Is EVO2 usable with Pix4D or Dronedeploy?

[Hawaii Drone Imaging]

So, I have also not been able to find any information saying if this new platform can be used with P4D or Dronedeploy. I know that the EVO1 was not supported because of SDK issues with neither. Just wondering if anyone has seen this information somewhere else. Thanks...

 

[parkgt]

Let's hope that the EVO2 is enough of a sales success that it gets a lot more third party support than the E1 has. Lack of third party support is probably going to be one of the biggest cons of buying a EVO2.

 

[dronographer]

Autel says the Pro is ideal for mapping, so...maybe?

 

[jaja6009]

Yes, the Evo II will work great with Pix4D. On another post someone showed a new Explorer App screen shot and the Mission Planning section has full support for flying mapping missions. It had grid rectangle and polygon. It let you set overlaps, altitude and gimbal pitch. The only thing lacking was a circular mission but you could easily set that up on Waypoint. Hopefully third party software will become available, but out of the box it will be able to do some mapping. I'm sure someone will post the specs needed to input into Pix4d for the camera.

 

[HAWK-i.us]

I understand that EVO II camera is not a global shutter, which would make it less attractive for mapping.

 

[loyukfai]

I understand that EVO II camera is not a global shutter, which would make it less attractive for mapping.

Why so?

 

[loyukfai]

Yes, the Evo II will work great with Pix4D. On another post someone showed a new Explorer App screen shot and the Mission Planning section has full support for flying mapping missions. It had grid rectangle and polygon. It let you set overlaps, altitude and gimbal pitch. The only thing lacking was a circular mission but you could easily set that up on Waypoint. Hopefully third party software will become available, but out of the box it will be able to do some mapping. I'm sure someone will post the specs needed to input into Pix4d for the camera.

So it's not necessary for Pix4D the app to control the drone, right?

Cheers.

 

[HAWK-i.us]

Why so?

With a global (mechanical) shutter, like on the P4P, the drone can keep flying while taking the photos, and the entire photo is taken all at once. With an electronic shutter, the rolling effect of the exposure allows the drones' movement into the photo. It's not huge, but it's enough that some mapping engines (Pix4d) utilize an algorithm to try to take out the effect if you tell it the photos were taken with an electronic shutter. Other mapping engines just ignore it, but you lose precision.

When I tried to use my Mavic Pro (electronic shutter only) for mapping, straight lines got curved. To use an electronic shutter camera without that effect, the drone has to stop at each point, take the photo, and resume flying to the next spot. That adds greatly to the time to fly a mapping mission and increases the number of batteries to complete the mission. If you're mapping for jobs that require precision (construction, surveying, stockpile takeoffs, as-builts, etc) you'll not get the precision you need with an electronic shutter.

 

[jaja6009]

So it's not necessary for Pix4D the app to control the drone, right?

Cheers.

No, Pix4D Capture (Pix4D's) automated image acquisition software does not need to be used. You can upload to Pix4D software images from any camera, just make sure you collected the data correctly. (Overlap, flight type, camera settings, etc.) You can even give it video although even 4K video is low resolution in terms of megapixels in still images.

The Evo 1 can be used to make maps, its just that there is zero in the way of acquisition software available other than the limited way points mission you can fly. You can obtain the images by flying the mission yourself, but that is not desirable for too many reasons.

 

[Dave.mp4]

Does anyone know if the 8k and 6k pro cameras both have an electronic shutter? I am interested in mapping and not sure which one would be better for that job. More pixels vs larger sensor...?
Any thought or comments would be appreciated.

 

[parkgt]

Yes, both E-shutter.

 

[Ansia]

The larger sensor will be the best option.

 

[Dave.mp4]

Yes, both E-shutter.

Thanks for that answer.
Well, maybe one could mediate some of those inherent characteristics of the E-shutter by setting a lower traveling speed and/or a higher shutter speed. As a land surveyor, most of my jobs are 5 acres or less. Therefore, I would probably have plenty of battery power even if I had to stop at each position to take a shot.
I would rather spend a little more time flying if it meant better accuracy for my finished product.

 

[Dave.mp4]

The larger sensor will be the best option.

Yes, I had decided to go with the 6k model. I read where someone reported a bit of distortion near the edges of the 8k photos.With the larger sensor, I'm hoping it will increase the accuracy of my maps.

 

[Hawaii Drone Imaging]

Thank you all for your reply. Especially @HAWK-i.us mentioning the global vs. rolling shutter. Good luck to all of you who take the leap of faith. I'll be ordering this weekend.

