Course Lock

timd14 · Jun 27, 2021

Is there any way to set and fly in a course lock orientation like I can do with my P4P? I've looked around and would be nice to able to do so.

Cicero24 · Jun 27, 2021

timd14 said:
Is there any way to set and fly in a course lock orientation like I can do with my P4P? I've looked around and would be nice to able to do so.

Kinda….it’s called viewpoint.

MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS · Jun 28, 2021

Yeah,. Viewpoint will allow you to tap on the screen and what ever direction you tap the drone will fly in a straight line in that direction without stopping until you either stop it with stick input or if the optical avoidance stops it. You can also make minor adjustments, such as following a slight curve in a road you might be following by tapping the screen to adjust the direction slightly.

kenautelevo2pro · Jun 28, 2021

I think the biggest advantage to course lock is the ability to adjust the camera and point it in a direction that isn't the direction of travel. if I fly parallel to the highway, I would love to point my camera at a 90 degree angle to the roadway (perpendicular) and record traffic as they pass by. the beauty comes in when you change the angles (direction and height) and adjust the speed. certainly this can be flown manually but course lock is so so much better. to my knowledge, there is no course lock on autel.

MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS · Jun 28, 2021

Yes, viewpoint will ONLY allow you to fly straight forward, not parallel or reverse. If you want to something like that you have to do manual. IMO Autel is doing a great job with adding feature in their updates and they are listening to their customers input.

UasDriver · Jun 28, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
the beauty comes in when you change the angles (direction and height) and adjust the speed. certainly this can be flown manually

I was using that method, manually crabbing the tree line, dropped down, camera tilt down to the lake, backed out of the shot. turned out great, BUT I was so focused on the shot I neglected to watch altitude!! when I seen the prop wash in the water I looked, 9.8ft!!!! Glad the brick didn't go into auto-land mode!

kenautelevo2pro · Jun 28, 2021

MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS said:
Yes, viewpoint will ONLY allow you to fly straight forward, not parallel or reverse. If you want to something like that you have to do manual. IMO Autel is doing a great job with adding feature in their updates and they are listening to their customers input.

that's fine if I am required to fly straight forward but at least I should be able to turn my camera to the side. the dji drone will do that simply by sliding your finger on the display and you can move the camera to an angle. iirc, we've been asking for that...for a long time.

I'm not a great manual flyer. instead, I start a mission and set a path ahead and lock in a waypoint behind me. the evo 2 is a great flyer, it will fly backward, and keep it's camera locked on target and this works well when the target it directly in front or directly in the rear.

to be fair, I haven't much tried to use viewpoint but now that I have a sc, I'm open to experimenting and making the best of built-in features already offered by autel.

UasDriver · Jun 28, 2021

the last 10 seconds of the top video show the moment I realized my altitude

dave

This is my "next" ten year endeavor, Aerial Videography, year 1

vimeo.com

MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS · Jun 29, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
that's fine if I am required to fly straight forward but at least I should be able to turn my camera to the side. the dji drone will do that simply by sliding your finger on the display and you can move the camera to an angle. iirc, we've been asking for that...for a long time.

I'm not a great manual flyer. instead, I start a mission and set a path ahead and lock in a waypoint behind me. the evo 2 is a great flyer, it will fly backward, and keep it's camera locked on target and this works well when the target it directly in front or directly in the rear.

to be fair, I haven't much tried to use viewpoint but now that I have a sc, I'm open to experimenting and making the best of built-in features already offered by autel.

Also you can try waypoints with POI ..That works great for shot composition

kenautelevo2pro · Jun 29, 2021

MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS said:
Also you can try waypoints with POI ..That works great for shot composition

yes, that is what I used. the target is actually a POI. still, autel needs a course lock feature. if you want to run your drone down the boardwalk while is one mile long straight and you don't want to/can't fly overhead but off to the side to see the shops as you pass by, how can you do that?

John Hennessy · Jul 3, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
yes, that is what I used. the target is actually a POI. still, autel needs a course lock feature. if you want to run your drone down the boardwalk while is one mile long straight and you don't want to/can't fly overhead but off to the side to see the shops as you pass by, how can you do that?

