Litchi and P4P

[Raptorman0909]

So the Litchi app that's been updated for the P4P has been out for a few days but has anyone used it yet? I delayed my trip from this week until next week and plan to do a bunch of flying and shooting video/stills in southern Utah during the trip and had considered using Litchi for some of that, but if it's not yet stable with the P4P I will hold off.


Brian

 

[dellmed]

i tried the orbit mode with P4P and litchi on iOS. Work fine,
Issues with focus mode,

The documentation has not been updated yet

 

[Raptorman0909]

One of the thing I need to try with Litchi is to set up a waypoint mission with curved waypoints but set one or more of the waypoints corner to minimum radius as I've been told if you do that you can do actions at that point. Would be a good way to get both smooth corners AND be able to perform actions.


Brian

 

[inkytog]

Litchie question(s)
I am asking these coming from a pro video/photo point of view..so I'm thinking how the autonomy would get better shots..

- can it run alongside the DJI app? Meaning can you dip into Litchie when you want to do something the DJI app can't?
-in terms of autonomous flight - is there much the DJI app can't do that Litchie can
-What point in a newbie's flying career should we consider using a none DJI app?

 

[shenzi105]

tried Litchi pano twice and after I stop the pano function, the drone is not responding instantaneously, has lags to my commands and keep wanting to stay up to pano.
I don't see any other "stop" or "abort" button in Litchi to get full manual control of the P4P

 

[kennedye]

Litchie question(s)
I am asking these coming from a pro video/photo point of view..so I'm thinking how the autonomy would get better shots..

- can it run alongside the DJI app? Meaning can you dip into Litchie when you want to do something the DJI app can't?
-in terms of autonomous flight - is there much the DJI app can't do that Litchie can
-What point in a newbie's flying career should we consider using a none DJI app?

It's generally recommended to only run one flight app at a time, so if you have to switch between them mid-flight be prepared to force-quit one before launching the other one. (That said, Litchi can do nearly everything that Go can.)

Litchi's main strength over Go is the waypoints and customization of them. However it does add some additional flying modes to older aircraft like my P3P that are already available on the P4/P4P/Mavic like tracking and focus.

 

[kennedye]

Oh it occurs to me that I didn't mention what many consider Litchi's real advantage, which is the FPV support (I personally don't use it myself.)

 

[jiggyb21]

So the Litchi app that's been updated for the P4P has been out for a few days but has anyone used it yet? I delayed my trip from this week until next week and plan to do a bunch of flying and shooting video/stills in southern Utah during the trip and had considered using Litchi for some of that, but if it's not yet stable with the P4P I will hold off.


Brian

You will actually need to set the the curve to "OFF". Any value whatsoever and you wont be able to utilize the waypoint commands. Litchi is the single best piece of software I've ever purchased for any platform. It took my P3S, A and P, and now my P4 from being a fun hobby/toy to a tool. Waypoint missions are everything for me. There is a learning curve and a necessary trepidation that accompanies the process. Patience and a solid brain will help, both of which you've displayed in the youtube videos I've been watching. Good luck. I have 100's of hours using Litchi and I'd gladly help anyway I can. As to the P4P compatibility, I can't say, but I have the utmost respect and confidence in the developer. He's far too put together, it seems, to release a product that would result in loss/crash. A few bugs maybe...

 

[jiggyb21]

Litchie question(s)
I am asking these coming from a pro video/photo point of view..so I'm thinking how the autonomy would get better shots..

- can it run alongside the DJI app? Meaning can you dip into Litchie when you want to do something the DJI app can't?
-in terms of autonomous flight - is there much the DJI app can't do that Litchie can
-What point in a newbie's flying career should we consider using a none DJI app?

To add to what kennedye said. You absolutely should force close whichever of the apps you aren't flying with. Something to think about: Litchi adds more and more settings each update but some settings can only be found in DJI GO(sensitivities, battery level RTH functions etc). In my experience, if Litchi doesn't have it in its settings, it uses the values carried over from the GO app. In other words, think of Litchi as a skin over the DJI GO app. So with the exception of settings, for me, there is nothing Litchi won't do that GO does. I use Litchi 95% of the time. Now the last thing I should say is that I am speaking from an Android standpoint. I have no idea what the Apple Litchi looks like but I know that it generally lags behind, in development, its Android counterpart. So while the Android version leaves me nothing to desire, I can't say that would be the case for everyone.

