Virtual Litchi Mission

[namirda]

Afternoon Namdira (and all)
First of all.... VERY MANY THANKS for this software. It's an amazing piece of kit for us all to have and even more so because its free due to your generosity. (is there somewhere that we can donate to you) ???
I've just downloaded the newest version and am finding my way round the new features.
Just one question.... When I amend a waypoint setting the dialogue box is "chopped off" at the top and I cannot get to the delete or close options at the top of it.
Is this something I'm doing (or setting) wrong ?
Also, I'm curious about the figure when I hover over a waypoint profile (64 in the screenshot).

Apologies if the answers are already here and I've missed them.
Thanks again and keep up the amazing work.
Mark.
View attachment 38439 View attachment 38440

Hi Mitomark - Thanks for the kind words -no need for donations. I'm just happy that folks are finding VLM useful.

The "chopped off" dialogue box is a Litchi problem. You will see the same issue if you open the Litchi Mission Hub in your regular browser with anything other than a fully maximized window. They do not attempt to resize the dialogue box as you resize the window - very poor. Not much I can do about it I'm afraid.

The two numbers displayed when you mouseover each waypoint in the elevation profile are the absolute elevation of the WP above sea level followed by its height above surface. Both of these numbers are calculated from data provided by the google elevation api and so must be treated with caution. In general however, it is better to keep the second number positive!!

N

 

[namirda]

@ namirda - Nice Work - THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!

Here are some small virtual and real flights witch i cut together

It looks easy, but there was a lot of work (using Sony VEGAS) to synchronized the speed ot the virtual and the real stream.

Don`t ask why, but the virtual stream had the same flight speed as the real mission does. But in the end result the two stream had a different lenght.

It was difficult to strech and compress the two stream that it looks smooth - have Fun.

Hi Joe,

Indeed there are some issues with speed and mission duration which I have never understood.

If you look back in this thread to posts 162-166 you will find a short discussion about it there.

The times quoted on the Litchi Hub simply do not match those given by VLM in the Activity Log - and the actual values from a real flight are different again!!

Your mission has some long straight legs and so you should be able to do some simple checks - you will hopefully find that the VLM calculations are correct but that still does not alter the fact that it does not quite match reality. Please let me know if you ever manage to understand what is going on here!

N

 

[modbuilder]

When I amend a waypoint setting the dialogue box is "chopped off" at the top and I cannot get to the delete or close options at the top of it.
Is this something I'm doing (or setting) wrong ?

Had the same problem until I discovered the Fn F11 key combo (Windows 10) that expands the display to reveal the buttons at the top.

 

[Mitomark]

Hi Mitomark - Thanks for the kind words -no need for donations. I'm just happy that folks are finding VLM useful.

The "chopped off" dialogue box is a Litchi problem. You will see the same issue if you open the Litchi Mission Hub in your regular browser with anything other than a fully maximized window. They do not attempt to resize the dialogue box as you resize the window - very poor. Not much I can do about it I'm afraid.

The two numbers displayed when you mouseover each waypoint in the elevation profile are the absolute elevation of the WP above sea level followed by its height above surface. Both of these numbers are calculated from data provided by the google elevation api and so must be treated with caution. In general however, it is better to keep the second number positive!!

N

Hi Namirda.
Thanks for the response. I've realised that by narrowing the profiles box at the bottom that it gives enough room to see the whole waypoint settings dialogue box !!!!
Another question if I may...
In mission hub my first waypoint is set at 3m with ground level being 70m.
When I import into GE the first waypoint is now at 73m. The activity box says its found "Mission Home Point is WP1 at Altitude of 70.0 m"
How do I change this so that when I fly the mission on GE the WP1 is at 3m as intended ?

Many thanks.
Mark.

 

[willi1s]

What an awesome tool!
I've had the Mavic Air for a couple of months now, and am loving it. Grabbed Litchi recently now that it's been updated with the new SDK to support the Mavic Air.
I tried a couple of test missions with Litchi, and it worked pretty well, but getting the flight to be nice and fluid flow takes a few goes, with repositioning way-points and POIs.
I've now had a go with VLM, and will never go back, I can spend ages fine tuning my flight, and having a 3D map to work with gives you some real confidence that my MA is not about to stack into a tree.
Thanks for creating and maintaining

 

[namirda]

Hi Namirda.
Thanks for the response. I've realised that by narrowing the profiles box at the bottom that it gives enough room to see the whole waypoint settings dialogue box !!!!
Another question if I may...
In mission hub my first waypoint is set at 3m with ground level being 70m.
When I import into GE the first waypoint is now at 73m. The activity box says its found "Mission Home Point is WP1 at Altitude of 70.0 m"
How do I change this so that when I fly the mission on GE the WP1 is at 3m as intended ?

Many thanks.
Mark.

Hi Mark,

I'm not sure I understand your question - what you are seeing looks OK to me.

When you fly a real mission with your Mavic, the elevation on the controller display is always given with respect to the take off point - AKA the Home Point. However when flying a virtual mission in VLM there is no take-off point and so we need to make an assumption. The default assumption is that the take-off point (Home Point) is at the same location as the first waypoint - which is what the Activity Log is telling you in your case. If the take-off point is at a very different elevation from WP1 then there is an option in the VLM settings to provide an alternate Home Point elevation.