 

[Dougcjohn]

Yes, the Evo II will work great with Pix4D. On another post someone showed a new Explorer App screen shot and the Mission Planning section has full support for flying mapping missions. It had grid rectangle and polygon. It let you set overlaps, altitude and gimbal pitch. The only thing lacking was a circular mission but you could easily set that up on Waypoint. Hopefully third party software will become available, but out of the box it will be able to do some mapping. I'm sure someone will post the specs needed to input into Pix4d for the camera.

Looking forward to seeing the mapping features within the OEM app. Hopefully they are decent and handle multi-battery swaps too during missions. If it’s close to GSP features, it‘ll survive and provide good features.

I’d agree, EVO2 needs acceptance in 3rd party apps but I doubt it’ll develop, so the OEM hopefully is good. Mapping features also are important for the EVO2-Dual with Thermal to be accepted by SAR scanning & searches. Don’t have much need for a pricy 640 Thermal if not able to fly a tight pattern consistently in grid, double grid and spirals.

If the OEM app has nice mapping features, I’d tend to assume they were focused on making the Thermal useful with competitive autonomous programs... and the Mapping focus reaps too.

Using any mapping program isn’t a problem if the flight mission can collect photos triggered at acceptable timing & overlaps. The programs such as Pix4D, Metashape, Reality Capture, etc are all functional with JPG with Exif metadata, some use RAW in addition. Even Maps Made Easy will accept the pics for a quick online process... free to low cost.
The key is the collection of pics, if that’s weak it won’t have much interest from map & 3D modelers.

 

[Dougcjohn]

With a global (mechanical) shutter, like on the P4P, the drone can keep flying while taking the photos, and the entire photo is taken all at once. With an electronic shutter, the rolling effect of the exposure allows the drones' movement into the photo. It's not huge, but it's enough that some mapping engines (Pix4d) utilize an algorithm to try to take out the effect if you tell it the photos were taken with an electronic shutter. Other mapping engines just ignore it, but you lose precision.

When I tried to use my Mavic Pro (electronic shutter only) for mapping, straight lines got curved. To use an electronic shutter camera without that effect, the drone has to stop at each point, take the photo, and resume flying to the next spot. That adds greatly to the time to fly a mapping mission and increases the number of batteries to complete the mission. If you're mapping for jobs that require precision (construction, surveying, stockpile takeoffs, as-builts, etc) you'll not get the precision you need with an electronic shutter.

Agree, the rolling isn’t the preferred shutter. The mechanical is best! Although I have been impressed with newer models... M2P, X5S (Inspire2), etc that have greatly improved the camera‘s shutter and the algorithms within mapping tools have improved. I think if speed is reduced a bit from the calculated max, increase Fstop & shutter speed results are much better... with say a M2P.

The mechanical is best, the P4P is exact same specs as the I2/M210 X4S, and the X7 as mechanical shutter at or below 1/2000s, again reason to reduce speed a bit; All become Rolling above 1/2000s. For the Rolling shutter, it’s the opposite; better results would be faster shutter to minimize the rolling over sensor.

The EVO 2 may be able to provide quality photos, it may have features to help with the rolling shutter.

 

[Deleted member 1585]

This may also help clear up wrong information that is out there. The P4P does NOT have a global shutter. I don’t know where all of this bad information is coming from, but it is not correct. It has a mechanical shutter....two completely different things. The sensor still reads line by line, just like every other drone. The Autel unfortunately isn’t a good option for commercial mapping due to lack of third party integrations and lack of full mapping support from the Autel app.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro Shutter Type - Florida Drone Technologies

In this article, we briefly describe what shutter is actually used in the DJI P4P v2. You may be surprised to read it is not a global shutter.

floridadronetech.com

 

[DadCorso80]

The integration piece may not be there, but have used the EVO for commercial mapping projects without any issues. I've used Drone Deploy and Pix4d (my preference) and it works just fine, all determined on how photos are collected and processing settings. Same goes for MP2, used at work without any issues.

 

[Deleted member 1585]

That is great you have been able to utilize it. It really is a great drone. I don’t care for the app too much though, especially that it is not optimized for an iPad.
I hesitate to use it for commercial mapping because I do a lot of 3-D modeling. The Autel app doesn’t allow for grid missions and does not easily let you plan orbital missions with photos, in my opinion. It makes the workflow more tedious and time-consuming. Yes, I do not doubt it can be done but it is not an efficient process. I wish they would integrate fully with one of the two major mapping apps, but with my conversations neither seem to be spending their time on integrating with Autel.