I really enjoy taking 360 panaramoras which is completely automated using Litchi. Waypoint missions still boggle my mind with amazement.

To answer your third question- No time like the present.

 

[Raptorman0909]

You will actually need to set the the curve to "OFF". Any value whatsoever and you wont be able to utilize the waypoint commands. Litchi is the single best piece of software I've ever purchased for any platform. It took my P3S, A and P, and now my P4 from being a fun hobby/toy to a tool. Waypoint missions are everything for me. There is a learning curve and a necessary trepidation that accompanies the process. Patience and a solid brain will help, both of which you've displayed in the youtube videos I've been watching. Good luck. I have 100's of hours using Litchi and I'd gladly help anyway I can. As to the P4P compatibility, I can't say, but I have the utmost respect and confidence in the developer. He's far too put together, it seems, to release a product that would result in loss/crash. A few bugs maybe...

I was told by someone on this board that if you set the mode to curved flight but you set the curve radius to minimum that you could perfrom actions at that waypoint -- I've not tested it myself but he said he has. So, not hard to test.

But, Litchi should permit a mixes flight with curved and straight legs so you can benefit from curved waypoints for video and still have the ability to shoot stills at other waypoints. I can't for the life of me see why one should preclude the other...


Brian

 

[jiggyb21]

I was told by someone on this board that if you set the mode to curved flight but you set the curve radius to minimum that you could perfrom actions at that waypoint -- I've not tested it myself but he said he has. So, not hard to test.

But, Litchi should permit a mixes flight with curved and straight legs so you can benefit from curved waypoints for video and still have the ability to shoot stills at other waypoints. I can't for the life of me see why one should preclude the other...


Brian

I certainly agree and the mixed flight has been something I've wanted to see added but the developer does seem to be somewhat handcuffed by the DJI SDK and therefore can only do so much with the software. Also the more proficient I get with Litchi, the more I have found can be done in one battery by simply firing off multiple missions in rapid succession.

A lot has changed since I started using Litchi so I should probably check my facts before giving advice. You may very well be able to set the curve to minimum. As I said, I'm now used to just planning a mission that is one or the other.

EDIT :

This is from the help page and how i've always understood it to function. I thought the path had to be set to "straight lines" for ANY action input to be honored.

 

[inkytog]

Guess I'm just worried about losing control etc and then having no comeback with DJI if they know I've not been using their app? If they release an SDK though then surely they expect third party apps?

 

[jiggyb21]

Trust me I would be a little nervous "testing" a 3rd party app on my new P4P. I'd probably pretend it doesn't exist for a month or so and let a few updates hit.

 

[smiller]

I thought the path had to be set to "straight lines" for ANY action input to be honored.

That is correct, or at least is what Litchi said in answer to a question on their Facebook feed. If the overall mode is set to curved turns then no actions can be processed, regardless of what the curve setting might be in an individual waypoint. They also said that it was a limitation in the SDK so nothing they can do about it at present.

 

[Paul55]

My take on LITCHI - ----Last month I crashed my 7 day old P4 with my first attempt with the "Waypoint" feature however it was my error....... I now always go to Google Earth and check the elevation changes my "Waypoint" routes....It crashed into a hillside heading to a waypoint a mile away that was about 10 feet higher than my altitude setting.

Now with my 2nd P4 I am much more careful.....as someone mentioned above the LITCHI "Waypoint" feature is just amazing .....just carefully double check the settings and elevations. I go to Google Earth and plot a path of my route and then click on the proposed path and you can see the elevation changes.....and in my experience even with 10+ satellites on the GPS 'P' mode there is a margin of error regarding the drone flight altitudes.

 

[smiller]

The latest version of Litchi for Android can automatically reference all waypoints to ground altitude via batch editing.