There are several very good reasons to plan both your first and last waypoints at or near your intended take-off point and so the WP1 option will be the most commonly used.

The thing to remember is that Google Earth displays all elevations with respect to Mean Sea Level whereas your Mavic controller displays elevations with respect to the Home Point elevation. Google Earth will therefore show 73m when your drone is 3m above the ground at WP1 but the Mavic controller will show 3m at that same point when you come to fly the real mission.

Hope that helps - it is a bit confusing.

N.

 

[scooter2]

I signed up just to say, this program (LVM) is awesome. Really professionally done. While I don't (yet) have a Mavic, I do have a newly acquired Phantom 3 Pro and part of the fun is the programming of missions, then viewing and tweaking them. Planned to make a donation but see that the author isn't seeking such at this time. As a long-time RC'er (planes and copters) but relatively new to drones, I really appreciate the info I've gleaned here already. Seems like when I search for a topic many of the search results lead to this forum. So, thanks!

 

[Mitomark]

Hi Mark,

I'm not sure I understand your question - what you are seeing looks OK to me.

When you fly a real mission with your Mavic, the elevation on the controller display is always given with respect to the take off point - AKA the Home Point. However when flying a virtual mission in VLM there is no take-off point and so we need to make an assumption. The default assumption is that the take-off point (Home Point) is at the same location as the first waypoint - which is what the Activity Log is telling you in your case. If the take-off point is at a very different elevation from WP1 then there is an option in the VLM settings to provide an alternate Home Point elevation.

There are several very good reasons to plan both your first and last waypoints at or near your intended take-off point and so the WP1 option will be the most commonly used.

The thing to remember is that Google Earth displays all elevations with respect to Mean Sea Level whereas your Mavic controller displays elevations with respect to the Home Point elevation. Google Earth will therefore show 73m when your drone is 3m above the ground at WP1 but the Mavic controller will show 3m at that same point when you come to fly the real mission.

Hope that helps - it is a bit confusing.

N.

Hi again Namirda.
Thanks very much for the reply, and yes it is confusing but I think I am starting to understand (a bit)
As you can see, my first waypoint is at 5m (not 3 as I said) and ground level is known to be 70m by GE.
The waypoint path shows 1st waypoint to be 75m so thats where the virtual flight starts from instead of 5m.
Is there someway of telling GE to assume ground level is zero in respect to waypoint heights so that the flight would be as i would in real life ?
Hope I've not confused things even more !!!!
Many thanks.
Mark.

 

[JoeBuster]

Hy namirda - maybe found a bug in VLM 2.1.0 (win7 Sp1)

If you close the Activity Log Window and close VLM also - after a restart of VLM Windows bring the following error and VLM never will open.

A repair session of VLM will not help. Only delete and reinstall after a Windows restart let VLM work like normal.

 

[Bill Ludwig]

Hi namirda, I'm still having the same issue as JoeBuster above, but a different error. The sound comes on, but VLM does not start. I have tried the suggestion to uninstall the two folders and reinstall. It works one time, but as soon as I close VLM, it won't start again. Delete folders and reinstall, and it works -- until I close it and delete, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm running a 64 bit machine and version 2.1.0 of VLM. Thanks!

View media item 1901

 

[namirda]

Hi again Namirda.
Thanks very much for the reply, and yes it is confusing but I think I am starting to understand (a bit)
As you can see, my first waypoint is at 5m (not 3 as I said) and ground level is known to be 70m by GE.
The waypoint path shows 1st waypoint to be 75m so thats where the virtual flight starts from instead of 5m.
Is there someway of telling GE to assume ground level is zero in respect to waypoint heights so that the flight would be as i would in real life ?
Hope I've not confused things even more !!!!
Many thanks.
Mark.
View attachment 38643 View attachment 38644

Hi Mark,

Sorry - I just don't understand your problem.
Can you please mark your mission as public in the Mission Hub, then tell me the name and I will take a look at it.
Thanks
Neil

 

[namirda]

Hi namirda, I'm still having the same issue as JoeBuster above, but a different error. The sound comes on, but VLM does not start. I have tried the suggestion to uninstall the two folders and reinstall. It works one time, but as soon as I close VLM, it won't start again. Delete folders and reinstall, and it works -- until I close it and delete, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm running a 64 bit machine and version 2.1.0 of VLM. Thanks!

View media item 1901

Hi Bill, Joe,

Sorry about your problems - but unfortunately I can't reproduce the crash at all on my win10 machine. Can you tell me exactly the steps which generate the problem.
Also, have you tried pressing CTRL when you start VLM in order to revert to initial conditions?
Anybody else got this problem?

Thanks

N

 

[Mitomark]

Hi Mark,

Sorry - I just don't understand your problem.
Can you please mark your mission as public in the Mission Hub, then tell me the name and I will take a look at it.
Thanks
Neil

Hi namirda.
I've made it public and it's called Cooksmill green.
In my screenshot above the yellow waypoint pin is at 75m and hence that's what the virtual mission starts at instead of 5m as in the real life flight.
Thanks again for your help.
Mark.

