Course lock on the pumpkin?

[cokeaddict]

Hi guys, does the pumpkin have course lock ability? or how would you guys have done this shot without the wobbles caused by the wind.
Not sure if it does but could have been very handy for this scenario to keep things straight

 

[dirtracer7207]

Not sure about course lock. Wind can always be an issue tho. Might try getting the shot without wind, or take it slower.

 

[cokeaddict]

yeh ok thanks DR. I will do some more testing using different methods available to the Pumpkin

 

[QuadSquad]

The way to "precision fly" this with the pumpkin, is in waypoint mode. But, first, go into the general tools menu, and slow down the max speed of flight. In waypoint mode, actually fly to the beginning point, which will need to be a decent distance from where you really want to begin, as the pumpkin always faces the next waypoint from the beginning, and again, at every new leg. Set the beginning and ending waypoint by actually flying to them, and using AIRCRAFT, as the method of setting waypoints. This will be the only way to be sure you're actually lined up correctly, and visually. Once it starts, spin the pumpkin around for the backwards shot. Feel free to use the RH stick to slow it down even more. This will insure minimal drift. You can then speed it up to where you want it, in post production.

 

[cokeaddict]

Bloody hell QuadSquad,
Thats a hell of a reply mate.
Many thanks buddy.
I was going to try waypoint next time im in an open field but did not consider your suggestions so chances are it would have failed.
Will try what you mention and learn to understand its reaction.
Again many thanks buddy.

 

[QuadSquad]

No problem, fellow flying "punkin" pilot. We're all in this together. Anything to help achieve the desired results. Understanding the system limitations, and quirks, is half the battle.

 

[QuadSquad]

Oh, and the un-fixable limitation for this, is going to be, that in waypoint mode, you will have to set 34 feet, as your minimum altitude.

 

[cokeaddict]

Oh, and the un-fixable limitation for this, is going to be, that in waypoint mode, you will have to set 34 feet, as your minimum altitude.

I can live with 34 feet. Look forward to trying it in a few days
Thanks again mate

 

[QuadSquad]

There is a minimum, and maxinum, amount in waypoint mode. You'll never see it mentioned, untill you try to exceed it. It will pop up a warning on the bottom of the app, and inhibit upload of the course, to the drone. Just remember, YOU HAVE TO SET IT ONE FOOT ABOVE MINIMUM, AND ONE FOOT BELOW MAXIMUM, HEIGHT STATED ON THE WARNING. Setting it AT the level stated is a no-go. With mine, it's 394 max, and 33 min. So, my limits are 34-393, feet.

 

[QuadSquad]

And the stupid blue ring...... I've tried moving the launch point outside the ring, after programming a waypoint mission, to extend the distance...NOPE.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Never tried this but what if you have your mission and you fly to the inside of the mission. Once there mark it as your home point inside the mission. Will it let you carry out the waypoint mission then?

 

[QuadSquad]

Never tried this but what if you have your mission and you fly to the inside of the mission. Once there mark it as your home point inside the mission. Will it let you carry out the waypoint mission then?

Haven't tried that either, yet.

 

[Quadrotor]

Hi guys, does the pumpkin have course lock ability? or how would you guys have done this shot without the wobbles caused by the wind.
Not sure if it does but could have been very handy for this scenario to keep things straight

Intelligent Orientation Control (IOC) mode provides course-lock relative to a home point. In IOC mode the right control stick function changes compared to GPS mode so the aircraft always flies straight away from the home point when the stick is pushed up and straight toward the home point when the stick is pushed down. IOC therefore provides course-lock if the home point can be in-line with the course you want to fly.

IOC mode also provides an easy way to orbit a home point without having to program the autonomous Orbit flight function.

See: Autel Robotics Tutorial: IOC Home Lock

 

[QuadSquad]

Intelligent Orientation Control (IOC) mode provides course-lock relative to a home point. In IOC mode the right control stick function changes compared to GPS mode so the aircraft always flies straight away from the home point when the stick is pushed up and straight toward the home point when the stick is pushed down. IOC therefore provides course-lock if the home point can be in-line with the course you want to fly.

IOC mode also provides an easy way to orbit a home point without having to program the autonomous Orbit flight function.

See: Autel Robotics Tutorial: IOC Home Lock

Yeah, have you tried it though? I wasn't pleased with the results. It seems it's more of a widening spiral, than orbit. And, flying straight to, or away, from a home point, rarely will get you the desired "line", when wanting to have a locked perspective, on a subject. Much more accurate actually marking waypoints with the aircraft...although, in theory, per autel manual, your suggested method should work. Practically speaking, though, it's not that useful. Thanks for the input.

