Drone hyperlapse of project under construction - how?

[AndrewS]

I recently ran across this video showing a time lapse of a construction site which must have been taken over several days.

. I think the concept is really intriguing and I think my clients would agree. I have an Evo Pro 2 but haven't yet explored its hyperlapse feature. Do you know how something like this would be created? How would you dial in the same flight path (and speed), executed over many days, to ensure consistency? What type of software "stiches" time lapses of this type together? Other tips/suggestions?

 

[Detritalgeo]

I suspect this was completed using a flight/mission planning app such as Litchi. It looks like the drone was sent on the pre-programmed flight at different times over the weeks/months and they edited them together in this footage. I dont think Litchi has invested in supporting Autel drones yet but they absolutely should with the Nano/Lite/Evo2 now making a more complete fleet.

 

[JerryPikePhoto]

Looks to be a repeated flight plan, which you can make on the app, flown on multiple days/weeks/months? And then its just stitching the videos together and finding a smooth transition point and adding a little fade inbetween each clip.

 

[gschulzuio]

For construction (and other) projects that longer period of time, I use mission software such as DroneDeploy (DD), Litchi, Pix4D and Autel Missions to capture photos, video, maps/models, 360 images (still, video). The missions are setup to fly same route with same POI(s), same waypoints (location, altitude) and actions, ideally same aircraft/camera, same or similar time of day and weather conditions (e.g. sunny, cloudy, etc). Some of the missions I do are weekly, some are monthly, some quarterly that can span months or years.

One of the tricks is getting info on the structure early so you can figure out your POIs and their altitude, as well as waypoint locations, their altitude and POI to focus on. The reason being is if you have a structure that is going to be say 20 stories, and your initial POI is the center of the building ground level, and your orbit or perimeter waypoints then focus on that POI, if the perimeter waypoints or orbit look at the POI and the POI is ground level, subsequent missions will keep showing the lower part of the building vs. entire building. Thus the trick is to raise your POIs to some number of feet above ground (MSL or AGL) so as building grows, it grows up and into your image, unless you are going to shoot from very high up.

Speaking of litchi, its too bad there is no Autel support, same with DD, and likewise that Autel does not add basic ability to save, and export a mission so you can import it into another app/device, or create a backup of it. Otoh, you can export a Litchi mission as kml, import into Autel, however you have to edit the waypoints, add actions, do clean up that is a PITA.

 

[Gpop24]

For construction (and other) projects that longer period of time, I use mission software such as DroneDeploy (DD), Litchi, Pix4D and Autel Missions to capture photos, video, maps/models, 360 images (still, video). The missions are setup to fly same route with same POI(s), same waypoints (location, altitude) and actions, ideally same aircraft/camera, same or similar time of day and weather conditions (e.g. sunny, cloudy, etc). Some of the missions I do are weekly, some are monthly, some quarterly that can span months or years.

One of the tricks is getting info on the structure early so you can figure out your POIs and their altitude, as well as waypoint locations, their altitude and POI to focus on. The reason being is if you have a structure that is going to be say 20 stories, and your initial POI is the center of the building ground level, and your orbit or perimeter waypoints then focus on that POI, if the perimeter waypoints or orbit look at the POI and the POI is ground level, subsequent missions will keep showing the lower part of the building vs. entire building. Thus the trick is to raise your POIs to some number of feet above ground (MSL or AGL) so as building grows, it grows up and into your image, unless you are going to shoot from very high up.

Speaking of litchi, its too bad there is no Autel support, same with DD, and likewise that Autel does not add basic ability to save, and export a mission so you can import it into another app/device, or create a backup of it. Otoh, you can export a Litchi mission as kml, import into Autel, however you have to edit the waypoints, add actions, do clean up that is a PITA.

There is another option on the horizon! Dronelink is currently in a beta phase for the EVO II Pro. It is a very capable mission planning/execution platform. I've used it on the DJI Mini. Unfortunately for me the beta currently is only available on IOS. I for one am really looking forward to using this awesome tool with my EVO!

 

[gschulzuio]

There is another option on the horizon! Dronelink is currently in a beta phase for the EVO II Pro. It is a very capable mission planning/execution platform. I've used it on the DJI Mini. Unfortunately for me the beta currently is only available on IOS. I for one am really looking forward to using this awesome tool with my EVO!

Yup, if u like dronelink + beta + ios + E2P = potential good fit

Otoh, if u need DD | Litchi + [ios for certain DD f(x) eg pano/video/chains] + import/export missions + nonbeta = DJI

Or, if u need basic mission + no backup/import/export + ios | droid + nonbeta + E2P = Autel missions

 

[Gpop24]

Yup, if u like dronelink + beta + ios + E2P = potential good fit

Otoh, if u need DD | Litchi + [ios for certain DD f(x) eg pano/video/chains] + import/export missions + nonbeta = DJI

Or, if u need basic mission + no backup/import/export + ios | droid + nonbeta + E2P = Autel missions

 

[Gpop24]

Not suggesting anyone rely on any beta software. The current trajectory for Dronelink availability on both IOS & Android will likely be early summer.

Simply passing along information.