Two issues with Autopilot

RaptorMan · Mar 7, 2016

Autoflight Logic said:
Okay sorry, after reading your response again I see you don't want to have to clear our the Waypoints and such manually (sorry it's early here).

If you are looking for a way to leave the Mode Controls intact (Default Preferred Speed, Default Altitude, etc) but start the Flight Path anew, you can tap the Waypoint Reference Marker twice for options. From the resulting menu you can then choose Delete All Waypoints. From there you can do Save Flight Plan and of course get the Create New / Update Existing prompt.

OK, well that's more convoluted that desired but sounds workable.

Yes, if I had a mission open with several dozen waypoints and a similar number of focus points it would be a pain if I had to delete them one-by-one in order to have a clean slate to begin a new mission without having to wipe the settings I'd changed from default.

If I might suggest ... it would be wise to include in a future version an option to "create new plan" from the folder menu along with "load plan" and "save plan" and I'd move the "restore defaults" from the folder to the settings area where it belongs.

Brian

Hangar · Mar 7, 2016

RaptorMan said:
If I might suggest ... it would be wise to include in a future version an option to "create new plan" from the folder menu along with "load plan" and "save plan" and I'd move the "restore defaults" from the folder to the settings area where it belongs.

I think we are talking about two different things here. The app settings dialog already has a "Default" button in the top left, which will allow you to restore the app Settings to the default values. Conversely, the Mode Controls (which are a separate concept from App Settings) also have default values, and those can be restored by using the Restore Defaults option from the Folder Icon menu. To be clear, the concept of a Flight Plan encompasses all the current values for the Mode Controls and any points that have been specified on the map (Waypoints, Focus Triggers, etc). The Flight Plan does not store any of the values for the app settings, as those apply across Flight Plans.

DodgeP · May 7, 2016

Was this ever resolved? I've used the App for a total of two days and it seems to make sense to me as I'm going to do one of two things on a waypoint mission and they are: Fly/Edit an existing mission or Create a new mission. In essence, "restore defaults" is really "create new mission". If you haven't pre-planned your mission and you're creating a new mission you'd most like have to adjust altitude, etc on the fly anyway. My defaults are settings that I could realistically see myself using most often however; I know that if I haven't done any pre-planning, nothing is "default".

RaptorMan · May 7, 2016

DodgeP said:
Was this ever resolved? I've used the App for a total of two days and it seems to make sense to me as I'm going to do one of two things on a waypoint mission and they are: Fly/Edit an existing mission or Create a new mission. In essence, "restore defaults" is really "create new mission". If you haven't pre-planned your mission and you're creating a new mission you'd most like have to adjust altitude, etc on the fly anyway. My defaults are settings that I could realistically see myself using most often however; I know that if I haven't done any pre-planning, nothing is "default".

I have not attempted to use Autopilot since late January as it's a kludge in my book. It feels like the kind of software programmers write that have no clue about there customers and instead build it piecemeal and since they coded it and know how to do things they don't understand the problems users are having.

All my flying since then has been stick flying. At this point the money spent on it was a waste!

Brian

sanderx · May 7, 2016

Why don't you use Litchi? Less complicated (but less options).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

RaptorMan · May 7, 2016

sanderx said:
Why don't you use Litchi? Less complicated (but less options).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After my disillusionment with Autopilot I abandoned using any of the automated flight apps and concentrated on getting better with stick flying. I may one day delve back into the automation apps and if I do I think the elevation data that FPV Mission Planner has is hugely useful. But, relying on the elevation data in such an app has its problems given the terrain between waypoints can vary a lot. You could be 100 feet AGL at waypoint 1 and at waypoint 2 but in between the ground may rise 200 feet and bang your drone is dead.

So, even with terrain data it's still important to know your flight path first.

OTH, there's at least the possibility that the Mission Planning software could look at the flight path between waypoints to determine if there is any terrain issues and perhaps provide another elevation datum that's equal to the minimum AGL on the path between the points. This is possible but I kind of doubt it's in the software at this point -- anyone know for sure?

Brian

ianwood · May 8, 2016

Autopilot has a lot of promise but I still find the UI to be to be counter intuitive. There's way too much info on there. Other issues:

There are so many prompts when starting a mission that if I'm trying to time it with something, I can't.

More importantly, the joystick function for the gimbal is too cumbersome. Tilt should be reversible and tilt and pan should be split across both sticks as it is with dual operator.

I've also noticed X5 focus go out when engaging a mission. That's with it set to full manual. Kills the shot dead.

