3D Mapping - Intro to Drone Deploy | Flite Test

Josh and Austin test out the Drone Deploy’s beta structural 3D mapping software with the DJI Phantom 3! More details available in the writeup: flitetest.com/a...
Stay tuned as we continue to test out this 3D Mapping software in the months ahead.
Learn more about Drone Deploy App here:
dronedeploy.com
Learn more about Flite Fest here:
flitefest.com
Thanks for watching!

[@TomUlcak]

You guys are the BEST. This video on aerial mapping blows all the others away. The information you give is EXACTLY what I needed. Damn, there is no one better! No one! Thank You!

[@1grizzlyrizzo]

Great video. Model quality can be increased but doing walk around shots by hand, thus giving greater clarity of edges below the view of the flight path, then combine images in the render list and stitched as one model.

[@FliteTest]

+Paul Morris Good tip, it didn't occur to me to try that at the time. -Austin

[@shutterjunkey]

Paul Morris I'm new to this, how would you recommend doing that with aerial shots?

[@1grizzlyrizzo]

Corey Steiner I don't have a drone that has a GPS or gimbal, but from my knowledge of cad I'd plot a dome or cube of way points over the object to scan, depending on the size of that object, this should be at the right range to insure good quality images but also be a safe distance so not the crash into it. On the ground go around with a camera getting not just level shots but angled up and down facing, the lip of the roof and foundation should be true as a result. Then take this massive bunch of files and throw then into a program like 123d by autodesk at 200c for a good hour until golden, serve piping hot with a nice red wine wine pino noir should do nicely.

[@Time2FLYAlDiaz]

I was intimidated to try this in the past with another app, you guys and the drone deploy make it seem easy.. I'll give it a go... Thanks for sharing

Outstanding. Well done Austin. Nice to see you in the videos again.

[@ricfly52]

2 hours for lunch. Comon, I work in construction, and we only get 30 minutes. haha Great video. I am thinking about doing some things with this technology. Thanks for the info! You guys rock.

[@CrazyTechy]

Thanks for the tips. I just tested DroneDeploy this week with my DJI Phantom 4. I got an okay 3D map with 56 photos a 197 feet, scanning 8 acres.

[@Duromonter]

I use this at work, its great when you get started... Results can be astonishing.!

[@Duromonter]

Not the same software "Context Capture" from Bentley is what we use. Others also are available.

[@boboscurse4130]

This is amazing! Question: if you can only fly, say, half the grid on one battery, can you land, change batteries, and resume exactly where you left off?

[@spinfox2000]

yes, you can abort and land and then press resume and will start where its left

[@revellgordon1]

I cannot believe people are giving you a thumbs down smh, I thought this video was VERY informative, great job guys. I'm going to be doing these things when I get my Mavic, keep up the good or shall I say great work, looking forward to more vids

[@RCTanksTrucks247]

Wow, that's awesome. Thanks for the great video

[@jalan9700]

What if you flew a flight path at a higher altitude and then do a second flight path at lower altitude. Would you then be able to patch both the high resolution lower altitude and the lower resolution higher altitude maps together giving you both ?

[@rifted]

Great to see Austin working with the Phantom! Cheers and hope to see you guys over FliteFest 2016!!! (if I can save money lol) Cheers! Ed

[@Patan77xD]

If you have the ability to upload the final photos with the orbit ones included somewhere, I could try run them in my professional photogrammetry software and compare the results, would be interesting, though pretty sure it would blow the drone deploy results out of the water, but not a super fair comparison considering its a 3500usd software and you need like a "super" computer to run it x)

[@FliteTest]

+Patan77xD Yep, definitely the big advantage to Drone Deploy is the low barrier of entry. If you have a DJI product, a phone/tablet and a web browser, you can get started. -Austin

[@greghines9346]

+FliteTest Im really excited about this one, its kinda like you guys read my mind anymore when in comes to "what I wanna see," thanks a lot. My first ? when I was watching was is there 3d imaging software that I can use on my own not to depend on a 3rd party.

