Flying Panorama missions with Litchi possible?

[Nacho Man Brandy Cabbage]

Hi there,

I am wondering if it's possible to create a mission in Litchi missionhub that lets my P4 automatically take off, go to the certain height, fly to a certain point, take a spherical panorama and then return to home. I don't want it to record any video during the mission. Does anyone know how to set this up in missionhub or litchi?

I have been able to achieve this with the autopilot app but for some reason this app keeps crashing and it doesn't have a website that lets you set up mission in a browser.

How do you fly panorama missions?

 

[MacCool]

Sure, that's no problem. Just make sure to uncheck "Curved Turns". Otherwise those waypoint camera actions will be ignored. You fly Panorama by starting in waypoint mode, and at whatever waypoint you want, you click the Panorama button in the camera action section of the waypoint setting window.

If you're going to disable video for the flight then you'll be fine. You only have a maximum of 15 actions that can be set at any given waypoint and Panorama takes 14 of them. If you do want to have video running, just set a waypoint right before your panorama waypoint set use it to stop video so that when you get to the panorama waypoint you'll have all the camera actions that you need available.

 

[Nacho Man Brandy Cabbage]

Thank you for your response. I should have mentioned that I need a 3-row pano with at least 10 frames per row and 2-3 nadir shots.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Vichian-Bruno]

Yw, here is a link to Litchi manual as pdf (P3, P4 and Inspire, english for Android), for panaorama setting check page 25ff:

Litchi P3 1_10_16.pdf

the nadir shots you should be able to realize with the tilt action.

 

[Nacho Man Brandy Cabbage]

Thanks for the tip but I've read the manual several times and know how to do a panorama in Litchi.

The issue I'm having is to integrate a 360 spherical panorama into a mission where I don't have to manually fly to the location I'd like to take a panorama of.

 

[With The Birds]

You won't get enough actions at a particular waypoint in litchi to take the 22-23 frames you require.

You can import paths from google earth to autopilot. The missions are are no more difficult to set up than with mission hub (litchi).

With minimal practice shooting the frames flying manually is very simple with consistent results. The added benefit being you can fly to the exact position your after.

 

[MacCool]

Could you not fly to a way point via Litchi, pause the mission, then switch to Panorama mode and take the three-row Panorama? Then resume?

Alternatively, could you fly to the Litchi waypoint, then stop/abort/cancel the mission, switch to Panorama mode and take the pano, then come back home via course lock or via RTH? Or, load and execute a second mission designed to bring the drone home? Sorry, I haven't tried it so I don't know. It would be easy enough to find out but I'm out of town ATM. I guess the question is whether or not it's possible to cancel one mission, change mode from Waypoint to Panorama, get the shot, then switch back to Waypoint and load a second mission. IOW change flight modes back and forth.

I wonder why Litchi only allows 15 actions at a given waypoint. They must be aware that it's an occasional limitation because they specifically address it in the manual.

 

[With The Birds]

Could you not fly to a way point via Litchi, pause the mission, then switch to Panorama mode and take the three-row Panorama? Then resume?

Alternatively, could you fly to the Litchi waypoint, then stop/abort/cancel the mission, then come back home via course lock or via RTH? Or, load and execute a second mission designed to bring the drone home? Sorry, I haven't tried it so I don't know. It would be easy enough to find out but I'm out of town ATM. I guess the question is whether or not it's possible to cancel one mission, change mode from Waypoint to Panorama, get the shot, then switch back to Waypoint and load a second mission.

I wonder why Litchi only allows 15 actions at a given waypoint. They must be aware that it's an occasional limitation because they specifically address it in the manual.

The actions per waypoint limitation is prescribed by the DJI firmware/SDK.

 

[MacCool]

The actions per waypoint limitation is prescribed by the DJI firmware/SDK.

Yeah, it makes sense that that's the reason.

 

[Vichian-Bruno]

Could you not fly to a way point via Litchi, pause the mission, then switch to Panorama mode and take the three-row Panorama? Then resume?

I assume he'd like to have this switch automated as well, start the mission to the waypoint, switch to panorama mode, take all the shots, switch back to mission or initiate a RTH action.

Somehow sounds like a good feature, switching between flying modes, but...
If you accidentally programmed a switch to e.g orbit instead of panorama mode and the bird is has lost connection you have to run like hell to get the AC reconnected before the battery is running out of power.

Hence there are many more eventualities to be considered for a feature like this to avoid any chance of incorrect setups, which Litchi finally would be blamed if it results in a crash.

 

[MacCool]

You can't set an actions to switch modes, that would have to be done manually and I don't know if you can switch modes while flying. I think so, but I don't know for sure.

He wants a mission where he flies to a waypoint autonomously and then, when at that waypoint, take a three-row panorama. That would be 21 actions and he can only have 15 so it can't be set as a waypoint action ..it would have to be done in Panorama mode. I think that cancelling the mission when he gets to the waypoint, then switching to panorama mode and doing his three-row panorama, will be his only option. After the panorama is done, he could hit RTH. The thing I don't know is if he could switch back from Panorama to Waypoint mode, then load and execute a mission that would return him to a waypoint close to his home point

 

[Nacho Man Brandy Cabbage]

Thank you all so much for your input.

I don't need to go back to waypoint mode after the pano is completed. When it's done can simply RTH. Maybe I should elaborate even more.

My only objective is to create panoramas at specific coordinates at certain location. They have to be at least 3-row panoramas with a minimum of 30 frames per pano. Since I have to do several per day at different locations I'd like to work as efficiently and flawlessly as possible and conserve as much battery power per mission as possible.

