Page 56, Appendix, P3P manual, IOC Requirements:
Course Lock -
GPS Enabled -> No
GPS Counts -> None
Flight Distance Limits -> None
Course Lock -
GPS Enabled -> No
GPS Counts -> None
Flight Distance Limits -> None
Course Lock --- first impressions
- Thread starter Volkhard
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Ain't this fun.... Love manuals. U.S. Guys are great we do everything first then when we can't get it we go to the manual. I did it again last night with new kitchen faucets. Kept doing it myself then when I could figure went to the manual. I think that built into our ego's . Then we hope the manual is good and easy to understand. Man I love this job!
I know of many people who are trying to figure things out without reading the manual first. It seems not in my genes. Not only as an engineer, but to make things worse
as a German engineer, I value good documentations and find they are absolutely necessary, when it comes to complex systems. The manual for a woodworking CNC I owned once had 2 books with a total of 800 pages. I think a Phantom 3 is more complex then a 3 axes CNC. As I am reaching retirement I might need to look into a new occupation .But in all seriousness: everyone should read the manual!
Once, twice and perhaps a third time to get at least an idea. Watching YouTube videos and reading forum posts also helps but all this "wild" info has to be used with caution and, if available, common sense should be applied. An out of control Phantom is too dangerous to "play" around with without the proper preparation
GadgetGuy
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+1!I know of many people who are trying to figure things out without reading the manual first. It seems not in my genes. Not only as an engineer, but to make things worse
But in all seriousness: everyone should read the manual!
Once, twice and perhaps a third time to get at least an idea. Watching YouTube videos and reading forum posts also helps but all this "wild" info has to be used with caution and, if available, common sense should be applied. An out of control Phantom is too dangerous to "play" around with without the proper preparation
Measure twice. Cut once!
It also doesn't help that the manual was written in anticipation of features that do not yet exist, and are then implemented differently than described. The manual discusses dynamic home point to the RC location, but what was implemented was a manually resettable home point to the RC location, creating confusion about the functionality. Course Lock was actually called "Orientation Lock" when implemented in the Pilot app. Is it the same, or is it different? If so, how? Only the shadow knows!
Keep the discussion going until we have certainty. We are all learning here!volkhard, you are 100% correct. Read the manual, study it and watch all the videos you can. The number 1 item with this so to speak sport is control always with safety in mind. It's not if the quad is going to ever crash or come down but WHEN. And that's what we need to be prepared for. Not hurting anyone and minimal or no damage to someone's person,or property. I love flying but I'm smart enough to know that doing 25 MPH and if she were to drop from 150 ft the speed and forward motion are enought to do some major damage somewhere. The pilot is always responsible. As you said common sense is key also thinking ahead. This is one of those instances where say I'm sorry just won't cut it.
You can't put into course lock until you take out of GPS mode,,and it does drift, still if the wind is still it can give some good video, I wish someone would come up with a course lock that used GPS, along with waypoints, and that will happen
I have found using course lock is one of those things I can improve with practice,,the first time I tried it the video was horrible,,,but it is improving
I have found using course lock is one of those things I can improve with practice,,the first time I tried it the video was horrible,,,but it is improving
My solution I came up with after my first trials yesterday, is to account for the drift when setting the course. Of course, that really work only one time without interference. Having a constant seabreeze instaed of changing winds helps a lot:
When planing my shot and after some test flights, I should be able to reasonably guess how much drift/offset I will experience on my flight down the path. If I now set the course angle a little (or a lot; depending on the wind) to windward, the Phantom will actually fly a reasonable straight path as intended. Of course it takes practice and preparation but how many takes do they do in movie productions in Hollywood until they have it right. If the pros need several attempts I don't expect to do it with less, but rather with (probably much) more
As soon as the weather improves (still overcast here at Ecuador's coast) I will make some more attempts and will put my thoughts into action.
It all reminds me at plotting a course on my sailboat from Ft. Lauterdale to the Bahamas crossing the Gulf Stream and had to allow for the drift/offset to arrive actually at the right destination. Life sometimes comes full circle and we never know when knowledge we acquired comes handy again
Sorry guys, no video at the moment
I started my Corel Video Studio X8 on my new Dell I7 laptop Win 8.1 pro, and it constantly crashes on me after just a minute or two. Really disappointing. I have a support request send to Corel, hoping for the best.......
I started my Corel Video Studio X8 on my new Dell I7 laptop Win 8.1 pro, and it constantly crashes on me after just a minute or two. Really disappointing. I have a support request send to Corel, hoping for the best.......