[@greghines9346]

+Patan77xD 3500!? Must be a good one. I was expecting to pay a decent amount but is there anything a little cheaper that I could buy that'll work with a normal guy computer haha?

[@Patan77xD]

+Greg Hines He well if you thought 3,500usd is expensive then there is also like the professional version of RealityCapture that is 15,000usd or Scannerkiller that is 12,000usd, but there are many alternatives to choose from that are way cheaper or even free if you don't need the professional features, but you still kind of need at-least a somewhat decent computer for any of them that you run on your own computer. Here is a list of different photogrammetry softwares: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_photogrammetry_software

[@greghines9346]

+Patan77xD So 3500 is not so bad lol. Thanks for all the info, ill definitely check these out. I would need a decent program bc I'm planning on using it for stock piles for a company and need impressive results. It would be cool to get better side shots by mixing angled shots from the side of the geo fence after it completes its straight down shots but I may be asking for too much from current software, so just an idea for designers I guess. Thanks for the answers.

[@kevin_fine]

Tried this out today with my DJI P3 Pro and it worked beautifully. The 3D models take a lot of processing power so your computer might run slow if you download the object file and try to modify it so you can 3D print the landscape. Overall the images are very clear and the program works great it just takes a while to process all the pictures which is understandable.

[@billydavison931]

How did you get it to connect with your p3p? I tried with mine and it never connected it just searched and never found anything, am I doing it wrong? If you could describe how you connect your drone to the app that would help a lot.

[@chasemgray]

+Billy Davison Are you using iOS or Android? There is a nice guide on support.dronedeploy.com that explains the settings you need to make sure have on in DJI Go.

[@Auxinelectro]

great video really clear presenters thanks

[@velocirotor9613]

I wonder if APM/Pixhawk users can take advantage of this. Autonomous flight plans would have to be manually made in Mission Planner and the camera shutter and geotagging would have to be figured out. Uploading the photos to Drone Deploy would be the same process though. Just a thought for those without phantoms. Great video Josh and Austin!

[@chasemgray]

+Velocirotor Definitely can do this :)

[@astrowanabe]

Most high end (feature wise, not necessarily cost wise - for example ArduPilot / ArduCopter with MissionPlanner) flight control boards & software already support flying set pathways and controlling a camera to create the image set, but you have to use a separate program / company to do the stitching. This does seem to be a good all-in-one solution to create basic 3D models for flyers who happen to own certain DJI quadcopters, and the price point of free is certainly nice. Just pointing out that there are other options already available for the rest of us, though they aren't quite as plug-and-play.

[@FliteTest]

+Phillip Dingus Like I mentioned, you can use high end mission planners to capture the data and then upload to Drone Deploy for processing. You could technically even upload data from a full scale survey airplane. Although most companies that do that have their own processing software and servers in house. Neat concept though. -Austin

[@grahamboaviation]

I love Flite test! I just picked up the mini speedster for my first build! I love it!

[@nh1096]

very nice post gives me an overview of drone mapping

[@vadiz1]

Your fist videos were fascinating. You showed and explained how to build RC planes and I loved it! Not only me - that gave You all subscribers, followers and customers You have now. Your later videos become rather complicated than interesting and watching that last one the only question i had in my mind is: why do I need it? What for?

[@gearbow]

Crazy awesome I am definitely going to be contacting the developer to see if this would work hand held to map caves!!! It will be especially interesting to see what they come up with for the new Phantom 4 using the info from the avoidence sensors.

[@IMRROcom]

+Mike Gerrie need GPS, I'm sure you might have a hard time in a cave getting 12 satellites.

[@cowboynortheast]

i just saw you guys on the show outragous acts of science for your circle plane! great job and i love your videos!!!

[@dkt6408]

why not use normal photogrammetry software?

[@pietro1961]

You guys are the best! I love watching your channel!

