Litchi: Fly Vertical Arc?

[Laguna Hiker]

I want to use my Phantom 4 to replicate "impossible crane shots". Think of the opening of Sound of Music, where Robert Wise used a helicopter to crane in on Julie Andrews. To get the shot, I have to fly the drone in a vertical arc, which looks like this:

I know that Litchi can smooth corners on a flight path, but those curves are horizontal. What I'm trying to do is a similar curve, but vertical. I have tried getting the shot under manual control, but the results have been disappointing.

Can Litchi automate this shot?? If so, how do I set it up in the software? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Best guess. Do a "Zipline". Set for curves, such that the drone does not stop at the waypoints. Make your altitude decrease gradually at each waypoint. You wont get a "true" arc but it should get you very close to that.

 

[With The Birds]

I fly with litchi and autopilot, haven't tried this in Litchi but it should be the same. Provided the waypoint spacing and horizontal speed is set so the required climb rate is within the AC specs this can be done very satisfactorily with a waypoint mission in autopilot. You just need enough waypoints describing the curve for it to appear smooth in your footage.

 

[alokbhargava]

I fly with litchi and autopilot, haven't tried this in Litchi but it should be the same. Provided the waypoint spacing and horizontal speed is set so the required climb rate is within the AC specs this can be done very satisfactorily with a waypoint mission in autopilot. You just need enough waypoints describing the curve for it to appear smooth in your footage.

Fully agree. To follow a vertical contour, you should keep an eye on the vertical speed too.

 

[Pharm]

Use the Focus mode in Litchi. Set your POI on the location of the person, etc., then fly the path you want and Litchi will keep the camera pointed at the POI. Another option is to fly a waypoint mission and set the POI on what you want the camera to focus on.

The main thing is to START very close to your POI (point of interest), then fly AWAY from it. When editing, just reverse the video.

 

[captirwin]

Very interesting thread...Very informative.

 

[Laurend818]

Use the Focus mode in Litchi. Set your POI on the location of the person, etc., then fly the path you want and Litchi will keep the camera pointed at the POI. Another option is to fly a waypoint mission and set the POI on what you want the camera to focus on.

The main thing is to START very close to your POI (point of interest), then fly AWAY from it. When editing, just reverse the video.

You are correct,,I have done this shot using that exact process...again, as you mentioned,,,,start close to your poi and reverse the vid in editing.

 

[Pharm]

You are correct,,I have done this shot using that exact process...again, as you mentioned,,,,start close to your poi and reverse the vid in editing.

It makes you look very skilled and very brave. I just did a shot like that, starting about 6 feet from my son's front door, then zoomed up and away. I reversed it and it looks like I shot ALMOST into the door. There's also the added benefit that the ending is a perfect stop with no props in the way, no wavering, etc., almost like an easy-ease video curve to the full stop.