Solex for Solo

[Deleted member 7413]

A big thanks to Kelly for delivering what he promised.

Wishing everyone a fantastic end to 2016 and an even better 2017! Fly safe and have fun doing it.

 

[SteveReno]

Kelly Schrock
23 hrs
After a delay for Christmas, and just in time for 2017: The aptly-named 1.2.8 version of Solex.

Since Solex was released, a lot of people have been asking "hey, why is it that when I swipe for the map, I don't get one? Where's the map?" The answer is there never was a map in the flight screen in Solex. But now there is. You actually still don't swipe to reveal it, you just push a little map button on the bottom-right corner. When you do, it shows a little inset video view. To switch back, just hit Back, or click the video view on the map.

One item to take note of is the "Layers" button on the map. That opens a slider on the left side where you can pick from layers to display. The two in there right now are Geofences, and Flight Logs. This list will expand in the future. Geofences, as you'd expect, show any geofences you have near where you're flying. When you fly into one and activate a geofence, it lights up on the map. No big deal.

Flight Logs are the other layer, which is essentially the same thing you used to get by clicking the little "map marker" button on the Controls panel. It works about the same way, but it's now not a separate screen, which means you can see video at the same time.

One thing that might prove handy for some is a new "Flying Locations" item on the main menu. From here, you can create entries for places you intend to fly. Just type in the full (or partial) address of the location you're interested in, and you can create a specific "location" for it. When you do that, the map will pan to the location, and zoom out over time so you can have a full view (and map data) of that location.

Also: When you're out flying someplace, Solex will note your location and see if it's close to any other locations you've flown. If it isn't, it will remember the location. When you get back to base and put your device on an internet-capable network, it will look those flying locations up and give them names (whatever Google tells it a good name for it is, like its address), so you can revisit those later too. Or you can erase them.

Something else I've been doing while on "break" is remodeling my office-slash-"shop". I moved a ton of stuff around, and today we painted the ceiling. Ceiling painting is apparently kind of horrible. Lots of drop cloths, overspray, irritation with a cheap airless spray gun I bought that reacts badly to anything besides being turned off, and a lingering smell of latex that is kind of gross. No reason to mention any of this here, except to say the smell is giving me a headache, so I'm going to stop typing right... now.

Happy New Year, everybody.

 

[SteveReno]

Thanks for another GREAT update.
Happy New year to you also, my friend @Kelly Schrock

 

[DJMc]

So what about a 'Made for Solo' paint roller! Could have CEILING mode, FENCE mode. 3D printers of the word...anyone ... eh...anyone? Seriously, thanks once again Kelly, I posted that i'd seen the app had been updated before I'd really got to grips with the huge additions you'd made. Love the locations layer...pretty unique I'd say.

 

[Deleted member 7413]

Thanks for another GREAT update.
Happy New year to you also, my friend @Kelly Schrock

Kelly Schrock
23 hrs
After a delay for Christmas, and just in time for 2017: The aptly-named 1.2.8 version of Solex.

Since Solex was released, a lot of people have been asking "hey, why is it that when I swipe for the map, I don't get one? Where's the map?" The answer is there never was a map in the flight screen in Solex. But now there is. You actually still don't swipe to reveal it, you just push a little map button on the bottom-right corner. When you do, it shows a little inset video view. To switch back, just hit Back, or click the video view on the map.

One item to take note of is the "Layers" button on the map. That opens a slider on the left side where you can pick from layers to display. The two in there right now are Geofences, and Flight Logs. This list will expand in the future. Geofences, as you'd expect, show any geofences you have near where you're flying. When you fly into one and activate a geofence, it lights up on the map. No big deal.

Flight Logs are the other layer, which is essentially the same thing you used to get by clicking the little "map marker" button on the Controls panel. It works about the same way, but it's now not a separate screen, which means you can see video at the same time.

One thing that might prove handy for some is a new "Flying Locations" item on the main menu. From here, you can create entries for places you intend to fly. Just type in the full (or partial) address of the location you're interested in, and you can create a specific "location" for it. When you do that, the map will pan to the location, and zoom out over time so you can have a full view (and map data) of that location.

