iOS Waypoint App Comparison: Litchi 1.0 vs Autopilot 3.0

[Hangar]

No, but I definitely will. I didn't know they existed. I've been reading all of the flight school text. May I suggest you put the training video link at the beginning of the flight school? Or did I miss it somehow?

The videos are embedded directly in Flight School - do they not render for you?

When do you expect 3.0 with way-points to be released? Jan 3 or thereabouts?

Going to call Apple later today as we submitted for review 10 days ago.

Is there any way to base the speed of a waypoint flight on the location of the remote. I've been recording courses with DJI Go for mountain unicycling and find i often get a head or behind the part of the course that is being filmed at that time and some sort of virtual tether to control progress along a course would help a lot.

Not quite sure I understand the use case. You can anchor the reference point to the operator. You can also use Joystick Mission Type to directly input the speed.

 

[Tallyrver]

It stopped raining today, I did a quick flight using Autopilot for IOS . The waypoint feature rocks.

 

[2nd2non]

It stopped raining today, I did a quick flight using Autopilot for IOS . The waypoint feature rocks.

Yes it can be a lot of fun! When you get some open space give that focus interpolation mode a try, you'll be outdone with the moving pans.
Best right after drinking a can of Pepsi [emoji12]

 

[TheRealNick]

Would like to see a DJI go waypoint mission as well as comparison....

 

[Tom Whitnah]

@autoflightlogic I'm looking to create a path flying over a trail and then ride a unicycle down that trail and be recorded. The problem is I don't know what speed I will travel over each segment so it would be nice if the drone could fly this path but adjust it's speed so it stays within a certain distance of my phone/unicycle and always tries to keep the phone in frame.

Follow me mode works pretty well for this, but if I could tether the drone's speed, I think the video would look better


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[yawnalot29]

Been beta testing v3. You WILL need to read the manual and flight school then hands on then more reading to get a good understanding of the app.

The WP feature is very powerful and flexible.

Some of the flight modes are very similar it gets a little bit confusing as to which mode is the right one. I think merging similar mode as a single mode with difference being optional toggle would cut down on clutter.

The custom flight control is both a plus and con. Obviously the biggest con is you will need to maintain connection 100% of the time or else the drone simply hover and does nothing.

I will need to look up what happened if i lose signal for too long. Does the drone initiate RTH? Seems like it should.

It would be good to use the build in flight control as backup or as option ( with maybr diminished abilities due to controller limitations).

I think having tool tip like pop up for most of the input fields would be a big plus to reduce learning curve. I fibd myself constantly flipping back and forth between the input screen and manual.

Creating a new flight plan when there is an existing plan for the same mode seem a tad clumsy. Or maybe i need to read the manual more. I will check the manual again and see.

Overall it looks to be an extremely powerful autonomous flight control app for the DJI drones. As others have pointed out, once you shift your mindset to the autoflight language, alot of things will make sense.

And given Autopilot's ability for doing very precise flights path, it magnified the inaccuracies of Google map. If you are planning something with 4 to 6 feet of tolerance, you best fly it and mark location using "use aircraft location" features.

 

[Tallyrver]

Yes it can be a lot of fun! When you get some open space give that focus interpolation mode a try, you'll be outdone with the moving pans.
Best right after drinking a can of Pepsi [emoji12]

I looked at my saved map,after the first two camera trigger points I had the interpolation set on the others. Once you see how this program works it just flows. Great app!
Can't drink that Pepsi stuff..that's me next to my van.

 

[Hangar]

Would like to see a DJI go waypoint mission as well as comparison....

The Unique Features section of Waypoint Mode applies to the Waypoints built-in to DJI GO as well.

@autoflightlogic I'm looking to create a path flying over a trail and then ride a unicycle down that trail and be recorded. The problem is I don't know what speed I will travel over each segment so it would be nice if the drone could fly this path but adjust it's speed so it stays within a certain distance of my phone/unicycle and always tries to keep the phone in frame.

Would this be something like the Mark Mission type, but where the Mark automatically moves to the closest point on the path relative to your location?

I will need to look up what happened if i lose signal for too long. Does the drone initiate RTH? Seems like it should.

Discussed here in Flight School.

Creating a new flight plan when there is an existing plan for the same mode seem a tad clumsy. Or maybe i need to read the manual more. I will check the manual again and see.

Do you mean having to tap Restore Defaults first?

