Documenting a Luxury Home Build

[Paul_1980]

Hi all,

I'm completely new to all of this, so please forgive my ignorance on the subject, and thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply to this topic.

I am currently project managing a build of a luxury home in Shropshire, UK. It's not the largest of projects at 350sqm gross internal area, but it will have some rather neat features, such as a hydrotherapy suite with pool and jacuzzi, large pond, orchard and some other rather fancy additions.

Currently, outline planning permission has been granted, and we are at the stage of applying for full planning with detailed elevations and all the surveys necessary to appease the local council. At present, the plot of land (which is roughly an acre in size) is a completely blank canvas. It's literally the corner of a farmers field, and doesn't even have a fence around it yet to denote the site.

I have been toying with the idea of documenting this build using a drone, to create a time-lapse video showing the house being built from an empty field, to it's completion.

My amateur (at best) knowledge on drones leads me to believe that i can set a GPS coordinate so that aerial pictures are taken from the exact same spot on a daily basis. Is this correct?

My second question is; is it possible to take a picture each day, over 360 days, from a different angle each day, rotating around the build in a circle from a set centre point, 360 degrees, so that the final edited video would show a 3D time-lapse moving around the build, showing the house going up from start to finish.

Is this simply too precise for GPS to handle, and if so, with a grasp of what i am trying to achieve, can anyone recommend a method to gain roughly the same end result?

My final question is; what is the most cost effective Phantom that would allow me to do this? Having done a bit of research i'm leaning towards a Phantom 3 Professional, but as the drone will only be used for this very specific task, if a cheaper alternative is out there (Phantom 2 perhaps), i will certainly consider it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and again, thank you to anyone who can help me with this project.

Cheers,

Paul

 

[DesignFlaw06]

Why a professional? Why not a Standard if it is only going to be used for this purpose. Save some money. Still seems like a costly idea unless you sell it afterwards. Still a 12 MP camera on both.

I think you could do what you're talking about. I would use Litchi and set up an orbit to take your 360 pictures. I would use the same orbit every single time. 1) It will give you the consistency you're looking for. 2) You could start your time laps from a several angles.

 

[Paul_1980]

Thanks for your reply.

By 'standard', do you mean a standard Phantom 3, or a Phantom 1? I really have no particular preference as long as it does the job, but i was under the impression the 3 only came in 'Advanced' or 'Professional'.

Again, apologies for my amateur knowledge on all this!

Thanks for the advice re Litchi, i've just looked it up and it does seem to be a great app for the job.

 

[DesignFlaw06]

Yes, I mean a Phantom 3 Standard. Downsides of the standard are 2.7k camera instead of 4k (still a 12 MP camera on both), no GLONAS support so fewer satellites, no vision positioning system, and WiFi instead of Lightbridge (about half the range). None of those downsides really seem like a big issue for what you're trying to do. GLONAS support maybe, for higher accuracy. But I don't think it is going to help that much.

$500 sounds better than $1000 to me.

Here's a combo pack for $500, with a hardhsell backpack. Basically a $650 package for $500.
DJI Phantom 3 Quadcopter Drones

 

[Sinisalo]

The litchi orbit idea is good, you could also set up several waypoints in the DJI go app and each day you want to take the exact same picture you fly the waypoint mission. Also you could use Altizure or another 3-d modeling app to create several 3-d models which could be combined into a sort of time lapse animation. I could imagine it now, you use litchi orbit to do a tilt shift hyperlapse video and you could have a 3-d model animation that can be paused and manually controlled on your website, (don't use the DJI Go tilt shift filter though, use an online tutorial for how to do it with Adobe Premiere Pro: . Also you will need at least 2 extra batteries. Don't skimp and just get the Phantom 4, you will be able to use it for other purposes within your company and I bet you end up really liking the process from planning the missions, to flying, and editing the video and pictures. Don't buy it with your own personal money, find a way to justify it as a company expense.

)
How to make a flight animation? - Support | Altizure

 

[Paul_1980]

Thanks for the reply Sinisalo, it looks like there's a lot to learn!

 

[Sinisalo]

Thanks for the reply Sinisalo, it looks like there's a lot to learn!

I am not sure if you can do time lapse animation with the 3-d modeling software but you can definitely do a 3-d modeled simulated flight around the property that can be paused and manually controlled using the Altizure app. There is a lot to learn, I would start with DJI Go waypoint missions for time lapse or hyperlapse photos and work up from there.

 

[Jaime Ray Vaughn]

Heres what I would try: Put up some marks so you can do the exact same Point of Interest every day. (as close as possible). Do a full circle. In your editing, pull out a half second every day until the project is complete. For a one minute video, you would have 120 edits. Or you could try cross fade transition instead of a slice edit. It might jerk around a little but the end result should be pretty amazing. The hard work will come in the editing. Experiment with this.