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Smoothing?

Discussion in 'Radian' started by Frederic Landry, Jul 9, 2013.

  1. Frederic Landry

    Frederic Landry New Member

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    Hi all,

    I have bought 3 x radians a little while ago and I would like to know if it is possible to "smooth" all movements?

    I was using another controller before and this feature was awesome.What it did was never stop gimbal movement abruptly. It would always slow down, let say pan axis, gently by losing speed to a full stop within like 2 seconds. That added a feel of a real cameraman operating the camera.

    Can we do that with radians?

    I feel like radians will be put on shelves and no new features and improvements will come out because of FF new products...

    I think this would be a nice feature to have.

    Thanks
     
  2. Jason Smoker

    Jason Smoker Active Member

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    Yes Frederic is possible to have smooth movements with radians but you have to balance well and get those gain settings perfect
     
  3. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Frederic which controller has that feature.
     
  4. Frederic Landry

    Frederic Landry New Member

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  5. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    In addition to balancing the camera, I have also found that the gimbal arms all have to be precisely aligned with each other so that the gimbal's bearings can rotate smoothly. Any kind of rough landing or other jarring of the copter or camera mount can cause a little slippage that can cause the Radians to bind as they're trying to stabilize the camera. You want the gimbal and the copter frame itself to "give" a little rather than breaking (like with the landing gear), but you have to re-center after it "gives".

    Does that make sense?
     
  6. Brad McGiveron

    Brad McGiveron Active Member

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    I think you can basically think of the Radians as dead technology. It makes no sense to bash your head against the wall with hobby grade servo driven stabilization asking why it isn't working perfectly. It just doesn't. They do function but there are many pitfalls and hoops to jump thru to get footage that still needs software stabilization. A full 3 axis bushless conversion is basically half the cost of Radians and a lifetime better.

    I still have a few kicking around here so ya I agree that the "magestic" or "follow" mode would be nice feature for the Radians but I doubt FF are going put any effort into this with the fact the sales probably have almost stopped completely. Anybody buying them now have missed the memo:(
     
  7. Jose Luis Ocejo

    Jose Luis Ocejo Active Member

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    They ware a hot item for sure that lasted about a year, I guess its the same fate for the Skyline, and Picloc, some times I wonder if we just had stay with the stabilization that the FC offer? ....we had to finish the stabilization in post any way
     
  8. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    If you think a brushless-powered gimbal is going to balance and tune itself, you're wrong. The videos you've seen online of the guys playing with one in a mirror with a small camera on board are no proof that these will work with a substantial camera whilst mounted on a copter. Even the MōVI is going to require a deft touch to set up. Once it is set up properly, I have no doubt it'll be far better than anything we have today.

    But calling Radians "dead" is like calling a 747 "dead" technology. Just because newer airplanes are dramatically more efficient, well-engineered, comfortable, etc., does not mean the 747 is no longer relevant. We live in a world where once things are no longer shiny and new we want to pronounce them "dead". That's just not right.

    I would say if you have several man-months of time to invest in building your own brushless system, go for it. If, on the other hand, you're like most of us who have to make a living and deliver results for clients, you're probably going to want to go with a proven solution, even if it isn't the newest, shiniest thing on the block.
     
  9. Brad McGiveron

    Brad McGiveron Active Member

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    Your right...
    Have fun with your Radians:)
     
    Howard Dapp likes this.
  10. Howard Dapp

    Howard Dapp Active Member

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    Took us only 2 weeks to get our blg up and running and that is including time waiting for international parts delivery. Absolutely mind blowing results compared to our dinosaur...I mean servo driven gimbals. The technically adept guys are now basking in blg glory while others are lagging behind, waiting for pnp solutions.
     
  11. Frederic Landry

    Frederic Landry New Member

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    I think I did a bad job explaining what I meant. My radians are working very well, they still need some fine tuning but I am happy with the results.

    My question was regarding a possible new feature to add to radians, which was called "smoothing" on that other controller I was using.

    This "smoothing" option in the software would make the movement of the camera much more smooth by never allowing it to stop abruptly when the sticks are zeroed.

    That would be quite easy to add this feature and would add some real nice feeling when operating the camera. I was really surprised that no such feature was already in it in the first place.
     
  12. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Frederic it is likely that the logic that was in your previous board doesn't translate over easily to the Radians. Most other boards still used Pots on the axis. Not sure about the board you mentioned but did it eliminate the use of the potentiometers?

    You can adjust the deadband on the Radians and smoothness can probably be controlled with a curve on the control channel. Really haven't heard of anyone mentioning any abrupt stopping being an issue.
     
  13. Frederic Landry

    Frederic Landry New Member

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    Gary the board can be configured for servos with or without pots.

    I will set up a curve in the radio, but that won't do exactly what I am talking about.

    Here is an example: If you go pan full speed with the radio stick, the gimbal is moving quite fast. If you release the stick, the stick comes back to center and the panning stop immediately right?

    What "smoothing" does is instead of having the gimbal immediately stop as you release the stick, the controller (radian) could make it slow down to a full stop within a second or two (configurable).
     
  14. Brad McGiveron

    Brad McGiveron Active Member

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    I totally understood what you meant... and what you ask for is basically "follow" or "Magestic" because in order for the servo to slow down after your input, it has to be following/delayed and in non proportional mode. I agree it would be a nice addon for the Radians but likely you would need to use the pots again for this to work with the Radians architecture. Not sure, but I would love to see it.
     

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