Autopilot 3.5 Questions/Tips

[Tenly]

@autoflightlogic
I've watched some of the new videos (Pano's and Waypoints) and have a few questions and/or enhancement requests.

These are all based on the Waypoint Video #3

1. The video says that the interval for shooting photos cannot be set until the Phantom is connected. Is that just a temporary thing for version 3.5? In the next version, will the interval be able to be saved as part of the mission configuration file?

2. Can you provide a bit more detail on how the automatic deceleration works when approaching a waypoint that has an action defined? If I have a waypoint action that takes a photo, and I want to ensure the the drone is settled (still and in the right spot), what do I need to do? The extra time it takes for deceleration at each waypoint in a mission that contains many waypoints, could add up. Is this extra time considered when showing the overall mission length in path inspector?

3. At around the 32:30 point in the video, Focus Trigger Interpolation is being discussed. In the example used in the video - if I wanted a smooth transition to the direction focus trigger - but not a gradual interpolation - how would I do that? Suppose I wanted to define a 2 second gradual focus shift instead of having the focus change abruptly - is that possible today? How?

4. Is there anything to watch out for when loading/running missions created in previous versions of AutoPilot or do all of the new values get defaults that do not change the original behaviour?

Lots of great new features! And all of them FREE (for existing owners)!!! Thank you!

I especially like the ability to re-use previous focus points! Some of my previous missions were pretty cluttered because I couldn't do that!

Thanks!

 

[Hangar]

The video says that the interval for shooting photos cannot be set until the Phantom is connected. Is that just a temporary thing for version 3.5? In the next version, will the interval be able to be saved as part of the mission configuration file?

This has been this way for all previous versions as well. We may add something later, but as always, what is the priority? Above custom map tiles? j/k

Can you provide a bit more detail on how the automatic deceleration works when approaching a waypoint that has an action defined? If I have a waypoint action that takes a photo, and I want to ensure the the drone is settled (still and in the right spot), what do I need to do? The extra time it takes for deceleration at each waypoint in a mission that contains many waypoints, could add up. Is this extra time considered when showing the overall mission length in path inspector?

The extra time is not calculated. The algorithm just linearly ramps down the speed when the aircraft is within 30m of the Waypoint with the Action. During testing we noticed this would add less than 2 seconds per Waypoint Action in the worst case scenario. If you want to ensure settling, you just increase the hover time and start the capture at a longer duration into the hover. You just have to play around with values that work well for your flight plan.

if I wanted a smooth transition to the direction focus trigger - but not a gradual interpolation - how would I do that? Suppose I wanted to define a 2 second gradual focus shift instead of having the focus change abruptly - is that possible today? How?

Are you asking for gradual or instant? In either case the behavior is controlled by enabling interpolation or not on the two triggers in question. Try turning the interpolation on and off and then use the path inspector to see the effect (a picture says a thousand words).

Is there anything to watch out for when loading/running missions created in previous versions of AutoPilot or do all of the new values get defaults that do not change the original behaviour?

The only new thing is the Lost Connection setting, which was always "End Mission" in previous versions of Autopilot because LCMC didn't exist. If you load a previously created flight plan, you should see End Mission selected for Lost Connection. Is there something else you are referring to?

And all of them FREE (for existing owners)!!!

I know, it's kind of getting ridiculous at this point - that is, how much Autopilot does for the price.

 

[Tenly]

This has been this way for all previous versions as well. We may add something later, but as always, what is the priority? Above custom map tiles? j/k

This one does actually seem like it would be fairly high priority. When creating or saving an offline mission, it would be so much better to know that it's a complete mission and not have to try and remember that I need to set the interval before running it. Perhaps it wasn't as important before you added the grid feature - but I see a lot of people trying to create repeatable grid missions in the future and being frustrated by this anomaly.

Are you asking for gradual or instant? In either case the behavior is controlled by enabling interpolation or not on the two triggers in question. Try turning the interpolation on and off and then use the path inspector to see the effect (a picture says a thousand words).

Ok. I think I understand what you're suggesting. In the past, I've always used previous and next on the 2 waypoints - and that causes a gradual interpolation across the entire distance between the 2 waypoints. That's exactly what I wanted in a couple of cases - but in others, I wanted it to maintain focus on point 1 until it arrives at waypoint 2 - but the instead on an instant, abrupt transition, I wanted a smoother pan lasting say 2-3 seconds. I don't know now to do that without creating extra waypoints dedicated to this function and l am thinking that an options to specify transition duration is all I need to make things smooth and intuitive. I think you are suggestion that i try using "previous" on my focus trigger without using "next" on the previous one and to see what happens. So that's what I'll do.