RaptorMan · May 8, 2016

ianwood said:
Autopilot has a lot of promise but I still find the UI to be to be counter intuitive. There's way too much info on there. Other issues:

There are so many prompts when starting a mission that if I'm trying to time it with something, I can't.

More importantly, the joystick function for the gimbal is too cumbersome. Tilt should be reversible and tilt and pan should be split across both sticks as it is with dual operator.

I've also noticed X5 focus go out when engaging a mission. That's with it set to full manual. Kills the shot dead.

Agree 100% -- I wanted to like Autopilot and it does have great promise, but the horrid UI is a show stopper for me. My last flight using it back in January I had, in addition to focus issues, the bucking bronco problem that is apparently fixable by changing some settings. However, when I was fumbling around trying to figure out how to create a new mission it was suggested to use "restore defaults" which unfortunately also clears any settings changes you may have made in that section.

My problem with them began as I was trying to learn how to use it and was watching there training videos. They never bothered to show you the very most basic thing like activating the system for flight -- you have to know that through osmosis I guess. It wouldn't be so bad if they used industry standard methods in the menuing/UI but no that's not what you get.

Brian

egoldy · May 8, 2016

RaptorMan said:
My problem with them began as I was trying to learn how to use it and was watching there training videos. They never bothered to show you the very most basic thing like activating the system for flight -- you have to know that through osmosis I guess. It wouldn't be so bad if they used industry standard methods in the menuing/UI but no that's not what you get.

Brian,

Have you ever seen any of these Autopilot 123 videos?

I created a few of those to address people that wanted to see how easy it is to use Autopilot - blocking out all the intermediate and advanced details.

Hangar · May 9, 2016

ianwood said:
I've also noticed X5 focus go out when engaging a mission. That's with it set to full manual. Kills the shot dead.

Do you have the Dynamic Focus setting enabled? If so, try disabling it.

ianwood · May 9, 2016

Autoflight Logic said:
Do you have the Dynamic Focus setting enabled? If so, try disabling it.

Already disabled. This needs to be fixed in order for it to work with the X5.

Hangar · May 9, 2016

ianwood said:
Already disabled. This needs to be fixed in order for it to work with the X5.

You disabled the setting and it is still immediately changing focus on engage? Please email a link to a screen recording to [email protected].

Nick H. · Jun 30, 2016

I too used to have to go back and forth between the DJI Go app and Autopilot. I also used to have the focus issues when starting a mission. Ever since they put in the focus feature on the camera view page, that's been fixed. Maybe I accidentally clicked off dynamic focus one day. Maybe it happened during the most recent app update. I don't know.

I do think that Autopilot is getting a bit of hard run here from some folks. To be fair to those frustrated, I understand your pain. There are a TON of options and the layout takes some getting used to. I got frustrated many times. It took me FOREVER to find the button that allows for camera changes in the app and the button is so small that I have hard time pressing it to get to my camera settings. It would also be nice to have a button on screen that quickly goes back and forth between inline controls and hide inline controls, but I digress....

In my opinion, Autopilot is by far and away the most powerful tool I've ever used on any UAV. Nothing else I've ever used comes close. The tutorial videos are long and they take multiple viewings. The terminology gets confusing as some things don't have terms I would expect while other settings have terms to similar to each other which makes it easy to confuse them, and lastly, it is going to take a long time before you get "quick" on screen with the app (like you see the designers during their videos). It took me roughly 10 hours of total flight time before the app became second nature to me.

HOWEVER, once you get to that point (and it is painful to get there), it is truly the greatest tool and I applaud the designers for working hard to constantly make it more user friendly - Let alone constantly add more and more useful features for free. It's amazing. For me, it completely negates the need for a two pilot system. I would dare say it is better because as a single operator, I know exactly where my Inspire is going. I can think ahead of time how I'm going to move my camera with the stick as opposed to missing a shot where a pilot makes a move with the drone that I was not expecting. In addition, I cannot get good, stable footage when flying with a 25mm lens or longer when simply flying and pointing the camera. I can however get amazing footage by simply setting up a flight path with autopilot and then carefully controlling the camera.

With the recent addition of Airspace a few months back, the possibilities are endless. I love the accuracy of elevation using the barometric pressure and being able to follow an iPhone while it changes elevation. It is brilliant. Seriously, for anyone considering putting in the time and effort to learn autopilot, it is worth it... but you do have to commit. I did it by setting up flight days where the only purpose of going out was to learn autopilot. That's it. Didn't take time to get any great video or pictures. I wanted to learn the program... then the good shots come along.