Litchi...

[ShaneStudy87]

 

[tevek]

Very nice...is the gimbal Still controllable while on a mission? If not out of range....also....on these missions if I wanna take the standard out 2 miles and back hypothetically,obvious lose signal, it will go and come back? And I can set the camera angles etc while setting up the mission?? Sorry I'm just very interested...

Yes you can still control the gimbal if you have a signal or use the interpolate function to change the angle of the camera during the mission. If you lose signal it will continue and come home as per your mission end instructions.

 

[ShaneStudy87]

for some reason the google maps wont load in litchi for me..........

 

[ehspro]

You sig line says you fly a P3A. Just want to make sure the OP knows that while manually flying around with Litchi on a P3 Standard, if you loose signal the P3S will NOT RTH it will only stop and hover (per Litchi's website). It's my understanding that the P3A and P3P will RTH if signal is lost but not the P3S. I've never tested it in the real world with my P3S though as I have only used Litchi for waypoint missions so far (which will continue if signal is lost). Please correct me if I wrong though.

Also it's been posted here and other places that Litchi and DJI Go don't play well together if one or the other is running in the background. You need to kill Litchi to use DJI Go and vice versa. Again please correct me if I'm wrong as I'm by far no expert.

I fly the P3S and just this weekend I was flying manually with Litchi performing distance tests with the Argtek antenna system. When the air craft lost connection with my RC, the RTH activated and the A/C returned twice.



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[tevek]

for some reason the google maps wont load in litchi for me..........

Looking at one of your previous posts, is the Litchi app registered, activated and ready to go? I use an apple device which has both mobile and location services (gps) turned on to enable google earth to run. Pretty sure you don't even need a mobile service as my connection is rubbish where I live.

 

[ShaneStudy87]

I would imagine it was ready to go...i did have a map of where i was, now it's just grey

 

[bsartist]

I did a mission flight just today and it went well even with signal loss the footage was great!

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Can't wait to see it.

 

[tevek]

I would imagine it was ready to go...i did have a map of where i was, now it's just grey

Hmm, I plan missions independent of the drone, take it outside fire up the drone, load mission and fly. You don't need to be connected so there must be an issue with the app or your device ( do you have access to gps?) I also make sure that there is nothing running in the background to conflict with whatever app I am running at the time.

 

[Richard R]

I, too, am interested, but have you folks searched?

Download and read the litchi manual. All the functions are well described there. That's the only way to really understand if buying litchi would benefit the type of flying that you want to do. For me, pre flight mission planning, orbit and pano mode make it worthwhile.

 

[Loz]

.. Also it's been posted here and other places that Litchi and DJI Go don't play well together if one or the other is running in the background. You need to kill Litchi to use DJI Go and vice versa....

I have Litchi (just starting out with it too) and DJIGO both installed on IOS iPad mini 3 and never had a problem with either app clashing. This clashing we have read about MAY only be a problem on android devices. I fly a P3P, and never use both apps at same time (that would not make any sense at any level would it?). Hope this helps


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[Loz]

And I can set the camera angles etc while setting up the mission??

Yes pretty much full control, you can set the camera angles explicitly at Point of Interest (what the camera points at) as it flies between waypoints and / or have litchi work out angles and direction camera should point based on the flight position and POI. Very flexible it is.


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[Loz]

for some reason the google maps wont load in litchi for me..........

Are you using Android or IOS? I suspect Google maps only for IOS, vs MYMap on Android, don't quote me, I recall reading something like this, but it may explain why if this is indeed the case


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[Richard R]

I would imagine it was ready to go...i did have a map of where i was, now it's just grey

Do you still have an Internet connection or did you cache your map when you did. If not, the map window will show as grey.

 

[Gerry65]

Download and read the litchi manual. All the functions are well described there. That's the only way to really understand if buying litchi would benefit the type of flying that you want to do. For me, pre flight mission planning, orbit and pano mode make it worthwhile.

Yeah, those would be functions I'd be interested in but I'm still just learning how to fly using the GO App so I feel as though I should master one before trying another. Still so much I need to learn.

 

[bsartist]

I haven't tried gimbal override on a mission while in radio range.

Regarding whether it will come back after losing signal on an automated waypoint mission I need to be a bit precise in how that is answered.

If you fly an automated waypoint mission out of radio range it will keep flying your programmed mission to the last waypoint you programmed. If that waypoint is back at your starting position then, yes it will come back (unless something bad happens like hitting a tree or hillside or building etc). If your last waypoint is way out there then it will come back home if that is set as the end of mission action. Otherwise it may hover or return to first waypoint (not necessarily home point) if set to one of those options. I suggest you read their manual before flying one of these missions. You get a lot of control. But it needs to be used wisely.

You can preprogram camera angles into the whole mission. But it can't make any gimbal changes if out of radio range. On a P3S this means it won't make any camera pitch changes. But I think yaw (heading) movements will still be executed. It is supposed to resume gimbal operations when back in range. But I'm having some trouble with that.

 

[Brockrock]

I began using Litchi pretty much right away after getting my P4 last August. I had read a fair bit about it on this forum prior to making the P4 and app purchases, and I read the manual a couple of times prior to using the app. I have found it to be solid, reliable, and very intuitive.

