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Aerial Mimic?

Discussion in 'MIMIC' started by Larkin Carey, Jul 22, 2015.

  1. Larkin Carey

    Larkin Carey Member

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    Anyone had successes controlling aerial shots with the mimic? specifically getting it in the air :)

    Did a first test yesterday, and the control and responsiveness was awesome! however, getting it in the air was a PIA. The best we came up with was to launch it in airborne mode to keep the copter from spinning on the ground, then connect to it via the app and change it to mimic mode during flight.

    What other strategies have worked? I want to love this thing, but so far it seems only practical for dual op ground systems.
     
  2. TJ_Sheridan

    TJ_Sheridan New Member

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    I'm about to try doing this. Got my Mimic and getting it hooked up to the M5 now. I don't understand what your issue is. You say the copter is spinning on the ground? Do you mean that when the copter is sitting pre-flight that the gimbal is spinning on the ground?

    Can help me understand what's going on a little better?
     
  3. Larkin Carey

    Larkin Carey Member

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    TJ, I also use the M5 on this system. Mine is 3 axis with freefly landing gear rather than retractable, so what would cause the gimbal to spin in the air (stabilizing pan) causes the craft to spin around on the ground effectively trying to stabilize the panning axis. make sense?
     
  4. TJ_Sheridan

    TJ_Sheridan New Member

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    Oh, okay, I see what you're saying. Yeah, I've noticed that as well. It's annoying. One reason NOT to use the FreeFly Landing Gear, I guess. That is a pain, every flight, to have to have it connected to your tablet so you can change modes. You probably also have to come to a hover at the end of your flight, and then wait for it to connect to your tablet, and change back to airborne mode before you land, right? Ugh. Maybe I won't mess with it on the aerial rig. I was excited about the ability to BANK the gimbal while flying using the Mimic.
     
  5. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Use the Kill Mode switch to stop the flight deck from spinning prior to lift off. See the manual for any of the MoVI's. Page O5-P28 in the M5 manual for example. And page O4-P23

    Gimbal Application - Configures the gimbal for either Handheld or
    Airborne use. In Handheld use, the center position of the Dual
    Operator Mode Switch enables Pan Majestic operation. In Airborne
    use, the center position of the Dual Operator Mode Switch parks the

    Gimbal for takeoff and landing.
     
  6. Larkin Carey

    Larkin Carey Member

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    That is exactly what I want, but there is no kill mode switch on the mimic, or am I missing something? I use this constantly with the Dx7, but the mimic only has a single pan clutch button. Any ideas?
     
  7. TJ_Sheridan

    TJ_Sheridan New Member

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    I just got the DX7 set up with my M5, and it's fairly easy to use. The only thing I don't like is the roll control. '

    I don't understand why they treat roll so differently than pan & tilt. You have all these controls and settings for Pan and Tilt, how smooth to make it, how much of a window to give it, and you don't have ANY control of Roll, which is a pretty lame. Why can't they use the exact same control parameters for Roll as they do for Pan and Tilt so we can fine tune it. It's really clumsy and way too sensitive. You can't really even turn it off, so if you bump that left stick at all, you are ruining shots.

    It's weird how well they design some things, and how other thing seem rather un-intuitive.
     
  8. Larkin Carey

    Larkin Carey Member

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    This is a Mimic thread not DX7, but Here's what I do. Disable to the roll, it's more trouble than it's worth, and the M5 is bomber at getting rock solid level footage. If you really want to use it, I would suggest either getting a transmitter with more channels so you can vary the rate like is set up for pitch and yaw. Also, there is a ton of stuff about this over in the M5/M10/M15 threads including some custom setups people have done.

    Back to the MIMIC.
     
  9. Adam Paugh

    Adam Paugh Distributor

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    Hey Larkin,

    Short of placing some boxes under the booms to get the gimbal off the ground for take off, changing the "gimbal application" in the App seems to be the only work around, today. Freefly's support staff is active in this forum, but for more direct beta feedback try support@freeflysystems.com.

    Greetings,
    Adam
     
  10. Larkin Carey

    Larkin Carey Member

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    Thanks Adam! psyched to be involved in the beta testing and I'll email directly. boxes won't work as we fly coax on our birds. Will likely be just using on dual op ground mode until we get this kink worked out.

    Cheers. hope your'e well!
     
  11. TJ_Sheridan

    TJ_Sheridan New Member

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    Larkin, The comment wasn't about just the DX7, it's about the features of the M5 and how they relate to both handheld and MIMIC controls. The Mimic has the same limitations and works the same as handheld or aerial when it comes to roll. You have this beautiful "Majestic" mode, which is great for pan & tilt, but they somehow just left ROLL out of the majestic equation, and it affects the mimic more dramatically because being able to roll is one of the primary applications. They show specifically in their Mimic marketing materials a woman running with a gimbal operator chasing her and "flying" the gimbal like a plane or a bird, banking left and right as she weaves through the forest. That's the whole idea, being able to make a camera look like it's FLYING by actually banking as an aircraft would. Some people don't WANT perfectly locked horizons because it doesn't feel like flying. That's the beauty of the Mimic, and the roll axis needs to be included in the Majestic equations & feature set.
     
  12. Larkin Carey

    Larkin Carey Member

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    ah... make sense. in that case, I totally agree with you. a good feature to add!
     
  13. Bryant Bell

    Bryant Bell New Member

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    I second the request for a feature where you can switch on and off a takeoff/landing mode. With the transmitter, I use the switch for this to switch between 'limp', 'majestic' and 'dual mode.' Would it be possible for one of those switch positions to activate the mimic instead? Would be a great way for a DP to jump into operating the camera, or even a client in some cases seeing as how intuitively it works. An even better solution would be a switch on the Mimic bars themselves, the less equipment the better.
     
  14. Paul Christopher Greene

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    The best solution I came up with (and have strongly urged FF to implement) would be way for the "positional freeze" button to be assignable to Majestic Mode (or other modes) to make managing a UAV easier on take off. Currently we activate M10 on a C-stand, un-couple Toad in hole - carry MoVI and camera to launch point, and couple to UAV. A grip has to baby sit the drone to prevent it spinning in place until we're ready to launch. Hope this helps.

    Thank you.
     
  15. Bryan Monarch

    Bryan Monarch New Member

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    This is definitely something that's been plaguing us too. What we've been doing, even though it's also pretty "ghetto" similar to the box method mentioned above. Essentially, we use a tripod with one leg extended to hold the copter in place (so it can't spin left or right) and then initiate the motors and take off. From there obviously the Mimic is already live and in control.

    Not the cleanest of ways, agreed. I think a really easy way would be to essentially have the "Yaw lock" button on the mimic essentially just hold the X axis motor in place, so it couldn't rotate at all until that button was released.
     
  16. Adam Orens

    Adam Orens Member

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    This works for us:

     
  17. Bryan Monarch

    Bryan Monarch New Member

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    That's actually a really creative solution. I like it.
     
  18. Benoit REGORD

    Benoit REGORD New Member

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    Hi there,
    Is there any solution Up to now, that freefly Can give us in response to that issue?
    It is really anoying.
    Thanks
     
  19. Bryan Edmonds

    Bryan Edmonds Chief Mōvi Whisperer

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    If you are running Akira firmware (beta) on the MōVI and the MIMIC, a double tap of the pan freeze button will kill the motors for take off and landing.
     
    Benoit REGORD likes this.
  20. Benoit REGORD

    Benoit REGORD New Member

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    Great news. Thank you !
    So if i understood well, i need to update both movi and Mimic to Akira ?
    Thanks again
     

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