My current workflow is this: creating a path in Google Earth, export the .kml to my cloud, open the .kml in Autopilot and create the mission. Unfortunately I can't just add predetermined actions to this path so I have to set it up every single time which makes it more error-prone and time-consuming. Another thing is that Autopilot keeps crashing on me constantly and ends the mission and I have to start over again. Autopilot also doesn't allow single-point waypoint missions so I have to add a nonsensical second point which adds more time and drains the battery, even if it's only a few seconds each mission.

Litchi does a pretty good job at shooting a bunch of panorama frames in a short amount of time but not being able to set this up as a waypoint mission would be a deal breaker for me.

Any other apps out there capable of doing this?

 

[John Locke]

If you're only allowed 15 actions per waypoint, why not move 1ft to a new waypoint to get 15 more actions? The stitching should compensate for a 1ft difference in shooting location.

 

[Nacho Man Brandy Cabbage]

While this might be possible it just seems too risky in terms of accuracy and way to complex to set up


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[With The Birds]

The Autoflightlogic crew have been very responsive on the few occasions I have needed to contact them. Your best bet may be to work with them to resolve the crashing issue with the app.

What device and iOS firmware are you on?

I don't understand why you need to setup the mission on each occasion you fly it in autipilot? You should be able to save each of your missions and just load when needed.

While you are getting the autopilot issue resolved why not just manually fly and set the waypoints in the GO app? The image acquisition can be done just as quickly manually with the same results.

 

[Nacho Man Brandy Cabbage]

I'm using an iPad Air and an iPhone 6s, both running the latest iOS Version and apps.

After preparing the missions I don't have touch them anymore when flying them. The hard part is setting them up in the first place. There are so many different steps to get these missions into the app.
I've been in contact with the autologic guys but they weren't really helpful and didn't even respond to the initial question.

The reason I don't want to do anything manually is that I have to do up to 25 missions a day. So I want to have them as accurate and automated as possible. Doing parts of it manually and switching between apps mid-mission just adds potential problems to the whole process.

Does Litchi have a customer support? I wasn't able to find any contact option on their website or in the app itself.

 

[With The Birds]

I'm using an iPad Air and an iPhone 6s, both running the latest iOS Version and apps.

After preparing the missions I don't have touch them anymore when flying them. The hard part is setting them up in the first place. There are so many different steps to get these missions into the app.
I've been in contact with the autologic guys but they weren't really helpful and didn't even respond to the initial question.

The reason I don't want to do anything manually is that I have to do up to 25 missions a day. So I want to have them as accurate and automated as possible. Doing parts of it manually and switching between apps mid-mission just adds potential problems to the whole process.

Does Litchi have a customer support? I wasn't able to find any contact option on their website or in the app itself.

You can contact litchi through their facebook page.

Another option, although not meeting all your requirements, is DronePan. The app is free and does a great job on the image acquisition. You need to fly the AC to the station though.

 

[MacCool]

Thank you all so much for your input.

I don't need to go back to waypoint mode after the pano is completed. When it's done can simply RTH. Maybe I should elaborate even more.

My only objective is to create panoramas at specific coordinates at certain location. They have to be at least 3-row panoramas with a minimum of 30 frames per pano. Since I have to do several per day at different locations I'd like to work as efficiently and flawlessly as possible and conserve as much battery power per mission as possible.

My current workflow is this: creating a path in Google Earth, export the .kml to my cloud, open the .kml in Autopilot and create the mission. Unfortunately I can't just add predetermined actions to this path so I have to set it up every single time which makes it more error-prone and time-consuming. Another thing is that Autopilot keeps crashing on me constantly and ends the mission and I have to start over again. Autopilot also doesn't allow single-point waypoint missions so I have to add a nonsensical second point which adds more time and drains the battery, even if it's only a few seconds each mission.

Litchi does a pretty good job at shooting a bunch of panorama frames in a short amount of time but not being able to set this up as a waypoint mission would be a deal breaker for me.

Any other apps out there capable of doing this?

Litchi will do up to 10 rows, but it will only shoot a max of 22 photos per row. I can't think of any way you could get Litchi to do what you need as a waypoint mission. In Waypoint mode (as opposed to Panorama mode) it will only take one row, and since it can only handle 15 actions, you will only be able to take 8 photos at any given waypoint if you only want to autonomously fly to a waypoint and take the panorama. It would do what you want (although only 22 photos), but not in waypoint mode.

 

[lmayes69]

Thank you all so much for your input.

I don't need to go back to waypoint mode after the pano is completed. When it's done can simply RTH. Maybe I should elaborate even more.

My only objective is to create panoramas at specific coordinates at certain location. They have to be at least 3-row panoramas with a minimum of 30 frames per pano. Since I have to do several per day at different locations I'd like to work as efficiently and flawlessly as possible and conserve as much battery power per mission as possible.

My current workflow is this: creating a path in Google Earth, export the .kml to my cloud, open the .kml in Autopilot and create the mission. Unfortunately I can't just add predetermined actions to this path so I have to set it up every single time which makes it more error-prone and time-consuming. Another thing is that Autopilot keeps crashing on me constantly and ends the mission and I have to start over again. Autopilot also doesn't allow single-point waypoint missions so I have to add a nonsensical second point which adds more time and drains the battery, even if it's only a few seconds each mission.

Litchi does a pretty good job at shooting a bunch of panorama frames in a short amount of time but not being able to set this up as a waypoint mission would be a deal breaker for me.

Any other apps out there capable of doing this?

sounds like you are using an IOS device. but on android , DJI ultimate flight allows for orbits and panos as waypoints

 

[Checomx]

Did someone found the answer of this?
I want to create a mission in litchi and take the panorama with 3 rows automatically too. if I flight to a certain altitude and start the panorama , it crashes always! so I think if I upload a mission with the panoramic , no matter if the litchi crashes, it will take the panos till the end.

I need to find a solution to this.

Using iPad air, P4 and litchi