 

[Quadrotor]

QuadSquad, I fly mostly to take commercial real estate photos. The multiple listing services used by U.S. Realtors don't directly support videos and there is of course no need to fly in straight lines or orbit about points with constant speed and radius to take still photos. However, I occasionally take area promotional videos where those things are needed and IOC mode has worked well for me the few times I have used it.

I was out taking real estate photos today when I received notice of your post and took a couple videos to demonstrate flying outbound and inbound radials in IOC mode. I didn't have a straight road or fence to fly over, but even so, you will be able to see that the flight-paths were reasonably straight.

For this first one I took-off from a paved path, climbed 30-feet, and flew backward 0.3 mile west over the ocean. I had intended to return back to the home-point on the same radial, but some children started playing in the play-area near the home-point. I didn't want to fly over them and so took a second video to show inbound radial flying.

IOC Outbound-Radial Flight

This second video was taken a few minutes later flying west on an inbound radial to a different home-point near the sea-cliff at the west-end of the grass. The aircraft was 395-feet above the home-point. (For distance reference, the large rock outcropping in the ocean is 0.5 mile west of the home-point.)

IOC Inbound-Radial Flight

That last video was taken on my 5th battery and I only have five. There wasn't enough flying time left on it to demonstrate orbit-flying with IOC, but I have videos taken that way in the past if take time to find one. The primary advantage of using IOC for orbits is that you are not geo-caged within a small circle. You can fly circles or arcs of any radius that your battery has enough energy to fly. (Of course, the home-point doesn't have to remain at the take-off point during IOC mode flights.)

 

[QuadSquad]

Agreed, it does work ok for flying an arc around a poi, if you want to pull out at the same time. In fact, I found that the pull back was almost automatic. That's what I meant by spirals. The more you orbit a poi, the larger the orbit becomes, while in IOC. I'm in the same line of work, and I frequently use orbit, as a precision way of shooting an arc, while I'm increasing altitude, and panning down, simultaneously. I could also pull back, at the same time. I find this the best way of shooting those arc shots, as it handles the left to right, or right to left, and the yaw, for me....leaving the raise and pan, and "zoom" in, or out, the only things to worry about. Sadly, the latest firmware introduces jerky yaw. So, I haven't upgraded any of my x-star, yet. I generally don't fly that fast, and I land manually, so, the old firmware is fine.

 

[Wolfie X]

A few weeks ago I sent an email to Autel that read as folows:
I think I understand the difference between Home Lock and Course Lock (the online manual seems to have a better description of it than the printed one I received), but I have a question: When I switch to IOC mode how do I choose between Home Lock and Course Lock? What I want to do is to fly a course that is parallel to a line drawn between HOME and some distant point, i.e. I don't want HOME to be ON the radial, I want the course to be offset from HOME position by some distance. How can I do this?

This was their response:
In a firmware update the engineering team got rid of Course Lock as an option so IOC only has Home Lock currently. That may make things a bit difficult for you, and I do apologize about that!

Now I'm really confused. I guess the Waypoint method described by QuadSquad above might do what I want to do.

 

[Quadrotor]

The way-point method allows parallel paths to be flown if they can by chance happen to be entered accurately, but I have found the method to be essentially worthless in practical applications, because no reasonable way is provided to accurately enter way-point locations. That shortcoming and the lack of raw image format metadata are my two strongest criticisms of the XSP. Neither of those capabilities tend to be very important to hobbyists, but they both tend to be extremely important in commercial applications and should have been addressed immediately after product release.

There are many positive aspects of Autel drones, excellent customer support being the most outstanding example. However, it has become abundantly clear that their product designers have little knowledge of and/or interest in the needs of commercial users, because a few relatively-simple and inexpensive changes could have greatly expanded their market base.

Autel is not likely to be successful trying to compete against DJI in the hobby market, because the hobby market is very price-sensitive. DJI is large enough to be able design and manufacture major components of their products in-house, whereas Autel has to contract with third party manufacturers. Because of that DJI can profit selling at prices below Autel's costs.

Price has some degree of importance in all markets, but tends to be far less important in specialty commercial markets. For example, a commercial user might easily make back the cost of $2000 or $3000 drone with a single project, but won't pay even $1000 for a drone that won't do what the project requires.

Even though the XSP is now an old design that is not nearly as nice in several ways as newer products, I would gladly pay $2000 for an XSP with a few fundamental improvements that would have been in the original design if someone with knowledge of commercial user needs had been on the design team. Alternatively, I would pay $2000 for an XSP bundled with source code, so I could make those improvements myself. Since neither of those alternatives are available, the EVO is currently vaporware and may not meet my needs anyway, I am reluctantly moving-on.