Also: When you're out flying someplace, Solex will note your location and see if it's close to any other locations you've flown. If it isn't, it will remember the location. When you get back to base and put your device on an internet-capable network, it will look those flying locations up and give them names (whatever Google tells it a good name for it is, like its address), so you can revisit those later too. Or you can erase them.

Something else I've been doing while on "break" is remodeling my office-slash-"shop". I moved a ton of stuff around, and today we painted the ceiling. Ceiling painting is apparently kind of horrible. Lots of drop cloths, overspray, irritation with a cheap airless spray gun I bought that reacts badly to anything besides being turned off, and a lingering smell of latex that is kind of gross. No reason to mention any of this here, except to say the smell is giving me a headache, so I'm going to stop typing right... now.

Happy New Year, everybody.

Hi Kelly, I would like to echo everyone's comment on a fantastic update. Thanks for all your hard work. I really like the simplicity of how it works and that you can automatically see all the geofences within the map view.
I have a few other suggestions as an add on to the map view, but in light of the holidays I will leave them for another day.
Hope everyone has a fantastic New Year

 

[nomad33fw]

@Kelly Schrock you rock what a fantastic update

 

[nomad33fw]

Forgive me for being a dunce but for the life of me I cannot figure this out. I must be the only one because my search turned up goose eggs. How do I use Fly Me There in Solex? The documentation just says hit the Fly Me There Button, silly question where is this button? Is it under the controls section? The little cross hairs symbol? If so how do I move this once its on the screen?

 

[SteveReno]

A word about "Fly Me There"
Several of the features in Solex feature the ability to either fly to a required start point (e.g. the start of a Cable Cam) manually, or automatically via a Fly Me There button. Once you use this, you're likely to find it more convenient than manually piloting your vehicle to the required location and altitude. Just use caution. Fly me there does not rise to RTL altitude before taking off in the direction of its target location. So if you're low enough to hit an obstacle, it won't automatically rise to a high altitude to miss it. Once you've pressed Fly Me There, you may realize it was a mistake. In that case, press Cancel or the Pause button, and your vehicle will stop immediately. Seriously, though, once you start using it, you'll more than likely prefer that to flying to a target location"

You may have read all this?

Here are some Video's
Solex help Videos

 

[Coparatech]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but is Solex compatible with a Nexus 7 (2012 model)?

 

[Sherm]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but is Solex compatible with a Nexus 7 (2012 model)?

I use Solex on my 1st Gen NEXUS 7 (2012 model) and it's excellent.

 

[Coparatech]

That's great, thank you Sherm. I'll have to give it try then.

 

[nomad33fw]

A word about "Fly Me There"
Several of the features in Solex feature the ability to either fly to a required start point (e.g. the start of a Cable Cam) manually, or automatically via a Fly Me There button. Once you use this, you're likely to find it more convenient than manually piloting your vehicle to the required location and altitude. Just use caution. Fly me there does not rise to RTL altitude before taking off in the direction of its target location. So if you're low enough to hit an obstacle, it won't automatically rise to a high altitude to miss it. Once you've pressed Fly Me There, you may realize it was a mistake. In that case, press Cancel or the Pause button, and your vehicle will stop immediately. Seriously, though, once you start using it, you'll more than likely prefer that to flying to a target location"

You may have read all this?

Here are some Video's
Solex help Videos

I read that in the documentation, however I still don't know where or what the "Fly Me There Button" is. I searched videos and google before asking the question here. None of these videos show an example of Fly Me There, they all just give examples of smart shots.

I know how to use the smart shots, figured out how to set up the optical follow but Fly Me There Button? A diagram of the screen controls or something.

 

[Kelly Schrock]

I read that in the documentation, however I still don't know where or what the "Fly Me There Button" is. I searched videos and google before asking the question here. None of these videos show an example of Fly Me There, they all just give examples of smart shots.

I know how to use the smart shots, figured out how to set up the optical follow but Fly Me There Button? A diagram of the screen controls or something.