Hi Kenautelevo2pro,
Is not what you want called parallel track in the modes. Johnno.

kenautelevo2pro · Jul 4, 2021

John Hennessy said:
Hi Kenautelevo2pro,
Is not what you want called parallel track in the modes. Johnno.

this is what I would like:

John Hennessy · Jul 4, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
this is what I would like:

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Hi,
There is a mode in the EVO 2 called PARALLEL TRACK. It is in section 5.3 of the Autel Explorer app Manual . This shows you how to use it. Johnno Hennessy.

kenautelevo2pro · Jul 4, 2021

John Hennessy said:
Hi,
There is a mode in the EVO 2 called PARALLEL TRACK. It is in section 5.3 of the Autel Explorer app Manual . This shows you how to use it. Johnno Hennessy.

hi john I am familiar with parallel track and unfortunately it's not the same. there is a parallel mode on the dji as well and it's there along with course lock because they are two different functions. parallel tracking cannot achieve what you get the course lock; it's similar but not quite. hopefully autel didn't think they were the same and left out course lock because I would much rather prefer the latter.

parkgt · Jul 4, 2021

Course Lock is another Pro feature missing from Autel's pro bird. After a year what is the excuse?

LeoJR · Jul 6, 2021

Have you tried Cruise mode? I think it might be close to what you are looking for. I have not tried it. I did receive an answer from Autel that wasn't really clear, but this does keep the drone going in one direction while the camera controls are worked. It was not clear that this means the yaw could be adjusted and I am not sure if the elevation of the drone can be changed during this mode.

kenautelevo2pro · Jul 6, 2021

LeoJR said:
Have you tried Cruise mode? I think it might be close to what you are looking for. I have not tried it. I did receive an answer from Autel that wasn't really clear, but this does keep the drone going in one direction while the camera controls are worked. It was not clear that this means the yaw could be adjusted and I am not sure if the elevation of the drone can be changed during this mode.

are you talking about viewpoint?

or cruise mode in manual hyper lapse?

LeoJR · Jul 7, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
are you talking about viewpoint?

or cruise mode in manual

My follow up question to Autel about the Cruise mode resulted in this response:

"Cruise mode only allows you to YAW the aircraft to aim the camera and pitch the camera. If you wanted elevation changes, they need to be setup in the waypoints.
You can set either photos or videos in waypoints/cruise.
OA sensors are enabled, but please be aware OA is only made for assistance and not to be relied solely upon.
Press and hold the pause button to stop the mission."

Does this help?

kenautelevo2pro · Jul 8, 2021

LeoJR said:
My follow up question to Autel about the Cruise mode resulted in this response:

"Cruise mode only allows you to YAW the aircraft to aim the camera and pitch the camera. If you wanted elevation changes, they need to be setup in the waypoints.
You can set either photos or videos in waypoints/cruise.
OA sensors are enabled, but please be aware OA is only made for assistance and not to be relied solely upon.
Press and hold the pause button to stop the mission."

Does this help?

this isn't very easy to setup and use. I'm finding while my drone is "cruising" you can't make a lot of changes easily. I'm finding it impossible to turn the camera 90% even by aiming the entire drone (since the camera cannot move by itself). also, this is working during hyperlapse only not with ordinary video. I'll keep working on it but for now, I'm going to say this is not a suitable substitute for traditional course lock which would be so much more easier to implement. thanks for the help and let me know if I am doing something wrong.

parkgt · Jul 10, 2021

kenautelevo2pro said:
this isn't very easy to setup and use. I'm finding while my drone is "cruising" you can't make a lot of changes easily. I'm finding it impossible to turn the camera 90% even by aiming the entire drone (since the camera cannot move by itself). also, this is working during hyperlapse only not with ordinary video. I'll keep working on it but for now, I'm going to say this is not a suitable substitute for traditional course lock which would be so much more easier to implement. thanks for the help and let me know if I am doing something wrong.

Autel's Pro is still missing a basic Pro tool a year after release.