 

[dixter]

One BIG issue is that FPV Camera does have an in app purchase option for creating missions.... and you can also save the missions for off site mission creation... it all sounds great but it only works if you use an Ipad (iOS) for when you are flying...
so if you use an iphone 6+ for flight.. I like the form factor... the FPV Camera app has limited use... maybe they will fix this in the future... not sure... I wanted to use FPV for panorama missions...with the iphone 6+... the app won't allow that...

the other apps AP and Litchi allow mission creation off site that are saved... then if you want to use your iphone 6 then you can download the mission to either the iphone or ipad... but no panorama waypoints... yet

 

[2nd2non]

Ok, so after two weeks testing Beta versions of Autopilot 3.0 and Litchi 1.0 (version for iOS only), I've decided to ditch Litchi and just stick with Autopilot. The bottom line is AP will meet my needs for continuous cinematic aerial motion events. I don't have a need for pics/panos at waypoints. The iOS litchi app is also much scaled down from android version, so very limited at the moment. I did like Litchi's ease of setting up simply waypoints quickly, but since I typically will create an 80/20 flight plan offline in advance, and it's going to have more than just a couple points, my time is better spent configuring on AP. There are so many apps out there now to choose from. Like many on this forum, I've signed up to beta test some of these like Co-pilot, Vertical Studio, etc... At the end of the day, we all have limited time and though you are excited to test, you have to think about what you really need vs want. So, that's the basis for my decision now. Now I just need to lobby AFL to add the following features in their next release and I'll be set-: motion tracking, camera controls and histogram!

Here's a screen recording of a flight plan from this weekend at Big Bear FROZEN lake, California.

Working on a short demo reel from my clips these past two weeks. Should be out soon!

 

[rhoffart]

Does this app have a stop and take a photo option at a waypoint. Sometimes the need may require photos instead of video.

 

[2nd2non]

Does this app have a stop and take a photo option at a waypoint. Sometimes the need may require photos instead of video.

Nope- you need to use another app if you want that ability automatically. You can pause at a waypoint, manually stop video and click a photo. This is sort of how Litchi does it but with a little automation. But, AP is not intended for that purpose..

 

[dixter]

I really like Auto Pilot... now if they would add pano it would just be about perfect... played with Dronepan this afternoon and it does a pretty good job...

 

[2nd2non]

Ok, finally got around to compiling video clips from the Autopilot waypoint missions. I had some free time over the last two weeks of December to drive around the extended neighborhood. Scouted locations from Google Earth and pre-configured flight plans with the stated goals:
1) Test for repeatable flight paths at different times of day
2) Try to capture landscape with somewhat complex cinematic movements (ie. those that require course lock function, two steady hands, etc.). Some examples: roll-cross pan, birds eye view-crane-pan, FIXED POI tracking while roll-crane-dolly, dolly-roll-reveal, etc.)
3) Test out the new Polar Pro Cinema Series: ND8/Pol; ND16/Pol; ND32 filters
4) Capture the diverse landscape of Southern California (all within 2hr drive of home)

Since its easier to show than tell, here is a compilation of the results. More info is in the video comments. Let me know if there are questions.

 

[shockwave199]

V

Ok, finally got around to compiling video clips from the Autopilot waypoint missions. I had some free time over the last two weeks of December to drive around the extended neighborhood. Scouted locations from Google Earth and pre-configured flight plans with the stated goals:
1) Test for repeatable flight paths at different times of day
2) Try to capture landscape with somewhat complex cinematic movements (ie. those that require course lock function, two steady hands, etc.). Some examples: roll-cross pan, birds eye view-crane-pan, FIXED POI tracking while roll-crane-dolly, dolly-roll-reveal, etc.)
3) Test out the new Polar Pro Cinema Series: ND8/Pol; ND16/Pol; ND32 filters
4) Capture the diverse landscape of Southern California (all within 2hr drive of home)

Since its easier to show than tell, here is a compilation of the results. More info is in the video comments. Let me know if there are questions.

