Multipoint Cable Cam

[LarryF]

There's been some questions on the new features, especially the Multipoint Cable Cam of the Solo App 2.0.

Here's a tutorial video showing how Multipoint Cable Cam works and the options available.

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[Chuck]

Very informative, LarryF. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[Joe Horn]

In Free Look mode, the paddle adjusts altitude, no?

 

[Adimuzio513]

There's been some questions on the new features, especially the Multipoint Cable Cam of the Solo App 2.0.

Here's a tutorial video showing how Multipoint Cable Cam works and the options available.

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Nice video I'm jealous, I want to use this more than I've got to, but it's just too cold to even enjoy it right now. Can't wait until later this week it's going from 10 right now to I think the mid 60s later this week. I should have moved away from Cincy before settling down into the family lifestyle. Thanks for taking the time to put this together hopefully it helps some of the folks having issues.

 

[SteveReno]

There's been some questions on the new features, especially the Multipoint Cable Cam of the Solo App 2.0.

Here's a tutorial video showing how Multipoint Cable Cam works and the options available.

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Thank you for sharing.

 

[Jubalr]

There's been some questions on the new features, especially the Multipoint Cable Cam of the Solo App 2.0.

Here's a tutorial video showing how Multipoint Cable Cam works and the options available.

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Nicely Done Larry. Very informative. You are in a great place to winter, but wouldn't want to be there in the summer. High heat and high winds for sure.

 

[pyrate]

Awesome work, thanks from those of us who have not had a chance to fly it yet

 

[Joe Horn]

In Free Look mode, the paddle adjusts altitude, no?

NO. Bad news... Contrary to some sources [source needed], the camera tilt paddle does NOT change Solo's altitude in Multi-Point Cable Cam (version 2.0.0). In normal mode (not FreeLook), both the paddle and the left stick (up/down) have the same effect: they temporarily nudge the camera slightly (as in previous versions). In FreeLook, both the paddle and the left stick (up/down) change the camera's pitch; neither one changes Solo's altitude.

After extensive experimentation today, trying every combination I could think of, it seems to me that there is NO WAY to change Solo's altitude during a running Cable Cam shot, even in FreeLook mode. Even if you exit the shot and adjust altitude, the only way to restart the shot is to return to the saved altitude again, so that doesn't help at all.

This of course means that low-altitude Cable Cam shots are accidents waiting to happen. Since altitudes are never exact, DO NOT fly near the ground anywhere during a Multi-Point Cable Cam shot, since Murphy's Law says that a later "replay" of that saved shot will fly lower than last time and plow into the ground. If you're addicted to adrenaline (welcome to the club!) then at least keep close watch and be ready to punch the PAUSE button.

 

[Jubalr]

NO. Bad news... Contrary to some sources [source needed], the camera tilt paddle does NOT change Solo's altitude in Multi-Point Cable Cam (version 2.0.0). In normal mode (not FreeLook), both the paddle and the left stick (up/down) have the same effect: they temporarily nudge the camera slightly (as in previous versions). In FreeLook, both the paddle and the left stick (up/down) change the camera's pitch; neither one changes Solo's altitude.

After extensive experimentation today, trying every combination I could think of, it seems to me that there is NO WAY to change Solo's altitude during a running Cable Cam shot, even in FreeLook mode. Even if you exit the shot and adjust altitude, the only way to restart the shot is to return to the saved altitude again, so that doesn't help at all.

This of course means that low-altitude Cable Cam shots are accidents waiting to happen. Since altitudes are never exact, DO NOT fly near the ground anywhere during a Multi-Point Cable Cam shot, since Murphy's Law says that a later "replay" of that saved shot will fly lower than last time and plow into the ground. If you're addicted to adrenaline (welcome to the club!) then at least keep close watch and be ready to punch the PAUSE button.

If you want to change altitude and control the camera, then that's not much of a cable cam. You would be better off just using tower and creating WPs. I think the strength of cable cam is to not have to fly the solo between points. The point of CC is to set the Alt, WP & camera angle and let Solo do it smoother than most single operators can accomplish. If you take away the camera position and altitude from CC then all you have left are simple WPs. Just my opinion, YMMV.

 

[PdxSteve]

I was just thinking that the whole point of cable cam is an immovable cable, once set, just like a real cable cam. It's not meant to adjust altitude - it just flies the cable and lets you control the camera's orientation along the cable. An autopilot to get smooth flying while you control the camera. Kind of like DJIs setup that requires 2 people for smooth complex camera operation in addition to flying. One to pilot and fly, the other to operate the camera. With the cablecam, you automate the flying portion so you can just concentrate on operating the camera and eliminate the pilot. And in a repeatable fashion.

