mousewheel, you can pan around 360 at that point. That should give you a good idea of what you will see on your photo?

Thanks for your feedback

Neil