[@TheGrateWall]

So I've been into planes for a Year now but I've been wanting to buy a beginner drone on a serious budget. Something maybe like a Nano Qx, or maybe something more less expensive with that quality. Thanks for your feedback!

[@jasonsutter3818]

Wow this would make creating a RC video game so so so easy. Cant wait to use this plus Unity3d

[@brianroco1093]

As always, great introductory video. :)

[@agricultureaerial4768]

awesome stuff guys

[@lillyspops]

Pretty cool there fellas. Keep up the good work!!

[@gangincontrol]

downloaded the second you said the app's name. so awesome

[@pumawombatDOG2]

Would you guys recommend buying the Hubsan x4 502s? I know it doesn't have brushless motors but I am confident that I could replaced them if they quit later down the road. Overall, would it be a decent drone to start with?

[@TheCybercrash]

Very cool. Wouldn't it be helpful to set the camera angle at 45° instead of 90° straight down?

[@FliteTest]

+RcCopterGuy I did set the camera at a 45 degree angle for the orbit photos. Straight down makes sense for just capturing accurate terrain data. -Austin

[@EricArneson]

Great demo! I use DroneDeploy for Landscape Architecture it is amazing!

[@barryjreid]

+eric arneson you should try propelleraero.com

[@FliteTest]

+eric arneson That's very interesting. It will be neat to see so many industries realizing they can save time and money using products like this. -Austin

[@uwizeyimanadaniel3082]

bro can you give me tutolia of craiting orthophoto using stereo image of drone in ERDAS on email:[e-mail] or wthp [phone]

[@stephenbond2478]

Hello , Thats really cool . I work in materials for construction. we make large stockpiles of gravels/sands/aggregates. I have a couple of phantoms . could I use this app to calculate VOLUME of a 3D object such as a stockpile. It doesnt have to be exact , just an "roughy" ....We get Surveyors to get exact volume . but they are expensive to get out daily .

[@stephenbond2478]

Anyone ...hello??

[@SteveSaccio]

how long did it take to run a course? think there will be any issues with large shoots concerning the battery lasting?

[@nahshonmarkil4893]

Wow thats absolutely incredible!

[@Fotovideoaereo81]

I have a question Have thes massage (Camara is not connected please connect Camara to continue ) that's the reason I cannot start lying why?

[@malelonewolf80]

Interesting, but would be neater if one could do the rendering offline instead on an online server. But I guess that has to do with revenue from the service. Interested to know if you can extract the height of the buildings for use in other applications. And for Flitefest, I recommend setting up a 360 camera for us international viewers. Would be fun to put on googles cardboard vr goggles and view flitefest in vr.

[@jasoncole2324]

Does collision avoidance work during the flight? Great tutorial¡

[@shellanttube]

are the jpeg's set by the drone deploy App or do you set the jpegs before you fly. Also when you went to the DJI App to fly are you able to trigger the camera to take the pictures automatically or do you trigger the camera manually.

[@footballhead667]

Any chance you could revisit this topic? A video on 3D Mapping using the DJI Ground Station Pro app would be even better!

[@ernestooliveira5367]

So have you tried this in a tunnel and or a cave?? Mapping a cave would be great so as you go exploring you can reference your location.

[@tsnwvideos1533]

Hi, how long is the free version running when I only want to make flypathplans and no 3D modelling? Is flypathplaning avalible the hole time?

[@fdaremi]

it is great. 3DR already had this feature.

[@MoiraOBrien]

Awesome! I have the app downloaded but have yet to try it and the version I have does not yet have the building mapping :(

[@austinwinn4548]

You say it does it all for you, but do you have to take the pictures manually or does it do that for you too?

[@guilhem3739]

I don't get something. How does the drone acquire topography here?

[@mesillahills]

Nice quality video as well. Good job !

[@JokerKarrde]

I wonder if the drone returns home automatically if the battery life is too low

[@BrianBakerCA]

Trying this for sure! Great video, thanks!

