Litchi vs Autopilot!?

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Which should I get for my P4 Pro? Planning to use one of these 3rd party apps full time!
 
Depends on you what you want to do. I have both. If you're serious, get both. AutoPilot has lots of capabilities and a higher learning curve. To start, Litchi is cleaner and easier IMHO. When you boil it down a lot of shots are a few waypoints that allow the app to fly the bird while you concentrate on the scene. Both are good at this capability.

zigs
 
Depends on you what you want to do. I have both. If you're serious, get both. AutoPilot has lots of capabilities and a higher learning curve. To start, Litchi is cleaner and easier IMHO. When you boil it down a lot of shots are a few waypoints that allow the app to fly the bird while you concentrate on the scene. Both are good at this capability.

zigs
Which do you recommend for Prosumer use?
 
I just got Litchi.....so far so good, I really like the Waypoints and Mission Control is a killer. Plot a film run and then go to autopilot,,,,,,!
 
You have more control with autopilot, particularly with respect to camera interpolation between waypoints. It is definitely smoother and more predictable/consistent. More effort and time invilved in the mission creation however. I use both.
 
Both are equally good. Litchi is more popular and easy to use.
 
I believe most have failed to point out the most important difference between the 2:

Litchi waypoint missions are uploaded to the AC system memory at runtime;
Autopilot is a realtime communication based implementation;

What does this mean?

If using Litchi's waypoint mission and you lose complete connectivity, the mission will continue to completion (hopefully your last waypoint is at the mission start where you will have controller control);

If you lose connectivity with Autopilot, the mission halts, and may hover, return to home or land at that point, whichever is chosen in the setup I believe.

Pros and Cons for both, but Litchi certainly has market share probably in large part due to the complexities of the Autopilot interface, which I believe is its strong suit.

BOTH!
 
I believe most have failed to point out the most important difference between the 2:

Litchi waypoint missions are uploaded to the AC system memory at runtime;
Autopilot is a realtime communication based implementation;

What does this mean?

If using Litchi's waypoint mission and you lose complete connectivity, the mission will continue to completion (hopefully your last waypoint is at the mission start where you will have controller control);

If you lose connectivity with Autopilot, the mission halts, and may hover, return to home or land at that point, whichever is chosen in the setup I believe.

Pros and Cons for both, but Litchi certainly has market share probably in large part due to the complexities of the Autopilot interface, which I believe is its strong suit.

BOTH!
Even though I haven't tried it, I do believe AutoPilot also has that capability. For both, it diminishes some of the waypoint capabilities if used. While all the automation in both is impressive and may be needed, I'm finding I've pared a lot of it out using the sticks for speed control, manual or programmed gimbal tilt and controlling yawing manually. For intricate shots neither can get the picture framing where I want it in full automation. For me the apps are best for getting the bird from point to point, saving and reusing if needed. We all work different. I'd get Litchi and start on that. If all the other capabilities are needed, move on to Autopilot. You may well end up using both.

-- zigs
 
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Zigs ... aside from a 2 manned control system (say, Inspire, e.g.), in most, not all, but most cases, a computer instruction, if properly given, will always trump a human's ability to manipulate a robot - in this case, a flying camera with a full or partial gimbal (say, Phantom x, e.g.). As much as some of us would like to brag or demonstrate our stick skills, I consider this an undeniable fact. After all, that was the underlying premise of the development of a "computer".

When I design a Litchi waypoint mission, I will often insert/use waypoints that do NOT change the heading/bearing but use them solely for making a changes to the altitude, camera shot and angle. I always fly with POIs and use the interpolate function and often make manual changes to the lens angle regardless of the POI position or height when I'm trying to achieve a specific effect. In my mission designs, I rarely ever fly any 2 waypoints in the mission at the same altitude either - this adds interest methinks. With some practice, you can also discover the rotational changes that Litchi will make while moving through waypoints and executing heading, altitude and gimbal positions..

While Autopilot can do all of this and more, I find Litchi, if used in this manner, to be a quicker study, just as effective and safer due to on-board mission storage.

I'm doing some beta testing for Drone Harmony right now and I find the product interesting. Mission programable obstacle avoidance in x, y, and z axis. I realize (and perhaps the Drone Harmony vision does also) that the OA technology is being embedded into the AC, but I think its an interesting idea to allow the operator to apply obstacle avoidance (OA) control back to the pilot during mission design.

If you haven't checked out Drone Harmony, give it a look and voice your opinion.

Best,
 
Zigs ... aside from a 2 manned control system (say, Inspire, e.g.), in most, not all, but most cases, a computer instruction, if properly given, will always trump a human's ability to manipulate a robot - in this case, a flying camera with a full or partial gimbal (say, Phantom x, e.g.). As much as some of us would like to brag or demonstrate our stick skills, I consider this an undeniable fact. After all, that was the underlying premise of the development of a "computer".

When I design a Litchi waypoint mission, I will often insert/use waypoints that do NOT change the heading/bearing but use them solely for making a changes to the altitude, camera shot and angle. I always fly with POIs and use the interpolate function and often make manual changes to the lens angle regardless of the POI position or height when I'm trying to achieve a specific effect. In my mission designs, I rarely ever fly any 2 waypoints in the mission at the same altitude either - this adds interest methinks. With some practice, you can also discover the rotational changes that Litchi will make while moving through waypoints and executing heading, altitude and gimbal positions..

While Autopilot can do all of this and more, I find Litchi, if used in this manner, to be a quicker study, just as effective and safer due to on-board mission storage.

I'm doing some beta testing for Drone Harmony right now and I find the product interesting. Mission programable obstacle avoidance in x, y, and z axis. I realize (and perhaps the Drone Harmony vision does also) that the OA technology is being embedded into the AC, but I think its an interesting idea to allow the operator to apply obstacle avoidance (OA) control back to the pilot during mission design.

If you haven't checked out Drone Harmony, give it a look and voice your opinion.

Best,
Drone Harmony looks interesting. Unfortunately, I'm on IOS. I guess I'm just at a point that to get the shots I want and need I'll never be able to totally trust what a program can do unless I'm willing to shoot, adjust and reshoot. And even then, with changing wind conditions and such there are still variables. Not worrying about where the bird is going and being able to have a fair amount of manual control over shooting is what I'm finding works best. Both Litchi and Autopilot give me that capability. Yes, it's fun to play around and try all the different modes and experiment, but in the end one still needs to know how to handle some manual aspects of control to get the very best, imho.

-- zigs
 
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