Very nice. I think AP is really good, albeit complicated. I do continue to pour over their videos so it kind of starts to sink in. My biggest problem with it is the RTH situation. I don't do tremendous long distance manual flights even- usually topping at close to 2k'. So I'm not looking to do serious distance even with an app like AP, however anything can happen to cause interruption and that would trigger RTH and possibly cause complications, the least of which is losing part of the mission. To me it's almost necessary to keep the leash shorter than you might want and the bird LOS at all costs or there could be problems, using AP. A single tree line could be the momentary culprit to call a halt to a mission in progress if there is a disconnect. That is limiting to me- too limiting. At least with Litchi the mission proceeds no matter what. That uncomplicates things in planning and real time execution. Also litchi's mission hub is turning out to be very convenient as well- very slick. You have great shots in your video but I've seen the same from litchi when the mission is well set up. If I EVER get some decent weather here soon, my first runs with litchi will be shortly. I'll post the video. Thanks for sharing your AP video- a real winner that AP should link to for an awesome reel. You should think about doing AP in depth tuts. They are seriously need from a user, where they can go more in depth about using the app.

 

[Hangar]

My biggest problem with it is the RTH situation. I don't do tremendous long distance manual flights even- usually topping at close to 2k'. So I'm not looking to do serious distance even with an app like AP, however anything can happen to cause interruption and that would trigger RTH and possibly cause complications, the least of which is losing part of the mission.

If you are uncomfortable about executing a mission in Autopilot, or you think there is the potential for something dangerous to happen, please do not use Autopilot in these situations.

In the end, we had to make a decision as to which types of missions to address first, and we chose those where RC connection was a given. Having said that, we are open to implementing a stripped-down version of Waypoint Mode which would support LCMC (as indicated in Flight School), but it would lack these features. In the meantime, other things such as camera settings and P3 Standard / Inspire 1 Pro support are a higher priority.

A few other points about the current implementation:

1. The RTH situation is no different than if you were flying the aircraft manually. Does this mean you are equally as uncomfortable flying manually in general? To the extent that you are comfortable flying manually, the purpose of Autopilot's Waypoint Mode is to enable you to capture shots that are too technical for a human operator to accomplish in these situations, at least with one take.
2. Even if RTH is activated, you are able to regain control of the aircraft as soon as it re-enters signal range.
3. From a legal standpoint (at least in the US), LOS is required. Given the current state of Light Bridge technology (particularly the range), we have never found lost connection to be in issue during our testing when complying with this regulation.
4. @2nd2non you have obviously had many fight hours now with Waypoint Mode, and judging by the video, many flights well over 2,000 feet, has signal loss been an issue for you?

 

[2nd2non]

I've been out over 2KM without issue. I have not tried to go further with my windsurfer. The nice thing about the app is it shows uplink and downlink signal strength shown in %. Usually the uplink (video/status/etc) degrades first. So I've found at long distances when I notice this, I adjust my RC angle until it stabilizes. So I've never lost the downlink which controls the AC and would trigger a RTH. So no different than DJI GO when in manual.

Another feature is the app shows a blue line for RTH path. So when my flight path wrapped around a coastal cliff, I could see if/when the Signal path might be broken. Net- for most purposes of cinematic motion events (your stated target consumer), distance should not be an issue. But if I ever want to hot dog it out beyond LOS for mapping, surveying or just seeing what's out there WITHOUT benefit of FPV, then there could be limitations beyond the signal range. But this would be for a different purpose than your stated objective.

 

[Stealth Tours]

I have recently added the 32 channels. Do you have these? I see you have windsurfer, but could this also increase signal connection?

 

[jimerb]

Ok, finally got around to compiling video clips from the Autopilot waypoint missions. I had some free time over the last two weeks of December to drive around the extended neighborhood. Scouted locations from Google Earth and pre-configured flight plans with the stated goals:
1) Test for repeatable flight paths at different times of day
2) Try to capture landscape with somewhat complex cinematic movements (ie. those that require course lock function, two steady hands, etc.). Some examples: roll-cross pan, birds eye view-crane-pan, FIXED POI tracking while roll-crane-dolly, dolly-roll-reveal, etc.)
3) Test out the new Polar Pro Cinema Series: ND8/Pol; ND16/Pol; ND32 filters
4) Capture the diverse landscape of Southern California (all within 2hr drive of home)

Since its easier to show than tell, here is a compilation of the results. More info is in the video comments. Let me know if there are questions.

Well done! Did you color grade?

 

[2nd2non]

I have recently added the 32 channels. Do you have these? I see you have windsurfer, but could this also increase signal connection?

Yes, I use channel 31 exclusively with the Channel Hack. The channel setting is maintained through the Autopilot app.

Well done! Did you color grade?

yes, sort of. Used some Neumman and Daniel Peters LUTs. But had issues with a new camera on some clips, so was back and forth between sharpness settings. Some clips are too sharp, others blurry. Camera+Aircraft is back to DJI via RMA....