It's pretty straightforward. If you save a location by tapping the GPS location in the lower-left corner of the flight screen, you get a prompt to name the location and optionally a picture of it. Then if you open up the Map view (1.2.8+) and click the Layers button on the map, you'll see a "Flight Logs" entry. You'll see logs of every flight where you've saved a location. Click one of them, and the map will show the locations you saved. Click on one of those, and you'll see a little panel with the location's name, a picture (if you saved one), and a "Fly me there" button. Push the button, and you'll see a pop-up with a pointer on it, and another "Fly me there" button. Make sure the path to the location is clear (and a reasonable distance away), and hit that button. The copter will fly to the location.

Another place you'll find it is in the Cable Cam shot. If you open a saved Cable Cam and you're within 50 meters or so of its start point, you'll get a prompt to "Fly me there". Click that, follow the prompts, and the Solo will fly to the start point of the Cable Cam and orient itself so it's ready to start playback. If you're more than 50 meters away, you'll be asked whether you want to move the Cable Cam to the copter's current location, or fly to it.

Follow/Record uses the feature too. If you load a previously-recorded flight and you're some distance from its start point, you'll see a prompt to "Fly me there".

So, it's kind of scattered around the app in various places. It's just a general facility in the app meant to save you the tedium of flying to a given position manually, although you can fly there manually if you want to.

At some point, I'll do some demo videos of various features (I've been a bit lax on that) and post them, which should make some of this clearer.

 

[droneswag420blazeit]

It's pretty straightforward. If you save a location by tapping the GPS location in the lower-left corner of the flight screen, you get a prompt to name the location and optionally a picture of it. Then if you open up the Map view (1.2.8+) and click the Layers button on the map, you'll see a "Flight Logs" entry. You'll see logs of every flight where you've saved a location. Click one of them, and the map will show the locations you saved. Click on one of those, and you'll see a little panel with the location's name, a picture (if you saved one), and a "Fly me there" button. Push the button, and you'll see a pop-up with a pointer on it, and another "Fly me there" button. Make sure the path to the location is clear (and a reasonable distance away), and hit that button. The copter will fly to the location.

First off, thanks for this great app. It fixed many problems for me.

This process doesn't seem straightforward at all. I think it could be quicker and tuned for more of a "one-time use." Perhaps a generic "Fly Me There" Button on the map screen, and then it prompts you to select the location? I imagine this could be done separately from the existing Flight Logs functions.

Thanks again!

 

[Kelly Schrock]

First off, thanks for this great app. It fixed many problems for me.

This process doesn't seem straightforward at all. I think it could be quicker and tuned for more of a "one-time use." Perhaps a generic "Fly Me There" Button on the map screen, and then it prompts you to select the location? I imagine this could be done separately from the existing Flight Logs functions.

Thanks again!

If you think of "Fly me There" as a standalone feature, which it isn't, then you're right, it isn't straightforward. But it's an attribute of other features, showing up when it's appropriate to fly to something, and there's an option to do so automatically. Having a generic button on the screen saying "Fly me there" begs the question: "Fly where?" Providing it as an action in a specific context makes a lot more sense.

 

[Deleted member 7413]

Hi Kelly, now that the map view is in play any chance of adding waypoints and POIs? Thanks, Sam


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kelly Schrock]

Hi Kelly, now that the map view is in play any chance of adding waypoints and POIs? Thanks, Sam


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, that's coming up.

 

[SteveReno]

Perhaps in a "PRO" Ver. of Solex POI's can be introduced.
POI's, Site scanning & other special purpose usage, can be a perfect reason to develope Solex PRO. I would buy it,

 

[Jubalr]

Perhaps in a "PRO" Ver. of Solex POI's can be introduced.
POI's, Site scanning & other special purpose usage, can be a perfect reason to develope Solex PRO. I would buy it,

I Agree @Kelly Schrock! More Pro type features should command a premium for your work. You have already surpassed the original 3DR app in many ways in both features and support!

 

[Deleted member 7413]

Yes, that's coming up.

Thanks Kelly, that's fantastic news. Looking forward to it. I can't say it enough; thanks for all that you do for us; it's sincerely appreciated.