 

[namirda]

Hi namirda.
I've made it public and it's called Cooksmill green.
In my screenshot above the yellow waypoint pin is at 75m and hence that's what the virtual mission starts at instead of 5m as in the real life flight.
Thanks again for your help.
Mark.

Hi Mark,

Sorry -I can't see your mission in the Mission Hub - that is maybe because Litchi now requires a video with the flight before it shows up. If you don't have a suitable video, it may be easier if you just post the csv file here on the forum or PM it directly to me if you would prefer.

N

 

[Mitomark]

Hi Mark,

Sorry -I can't see your mission in the Mission Hub - that is maybe because Litchi now requires a video with the flight before it shows up. If you don't have a suitable video, it may be easier if you just post the csv file here on the forum or PM it directly to me if you would prefer.

N

Sorry for the confusion Namirda.
I had a flight with it but on a different tablet.
The forum tells me that the csv file has an unallowed extension so I'll pm it to our.
Cheers.
Mark.

 

[houldsworth1]

Well, as promised a while ago, I created a short blog post and video on how to set up VLM (for those that don't know how). Feel free to share so that more people can learn about this amazing tool. Also, let me know how it could be improved and I'll try to incorporate as time allows.

The tutorial can be found here: Virtual Litchi Missions in Google Earth - Avios Aerial Media

Or, if you prefer going straight to the video without my waffle (and handy links) you can go here:

I hope people find it useful.

 

[Bill Ludwig]

Ok, namirda, I did some testing that may help you see why the VLM is failing after it runs. As mentioned above, it installs and runs just fine until I run Google Earth. Then, when I close VLM, it will not fully open - it just plays the Mavic tune - it never finishes loading. I have to delete the following folder: C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Namirda. Then, I do not have to reinstall. I just run the .exe file, which builds a new C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Namirda file, and it starts working again. It's almost like some file in C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Namirda is getting corrupted when interfacing with GE....?

 

[namirda]

Sorry for the confusion Namirda.
I had a flight with it but on a different tablet.
The forum tells me that the csv file has an unallowed extension so I'll pm it to our.
Cheers.
Mark.

Hi Mark,
I have looked at your Cooksmill Green mission and it all looks just fine to me!!

The elevation profile is as I would expect from looking at your csv file, the elevation and eye height in GE look correct and the virtual mission looks about as I would expect.

However, there is one thing that makes me suspicious - I have tried to duplicate the second image which you posted earlier and I cannot make it look the same as the VLM output on my system.

1) Please check that you do not have any altitude exaggeration set in GE (The setting in GE/Tools/Options on the 3D View Tab should be set to 1).
2) I think your second image must be the KML Path output from Litchi?? Can you please check that the VLM Smoothed Path looks the same. Plot them both together in GE - they should be almost identical.

Thanks

N

 

[namirda]

Ok, namirda, I did some testing that may help you see why the VLM is failing after it runs. As mentioned above, it installs and runs just fine until I run Google Earth. Then, when I close VLM, it will not fully open - it just plays the Mavic tune - it never finishes loading. I have to delete the following folder: C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Namirda. Then, I do not have to reinstall. I just run the .exe file, which builds a new C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Namirda file, and it starts working again. It's almost like some file in C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Local\Namirda is getting corrupted when interfacing with GE....?

Hi Bill,

I still cannot duplicate this problem. I think you must be resizing the VLM panels in a way I never anticipated. Can you please tell me exactly what you are doing with the panel sizes? Does VLM fail every time you run it - or only when you resize the panels?

Have you tried pressing CTRL when you start VLM? - that should provide an easy option to clear the problematic APPDATA files.

Thanks

N

 

[namirda]

Well, as promised a while ago, I created a short blog post and video on how to set up VLM (for those that don't know how). Feel free to share so that more people can learn about this amazing tool. Also, let me know how it could be improved and I'll try to incorporate as time allows.

The tutorial can be found here: Virtual Litchi Missions in Google Earth - Avios Aerial Media

Or, if you prefer going straight to the video without my waffle (and handy links) you can go here:

I hope people find it useful.

Hi,

Thanks for making this video - good stuff.

A couple of small errors which you may want to correct if you make a second version:

1) If you are generating the csv files using the Litchi panel in VLM (ie the 'normal' way in VLM2) then the 'Watch Folder' setting is not used - the csv data is grabbed directly. In fact the csv file never goes into the "Watch Folder' at all.

The Watch Folder simply provides an additional way to get data into VLM. If for some reason you prefer to use the Litchi Mission Hub in your normal browser then you can export the csv file to the Watch Folder and VLM will pick it up from there. In VLM 1, this was the only option so it is really only provided for backward compatibility. You can also input an existing csv file using the File/Open menu in VLM so there are three different ways of getting csv data into the program.

2) I don't think it is true that setting the delete option with the Watch Folder will delete all csv files in the Watch Folder - is it?

There are a few other things you could have talked about such as the VLM Profile Panels and the GE Diagnostics - maybe next version?

Excellent job - thanks

N