Newbie Litchi Question

[Shacky]

I'm a first time owner of a brand new Phantom 3 Advanced. I have done lots of reading and have learned a lot and hesitate to post, but I could use a little help with this as I can't find the specific answer.

One of my main goals for the P3 is to film fly-throughs on our family golf course. For instance, I would like to start on the #1 tee, fly up to about 20 feet of altitude and proceed to the green. I would then want to descend to about 8 feet. Then I want to fly up to 30 meters in order to clear the trees and drop down on the #2 tee about 8 feet and so on. In other words, I need a cruising altitude of about 30 meters, so as to clear the big trees, but I want to drop down on the tees and greens.

Do I do this by making the tees and greens waypoints and then also make nearby POIs? Do I need to make a way point at the edge of the tree lines with a defined altitude to make sure it clears the trees?

Thanks for any help. (If there is an article or previous thread that addresses this, just posting the link would also be very much appreciated.)

 

[Traveler]

Something like this will work, it really all depends on how you want to navigate the trees. Place POI's on what to focus on.
Note the waypoint 3 and 4 are going to lift you above and over the trees, then take you back down to the lower limit. of course your actual altitude will be dependent on the highest tree within your path. Also note that you will consume more battery going up/down, up/down. If it were me, I would walk the entire path (tablet in hand) to ensure all obstacles were accounted for.

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[Fly Dawg]

Be very careful and detailed planning low altitude profiles. It all depends on Satellite Acquisition accuracy as to if you clear the trees or not. Also check the terrain profiles and remember that it is based on the takeoff point. If the coarse has hills and slopes, you will need to take that in to account when you plan the mission. Iv'e had a few nerve racking ones in that regard, so just a heads up.

 

[Shacky]

Thanks for the tips. The course is very flat. I'll try doing a couple holes and post it here. Maybe folks could look at it and let me know if I'm doing it right.

 

[Shacky]

Does this look like I'm generally doing it right?[file]Course test|none[/file]

 

[Sagebrush]

I think your elevations are a bit on the shallow side.* Having flown numerous Litchi missions, I'd bump your elevations up and slow the bird down to say 5 mph for a test run. Keep your left trigger finger on the mode switch so you can stop the mission if it looks like a collision is imminent. If you've got glare on your tablet screen I'd scrub it.

And keep in mind that you are using a map that is at least a year old. All of those trees have a wider canopy than they did when the photo was taken. Have any trees been added since that photo was taken?

There's a learning curve setting up waypoint missions.

SB

*Between accuracy issues with Google Earth and your P3A's barometer, I'd hesitate to fly 8' on a first pass. I don't know where your hole flags are but I think there's a good chance of hitting one with a mission set that low.

 

[Shacky]

OK, I'll up the elevation to a minimum of 12' or so and slow it down. There are no new trees in the flight path and the ones existing are quite mature. (In fact, we lost quite a few trees during a Christmas Eve wind storm.) Does it look like I'm setting it to clear the trees?

Thanks again for the input!

 

[Sagebrush]

Does it look like I'm setting it to clear the trees?

No idea. You might take it down near Waypoint 4 and measure the height of the trees with a non-autonomous flight.

Are you sure that W4 & W6 are at the same elevation as your takeoff point? If they are, you could set up a small test mission that includes your W4 and W6 legs with the start point off the W4 green.

SB

 

[Sagebrush]

Sounds like a cool flight but you'll have a pit in your stomach while the bird is out of site.

SB

 

[Shacky]

I know that 30 meters will clear all the trees around here. I was just wondering if I was setting up the mission properly for it to be at 30 meters when it came to the tree line.

 

[Sagebrush]

I know that 30 meters will clear all the trees around here. I was just wondering if I was setting up the mission properly for it to be at 30 meters when it came to the tree line.

Yep! Should work fine. As long as that green is the same elevation as your takeoff point.

SB

 

[happydays]

You won't be traveling huge distances - why not just fly the course manually? Also, I would do each hole independently and stitch them together afterwards if that's what you want to do. If it was me doing this, I'd position myself at the mid point of the hole having set the quad on the tee, then take off and manually fly down the course while watching what you're doing on the screen. You can then adjust your flight path and heights according to what you see on the screen.

You'll also probably need to fly the course when there are no golfers out, to avoid all of the usual hassle, so you may need to do this early in the morning before the course opens. Just a thought.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I have flown many Litchi missions as well and I agree that it is much easier to have Litchi fly the mission vs trying to fly it and film it yourself. Much smoother, better focal points, etc. especially if you rotate around the green at all.
I would just set up a few missions for the same hole, each a little different than the other, and give it a go. Once you know the sweet spot you'll be fine.
Sounds like a lot of fun.
Where are you located?
Can't wait to see one of your clips.

MB


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[Shacky]

Thanks for your interest MB! I am in Michigan's UP. I will post a link to a bit of footage soon. I flew a mission the other day and everything went great except I lost the connection for about 5 minutes. Man, was I happy when I got the connection back and it was on it's way back! I'm having a hard time figuring out the POI's though. It seems like it stays on one POI and almost ignores the next one. I guess I have some more reading and experimenting to do. But, I love this drone and am amazed at what it can do.

 

[Traveler]

On POI's, remember that you have to step through each waypoint and set focus on POI and which POI. Left to itself, Litchi will pick the closest POI vs the one you want. Try some shots from the left or right side of the fairway along the path of the fairway too. If you have a nice backdrop it can add some perspective of the course layout. Here is an example layout. In my case I had a lake view in the background.
Cheers

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[Sagebrush]

And by the way.... it'd probably take me three flights to get this thing done to my satisfaction. Fly it, tweak the POIs or the speed/elevations, pop a fresh battery in and fly it again. Take it home, watch the draft video, make some tweaks and do the final flight.

But that's me.

SB

 

[Shacky]

Ahh, yes. I see. That's fairly straightforward and as you must have guessed, I wasn't doing it. I have now gone in and selected the POIs for each waypoint. "Focus POI" is pretty clear. The camera will stay focused right on that POI. "Interpolate" on the other hand is a little harder to grasp. Can anyone give me a simple explanation?

I got this from the help section;" Interpolate: You can specify the gimbal pitch angle at this waypoint. For "Interpolate" to work, the previous or next waypoint need to be set to "Interpolate" as well. Litchi will then automatically adjust the gimbal pitch angle to start and end at the specified angles, and smoothly transition while travelling between the two waypoints."

So, I guess the camera will just sort of pan from one POI to the next?

 

[n6vmo]

My Litchi mission at low altitude (25'), low speed (4MPH) and at close quarters. I used focus at way point and not POI.

Litchi tracked perfectly down the middle of the street.

At 3:54, the set altitude brought it down below the roofs of the houses.

Fly slow and yaw slow. That makes smooth video.

 

[Shacky]

My Litchi mission at low altitude (25'), low speed (4MPH) and at close quarters. I used focus at way point and not POI.

Litchi tracked perfectly down the middle of the street.

At 3:54, the set altitude brought it down below the roofs of the houses.

Fly slow and yaw slow. That makes smooth video.

Much of that video is of the scene in reverse. (Rearview window). How would you have changed it to look ahead? FPV?

 

[Traveler]

Interpolate takes the angles you set at each waypoint to plot a smooth transition between those waypoints. The free Litchi film school gives a good explanation of this and many other functions. Worth watching if you have not done so already.


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