I know a lot of us were wondering what would become of the hard work laid down by 3 rd party dev's when DJI finally released the IFM features such as Follow Me, Orbit and Waypoints. Well now we know! I predict they'll receive EVEN MORE business now that we've seen DJI's implementation.
For starters, with Litchi (on previous SDK, not current release yet but he's working on that right now) you can start all modes from the ground. Most annoying about DJI's implementation is that you have to get the bird in the air and then start selecting options--waste of battery, other risks associated. Possibly even more compelling, however, is options available in Litchi are many times more robust for all modes.
Whaaaat!? I have to fly over my the subject to designate it as POI, fly to the viewpoint, and manually set focus!? I have to manually fly over desired WP's beforehand to set them!? Not so with Litchi and I suspect the other 3 rd party apps out there. The only reason I can think of that DJI is holding back mapping of waypoints and the rest is because there app is designed for the masses and it's likely a good deal safer to force the user to manually fly the bird to all positions rather than estimate and crash in the process. Well they could implement an Advanced and Beginner Mode of the features then if that's the case. I'm loving the auto-gimbal feature allowing the bird to keep focus on subject as well as super customizable C1 and C2 buttons determined by which mode you are presently in.
Way to many positives to mention and I would most definitely forget a few so I'm copynig and pasting a mostly up-to-date feature set as listed by one of the testers (hopefully he won't mind). Additionally, the developer, VC Tech, is constantly adding new features/fixing buts and updating the alpha/beta apps weekly if not sooner:
Litchi (for Android) Feature List (Phantom 2*, Phantom 3 and Inspire 1)
FPV
Follow
Orbit
Groundstation
**Subject to change with new versions of the firmware.
For starters, with Litchi (on previous SDK, not current release yet but he's working on that right now) you can start all modes from the ground. Most annoying about DJI's implementation is that you have to get the bird in the air and then start selecting options--waste of battery, other risks associated. Possibly even more compelling, however, is options available in Litchi are many times more robust for all modes.
Whaaaat!? I have to fly over my the subject to designate it as POI, fly to the viewpoint, and manually set focus!? I have to manually fly over desired WP's beforehand to set them!? Not so with Litchi and I suspect the other 3 rd party apps out there. The only reason I can think of that DJI is holding back mapping of waypoints and the rest is because there app is designed for the masses and it's likely a good deal safer to force the user to manually fly the bird to all positions rather than estimate and crash in the process. Well they could implement an Advanced and Beginner Mode of the features then if that's the case. I'm loving the auto-gimbal feature allowing the bird to keep focus on subject as well as super customizable C1 and C2 buttons determined by which mode you are presently in.
Way to many positives to mention and I would most definitely forget a few so I'm copynig and pasting a mostly up-to-date feature set as listed by one of the testers (hopefully he won't mind). Additionally, the developer, VC Tech, is constantly adding new features/fixing buts and updating the alpha/beta apps weekly if not sooner:
Litchi (for Android) Feature List (Phantom 2*, Phantom 3 and Inspire 1)
FPV
- Fly and view aircraft on map and view near real-time video using Hardware Decoding.
- Ability to fly in Home Lock or Course Lock
- Optional VR mode with head motion detection including during automated flight
- Dynamic home point.
- Ability to manually set homepoint
- Manual channel selection including all 32 channels (without hack)
Follow
- Follow and watch a Subject with Automatic Gimbal Pitch
- Subject can be:
- the Remote Control with mobile device attached
- a second mobile device using Litchi Magic Leash
- a pin on the map
- Ability to move the aircraft during a Follow session to better position the subject or background, or to avoid obstacles.
- Two heading modes: Course Heading ie "Smart Heading" and North Heading.
- Ability to set an offset from the Subject to watch.
- Ability to use Custom Buttons to quickly set Follow parameters from the location of the aircraft and remote control.
- Allows Follow speeds up to 15m/s (54kph;33.5 mph)**
Orbit
- Set a POI at any altitude and orbit the POI at pre-defined distance and altitude. Supports two methods to define the Orbit's parameters:
- Set the POI and radius (including altitudes) from the current location of the aircraft.
- Define the POI and radius using a map and setting altitudes manually.
- View POI and Orbit's path on the map.
- Automatic or manual Gimbal Pitch control to keep the POI in focus.
- Save and load Orbit parameters.
- Change altitude, Orbit radius, and speed during the execution of the Orbit.
- Ability to use Custom Buttons to quickly set Orbit parameters from the location of the aircraft.
Groundstation
- Predefine and save waypoints, and POIs, and mission parameters and view the mission on a map.
- Ability to specify mission heading
- Toward Next Waypoint
- Initial Direction
- User Controlled
- Waypoint Defined
- Allows multiple POIs in a single mission where nearest waypoints' headings and gimbal pitch focus on the POI.
- Create waypoints on-the-fly based on the aircraft's current Lat/long, altitude, heading, and gimbal pitch.
- Create POIs on-the-fly based on the aircraft's current Lat/long, altitude.
- Specify and fly Curved Turns at Waypoints
- Ability to specify Curved Turn distance and view the Turn on the map.
- Ability to default to Curved Turn distances.
- Specify Actions at Waypoints for non Curved Turn Missions.
- Stay
- Take Photo
- Start Recording
- Stop Recording
- Rotate Aircraft
- Tilt Camera
- Automatic Gimbal Pitch transitions between waypoints to keep focus on POIs or supplied waypoint Gimbal Pitch degrees. Manual gimbal adjustments also supported.
- Automatic Heading transitions between waypoints to keep focus on POIs or supplied waypoint heading.
- Set speed of the mission.
- Ability to reverse course during a mission.
- Ability to change speed during a mission.
- Automatic Panoramic Pre-set action at waypoint.
- Auto Takeoff can be turned on/off.
- Ability to use Custom Buttons to quickly define waypoints and POIs from the location of the aircraft.
- Allows 2 km distance between waypoints and up to 10 km total mission distance**
- Support for Phantom 2, 3 and Inspire. Some features may not be available on Phantom 2.
- Multiple map modes
- Auto zoom for map
- Find My Aircraft
- Auto Record on takeoff
- Hardware or software decode
- Flight Logging in Flytrex format
- Dynamic Homepoint
- Auto Takeoff in GS can be turned on/off
- Speech
- Custom Buttons on remote control configured by function (FPV, Follow, Orbit, GS)
**Subject to change with new versions of the firmware.
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