I'm with you, no drifting when I tested it a couple of times, at about 20meters altitude with a definite cross breeze. Positioning was definitely in effect as it didn't move unless I told it too. If it drifted I would have noticed, big time and it makes sense that that's the case.
Strange that the OP's experiences are totally different.
That's what I've found, switch to courselock,- no drift, same as GPS mode.
Switch to atti - off with the wind immediately..
Switch to atti - off with the wind immediately..
When I played with course lock, it wouldn't let me put it in CL unless i put it in atti mode, was I doing something wrong???
As I have not tried in strong winds yet, the drift is not dramatic, perhaps 3 to 5 meters to leeward on a 300meter flight. Under course lock , flying forward' the phantom drifts to lee, when flying back on the same axes, the phantom again drifts towards lee. Flying forward and then return on course lock places the Phantom a couple meters to lee of the original starting point. That was my way of checking whether I had set the course slightly in an angle parallel to the street I was flying on. If that would have been the case, the Phantom should have returned more or less to the starting point when flown backwards, but did not.
I find it particular interesting, that no one from DJI is clearing this up once and for all. I am sure they are monitoring the forum and could see, there is a lot of uncertainty between the forum members. It ranges from "absolutely using GPS" to absolutely NOT using GPS". For me it is clear it has no GPS support and drifts with the wind while under Course Lock. But for others it is not.
Again, I am very comfortable they way the Phantom 3 flies, as well under Course Lock (without the GPS support).
I find it particular interesting, that no one from DJI is clearing this up once and for all. I am sure they are monitoring the forum and could see, there is a lot of uncertainty between the forum members. It ranges from "absolutely using GPS" to absolutely NOT using GPS". For me it is clear it has no GPS support and drifts with the wind while under Course Lock. But for others it is not.
Again, I am very comfortable they way the Phantom 3 flies, as well under Course Lock (without the GPS support).
I suspect the manual has something of a translation muddle, and they don't mean that course lock doesn't or can't use GPS - just that the behaviour is different from being in full GPS mode.
Course lock doesn't show up in my pilot app until I take the controller in atti mode,,,so if there is a way to have course lock while using satelite, I can't figure it out (but that doesn't mean I might be overlooking something)
Forgive the newbie question:
Do I understand correctly - that using Course Lock (Orientation...) I can sen the P3 out in a line from me, rotate the bird to say 45 or even 90 degree angle , put it in Course Lock and then it will perform Front to Back, side to side, with my controller as if it were pointing forward (green light towards me)?
So you can do a video at the rotated angle while pulling it straight back to me ( accounting for some wind drift )?
Do I understand correctly - that using Course Lock (Orientation...) I can sen the P3 out in a line from me, rotate the bird to say 45 or even 90 degree angle , put it in Course Lock and then it will perform Front to Back, side to side, with my controller as if it were pointing forward (green light towards me)?
So you can do a video at the rotated angle while pulling it straight back to me ( accounting for some wind drift )?
I think you have it, for example you might want to fly alongside a road following a car, and at least some of the time you want to turn the camera more towards the road - but carry on flying smoothly alongside.
It can be done in GPS mode but is easier if you set the course lock parallel to the road
It can be done in GPS mode but is easier if you set the course lock parallel to the road
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I concur, no GPS in IOC course lock. Even though App shows Safe GPS Green, So no braking and wind drift. I tried is yesterday in about 10 knot wind and it was too much to deal with wind and shoot a successful pass of my subject. Here is a vid of my first attempts at course lock
I've been experimenting with MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 2015 Premium for the last few days. Volkhard, you'd probably like the manual... 373 pages. It's not the most obvious of programs, but offers a lot of interesting features. It has a 30-day trial period. I've had good results saving 4K as 1080, but mixed results saving 4K. My last try, yesterday evening, yielded a 3-minute video with the sound track accelerated to the point where the originally mellow tones became something that sounded like the charge of the cavalry in a western.Sorry guys, no video at the moment
I started my Corel Video Studio X8 on my new Dell I7 laptop Win 8.1 pro, and it constantly crashes on me after just a minute or two. Really disappointing. I have a support request send to Corel, hoping for the best.......
So the important thing is to have the bird oriented front facing the direction of your line to follow ( such as the road) when you set the course lock. Then as you pull forward or back it will move as if facing front on that line even if panning the camera around - and having to adjust for wind drift of course if any.???
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