The waypoint function is what attracted me to Litchi, and I have done many missions since. I plan/plot them ahead of time on the Litchi Hub, and using my iPhone as a hotspot while on site, I upload the mission to my copter once inflight and hovering near the first waypoint. I then set the final waypoint to be right next to the first waypoint with RTH selected as the post final waypoint action. As RTH begins, I cancel it either on screen or by switching from 'P' mode to "S' mode and back to 'P' mode followed by a manual landing (I often hand catch).

Although I understand the allure of sending the copter on a long mission that will likely disconnect it from the remote - and I have done a fair number of these missions over the ocean coast and into little bays and such - I am more interested now in doing shorter flights with the goal of having Litchi autonomously control the camera per the flight plan's settings in order to capture smooth and steady video. As much as I would like to think that I am a competent pilot, Litchi does it far better...

I posted this video awhile back as an example of a Litchi mission, and apart from the tilted horizon issue that is a constant challenge and subject of other threads, I was fairly happy with how it came out.

 

[bsartist]

I began using Litchi pretty much right away after getting my P4 last August. I had read a fair bit about it on this forum prior to making the P4 and app purchases, and I read the manual a couple of times prior to using the app. I have found it to be solid, reliable, and very intuitive.

The waypoint function is what attracted me to Litchi, and I have done many missions since. I plan/plot them ahead of time on the Litchi Hub, and using my iPhone as a hotspot while on site, I upload the mission to my copter once inflight and hovering near the first waypoint. I then set the final waypoint to be right next to the first waypoint with RTH selected as the post final waypoint action. As RTH begins, I cancel it either on screen or by switching from 'P' mode to "S' mode and back to 'P' mode followed by a manual landing (I often hand catch).

Although I understand the allure of sending the copter on a long mission that will likely disconnect it from the remote - and I have done a fair number of these missions over the ocean coast and into little bays and such - I am more interested now in doing shorter flights with the goal of having Litchi autonomously control the camera per the flight plan's settings in order to capture smooth and steady video. As much as I would like to think that I am a competent pilot, Litchi does it far better...

I posted this video awhile back as an example of a Litchi mission, and apart from the tilted horizon issue that is a constant challenge and subject of other threads, I was fairly happy with how it came out.

That's great. I'm trying to do the same with my P3S - get smooth camera movements. So far I'm seeing these seemingly random gimbal jumps. They don't happen in the same spot when I rerun the flight. Curious how you avoided that. I'm flying my property line with one POI to focus on - the house. And I'm not quite getting the results you are. Would you mind sharing your mission link?

Here is my video. I have a later run with several more of these gimbal jumps. But out can get the idea from this.

 

[Brockrock]

That's great. I'm trying to do the same with my P3S - get smooth camera movements. So far I'm seeing these seemingly random gimbal jumps. They don't happen in the same spot when I rerun the flight. Curious how you avoided that. I'm flying my property line with one POI to focus on - the house. And I'm not quite getting the results you are. Would you mind sharing your mission link?

Here is my video. I have a later run with several more of these gimbal jumps. But out can get the idea from this.

First of all, let me say that you have a great spot there. Mountains and a nice body of water! The best of both worlds.

I see the gimbal twitching that you refer to. What was your mission speed? It looked fairly fast. For a flight like that, I would set the speed at 10 - 12 MPH, and you can always speed it up in post editing if necessary. The twitching does not appear to be a problem per se, but is simply Litchi's algorithms making camera pitch adjustments based on the point of interest (house) and how far the copter is from it. You may eliminate some or most of this twitching by selecting 'Interpolate' under the POI settings for each of the waypoints you created. Copter speed is the big thing though, and you may want to slow it down a bit.

Here is the link to my above mission on the Litchi Hub. It was a very fun project between planning, executing - several times and several tweaks to get it right - and finally, editing. There are other videos on my channel as well - all with Litchi - and hopefully more soon weather / temps permitting: Mission Hub - Litchi

 

[bsartist]

First of all, let me say that you have a great spot there. Mountains and a nice body of water! The best of both worlds.

I see the gimbal twitching that you refer to. What was your mission speed? It looked fairly fast. For a flight like that, I would set the speed at 10 - 12 MPH, and you can always speed it up in post editing if necessary. The twitching does not appear to be a problem per se, but is simply Litchi's algorithms making camera pitch adjustments based on the point of interest (house) and how far the copter is from it. You may eliminate some or most of this twitching by selecting 'Interpolate' under the POI settings for each of the waypoints you created. Copter speed is the big thing though, and you may want to slow it down a bit.

Here is the link to my above mission on the Litchi Hub. It was a very fun project between planning, executing - several times and several tweaks to get it right - and finally, editing. There are other videos on my channel as well - all with Litchi - and hopefully more soon weather / temps permitting: Mission Hub - Litchi

Thank you! It's Lake George, NY.

I definitely used interpolate for all waypoints. I didn't have interpolate set as mission default but I suspect that doesn't matter if I set it for each waypoint. I went to each waypoint, punched POI and then interpolate.

My speed was about 20MPH

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out when I get to my desktop.

 

[ShaneStudy87]

When setting up a mission on the hub I see my ground elevation is 251m at my first waypoint. I know everything during the route is based on this but does that mean I need to set the first waypoint to 351m to be up 328 ft ? or do i set it for 100m ? Thanks guys just a little confused before I crash this thing haha