 

[Joe Horn]

Good points, Jubalr & PdxSteve! Unfortunately the analogy with an immovable "real" cable cam breaks down when you consider that Solo's virtual cable is NOT immovable. Its position is only approximate, and if it happens to be running dangerously lower than last time, there's no way to nudge it back up to its original height. It would be nice to keep the PATH the same but be able to adjust how high it is. Yes, that's contrary to the concept of a real cable cam, but real cables don't move around and cause the camera to crash into the ground, like Solo's cable can and will unless you're careful.

N.B. I'm not complaining or whining! 2.0.0 is awesome! Just wishing that the cable could OPTIONALLY be nudged upwards if it sinks, which it sometimes will. If that feature were added, we could film exactly the same route at different altitudes, which would be massively cool, but is currently impossible [with just the Solo app].

 

[PdxSteve]

Just thinking out loud...there may be a way to do that but it wouldn't necessarily be easy. Since these MPCC are stored after creating, presumably on the controller or more probably on the tablet/smartphone, then they are files. Files storing the waypoints and other info. It might be possible to edit them and change heights for individual points. I haven't looked into the feasibility of that yet.

 

[pyrate]

according to Neal they are stored on the device yes
the execution is managed on the non pixhawk solo cpu

 

[SteveReno]

From the little that i tested the new MPCC, I didn't notice any "small" deviation from the original flight path with Windy conditions .

As for hitting someone or something, If you came too close to ether " 15' " */- with the initialising flight, then i would redo the shot before i would let Solo do it for me.
Common sense should keep you from "crashing into the ground" or other things

 

[pyrate]

yes indeed, solo makes it easy to forget you still need to think

 

[SteveReno]

yes indeed, solo makes it easy to forget you still need to think

Us Humans, are always thinking of ways to automate, not realising were also taking the "Fun" parts out at the same time.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Us Humans, are always thinking of ways to automate, not realising were also taking the "Fun" parts out at the same time.

No doubt that's kinda how I was looking at auto for a bit early on, that's half the fun, but after seeing how smooth and consistent these multipoint cables are I'm pretty impressed. I've got a couple years under my belt flying now and there's no way I could make these shots look so professional. This multipoint cable definitley made good on another of 3drs promises, now making it so anyone can make a professional quality video with solo. It would take quite a bit of effort and practice to get even close to the consistency even for a pretty good pilot and probably would need to be practiced in each location, now no sweat. Mine seems to stay on the cable great and make the shot smoother than I ever could. I'm loving it

 

[pyrate]

3DR should have gotten out in front of it with some training though
Pause acts differently in the smart shots versus fly
people are hoping pause will save their butts when they are not careful with this new feature and pause is not behaving the way they expected, so now it is being viewed as a system failure

 

[pete]

3DR should have gotten out in front of it with some training though
Pause acts differently in the smart shots versus fly
people are hoping pause will save their butts when they are not careful with this new feature and pause is not behaving the way they expected, so now it is being viewed as a system failure

How is PAUSE acting in the smart shots ? I thought it's same as in any other mode.
Today I had 2 incidents and 1 crash while executing previously saved MPCCs.
1st. hard landing in the middle of MPCC (motors stopped after touchdown)
2nd. Solo reversed slowly into a window and cut through a mosquito net then started to descend, landed on the ground, ascended again and finally paused mid-air about 2m above ground
3rd. crashed into a tree branch (that wasn't there when creating the smart shot ), fell down about 5m, bounced back up into the air and took off (vertically) at incredible speed and hit another branch of the same tree, this time 10m above the ground, fell down, bounced little bit and turned upside down, motors stopped.

in each case I hit the PAUSE button but probably too late anyway, momentum was already taking it exactly where I didn't want to.

 

[franknitty69]

Mpcc is amazing. I'm not sure why so many are having issues. It's just like cable cam with more than two points. I do agree though that 3dr should have had a flight school video on the new features.

The ability to control speed based on time is such a nice feature. Freelook is great because your cable can be complex but you can still keep camera control.

The timelapse option is slick. It lets your cable have ridiculously long durations. In post, you can convert it to a hyper lapse or regular timelapse by speeding it up and skipping frames. now if 3dr integrated it with photo mode...that would be something.