Vertical Studio - Looking for Beta Testers

T Dunkin · Feb 4, 2016

Neil Mathew said:
Hi Phantom Pilots,

We’re Vertical, a start-up in the Bay Area and we're looking for beta testers for our app Vertical Studio.

One of our biggest problems with aerial video was that filming landscapes and panoramas is easy, but filming close-up shots of stuff in action is ridiculously complicated. Only the most professional studios with large drones and camera crews seem to be able to film those sweet complex action shots.

So we've built Vertical Studio. An app for DJI Phantom and Inspire that lets you film all those difficult tracking shots with a simple touch interface. How do we do it ? Well, we use some nifty computer vision software we’ve been building for over a year and pack it all into your Android or iOS device so you can auto-track anything your drone sees - without any GPS or tracking beacons. Just click on stuff in your video feed and let Vertical Studio handle the rest.

The best way to explain Vertical Studio is probably with this video.

If you’re interested in beta testing, we’d love it if you could head over to our website (Vertical - EPIC Aerial Filming) and take a minute to sign-up for either the Android or iOS beta. It will help us better manage our beta tests. The Android beta is available now, but the iOS beta should be ready in a few days.

Vertical Studio is compatible with DJI Phantom 3 (Pro, Advanced) and DJI Inspire.

And if you have any questions or initial thoughts about Vertical Studio, do let us know in the forum or email us at [email protected].

Cheers!
Neil
www.vertical.ai

This looks like an amazing piece of software. Thanks for showing us a glimpse of what is truly possible using our drones.

Tom...

garykeithmead1 · Feb 4, 2016

Im in.
Looks great, can`t wait for this bad spell in the weather to let up and give it a go.

Neil Mathew · Feb 4, 2016

T Dunkin said:
This looks like an amazing piece of software. Thanks for showing us a glimpse of what is truly possible using our drones.

Tom...

Thanks Tom! I hope we can keep pushing the envelope forward.

Neil Mathew · Feb 4, 2016

kandelin16 said:
That was me! Thanks, I thought I was too late!

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Sweet! glad you can try it out.

garykeithmead1 · Feb 4, 2016

Neil Mathew said:
Sweet! glad you can try it out.

Im in. cant wait to try it out, looks great

fusionvi · Feb 4, 2016

Tried it out again today. Was a nice sunny day. Kept loosing the subject next to cars.

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fusionvi · Feb 4, 2016

Also app looses the tracking object when the subject passes thru shadows. Overall I am very satisfied with the app and will continue to test.

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mikeve · Feb 4, 2016

Neil

I filled out your form. Are you still accepting beta testers?

Thanks

Mike

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Wolfiesden · Feb 4, 2016

Just curious about the permissions. I just installed it (with hopes of trying it out with the 1.1.9 FW), and I wonder....why does it require access to my contacts? That seems a bit invasive for this sort of app.

Neil Mathew · Feb 4, 2016

mikeve said:
Neil

I filled out your form. Are you still accepting beta testers?

Thanks

Mike

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Hi Mike!. Sorry we're not accepting any more beta users at this point. But if you sign up we'll notify you when we are published live.

Neil Mathew · Feb 4, 2016

Announcing the Vertical Film Festival

Hi guys! You've all been wonderful as beta testers for the past two months, and together, we've made a lot of progress building Vertical Studio. But this has been a pretty serious process and we wanted to switch gears a little bit.

We thought we would try something fun with you guys. So we decided to start our very own Vertical Film Festival - to showcase some of the amazing aerial videos you've all filmed with Vertical Studio ... and mostly so we can hand out some awesome prizes

Check out the festival page here: Vertical Film Festival 2016

Submit your best work filmed mostly with Vertical Studio. To submit, upload your video to Youtube or Vimeo and send us a link to the video through the submission form. It could be a narrative film, a demo reel, complex shots or just beautiful dronies. Submissions are open until February 22nd, 2016.

We will pick 3 winners by Feb 24th. The 3 winners will received a receive a surprise gift package and be featured on the Vertical Studio Professional Homepage. Additionally, some of our favorite submissions will be highlighted in the Vertical Studio Launch Video at the NYC Drone Film Festival on March 5th, 2016 to an audience of some of the best aerial cinematographers in the world.

Happy Filming!!

Cheers,
Neil
Vertical Team

Erroll · Feb 5, 2016

I thoroughly enjoyed putting Orbit throught its paces, although I do believe you should call it Dynamic Orbit. Other apps which use GPS to orbit a stationary point do it very well, but VS using tracking does it much better, and differently.

By matching/adjusting to the speed of the subject one can get very interesting passing shots, and I found that with Orbit switched on is was actually quite difficult to lose tracking. I had to deliberately do silly moves to do that.

I did not experience any jerking around corners and bends - the turns were very smooth, resulting in pleasing transitions.

From a GUI perspective, I would prefer a slider moving from a central '0' left or right, to engage, adjust speed and set Orbit direction, with one swipe.

A word of warning: Because the Orbit software is still tracking the subject and is not turning the quad around a stationary point, it does not orbit a stationary subject in a circle! The orbit describes an ever increasing spiral. This is not a bad thing, and adds to the dynamic nature of the orbit, especially when the pilot corrects for it, but pilots should be aware of this. I have attached a video showing some snippets of a 3-battery run. Look at around 2:28 for a sequence illustrating this spiral.

Overall I am very pleased with this enhancement. It adds a unique dimension to VS.

Oh, and Neil, I have not seen the infamous black screen since upgrading to the latest version of VS. (I am using

(This was originally posted on Vertical's official site , but lots of folks follow the VS story here as well)

Dale T. Edelmann · Feb 23, 2016

Has the P3Pro finished or still in beta? Are more invites going out?

Neil Mathew · Feb 23, 2016

Dale T. Edelmann said:
Has the P3Pro finished or still in beta? Are more invites going out?

Still in development. Coming out very soon. We'll send out update emails by this Friday with a definite date.

KyleMaxxUAV · Feb 23, 2016

Very good product Neil !! Everyone will definitely make this a "go to" app for their phantoms !! I'm loving it!

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NorthcountySD · Feb 23, 2016

I singed up long ago. Forgot the password that I first put in (I have way to many ..). But when I hit the "forget password " at the login it has never worked. Just sends me to a blank page.

Guess that in itself kinda got me a bit concerned

Haven't tried recently but I will in the next few days!

KyleMaxxUAV · Feb 23, 2016

I would pm Neil personally, he has been very helpful !

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Neil Mathew · Feb 26, 2016

NorthcountySD said:
I singed up long ago. Forgot the password that I first put in (I have way to many ..). But when I hit the "forget password " at the login it has never worked. Just sends me to a blank page.

Guess that in itself kinda got me a bit concerned

Haven't tried recently but I will in the next few days!

Hi @NorthcountySD You mean on forum.vertical.ai ? Can you email me your login id at [email protected]. I'll help you sign up!

Neil Mathew · Feb 26, 2016

P3P Canada said:
Very good product Neil !! Everyone will definitely make this a "go to" app for their phantoms !! I'm loving it!

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Thanks!! We're releasing a number of new features in the next few days and I'll love to get your feedback on those as well.!