[@vinayak186f3]

Whenever I think of something new and search on the internet for reference , I find my new was already someone's old idea 😥😂

[@McGuire2778]

Wow this is cool. A friend of mine does digital models of local airfields and sorrow ding areas to create some of the most accurate scenery packs for use in the X-plane flight simulator. I think this is something that may be of great use to him. I know that he probably won't be able to capture the entire airfield area do to the hazards to other aircraft. But getting the roofs of the buildings and such can be hard. This may be his solution. Anyway. Very cool.

[@memesemedre355]

How do you take pictures on the Point of Interest mode of the DJI GO 4 app? It only allows me to record a video...

[@daisyparowam7926]

Does this only work if you have cell service or wifi? If I wanted to use this in a remote where there is no cell coverage or internet access would it still work?

[@Robert-ld1wb]

Guys, so how high above the structure would you recommend to be taking photos from above and when you did POI how far from the building you took pictures and how did you manage overlap flying POI function?

[@mattsoup4121]

Wow, I send a message to the website about a university being able to use one of your drones to test doing this with a rocket launch (which no one replied to), then you make a video on it. Good job, I appreciate your help. (If you can't tell, that was sarcasm. I'm not happy)

[@TheMatt365]

yes, how dare they use their own discretion...

[@mattsoup4121]

Matt™ you don't understand. We sent them an email asking about using one of their quads for a test of the mapping software we've developed, they didn't respond at all (unlike the last time I sent them an email and I got a reply next day) then a few weeks later they're making maps. Something seems fishy here

[@RoadTripTravel]

Great video guys. What are the applications for 3D Mapping?

[@chasemgray]

+Mike's Road Trip Volume measurements for construction and mining, mapping real estate, anything that requires the elevation of a piece of land (water flow, etc.), easier event planning like they mentioned in the video, and a lot more.

[@faustobravo204]

Hello, great video. Just wondering which drone I should buy for mapping, if I am trying to get good x,y and z accuracy. (Between Phantom 4 and mavic pro. Thanks

[@Geoinfodoo]

Now you could try with phantom 4 pro because it have better camera - most important thing in photogrammetry?

[@uwizeyimanadaniel3082]

bro can you give me tutolia of craiting orthophoto using stereo image of drone in ERDAS

[@dannydeutsch279]

Josh and Austin, I have a phantom 3 Advanced drone. I have wanting to make 3D maps just for fun and because they look cool. For this what settings do you suggest. I assumed flying lower would give me a better / more detailed result, but that didn't seem the case. So with what I have Phantom 3 and what I want to do, create 3d maps for fun. What settings do you think would work best? Thanks

[@Vikram8857]

Do we have to make some advanced addition of any part for this...

[@zhoter]

You guys have to check pix4d. Not as easy as drone deploy but offer much functionalities like measuring length, and volume.

[@chasemgray]

+zhoter DroneDeploy allows measureing length, volume, etc. Or are you referring to doing it within the 3D model? I've been told that is also coming in the future on DroneDeploy.

[@zhoter]

Hmm... soon will be more applications, easier, and cheaper.... 2 years ago I combined several software just to make a 3d model.

[@GlovesupSwampy]

So if you quickly need to manual take control of the drone while in their app is there an override button or something ??

[@acutter4399]

Mounting the tablet to frysky taranis possible ? What about FPV with this set up ?

[@mindlessgreen]

So then why do the straight lines at all? Just go circular trajectory at 3-4 different altitudes.

[@planesstevee]

thanks for the video. Please can you make a video on naza flyaways. ive had 4 and my mate had one yesterday his phantom 3 pro flew out to sea and crashed. we always preforme compass calibration before flight and wait 10 mins after gps lock. everything is setup fine. There is something wrong with naza m and light.

[@jarituikkanen6831]

How about situation when elevation changes? Is it possible to make 3D flying parametres?

[@micahbaptist626]

hello Flite test, I want to know, can I use electronics from an E-flite brushless micro plane, and use them for a flite test mini series plane? thanks you guys are awesome!

[@240lumenspower]

Is uploading the images compulsory for 3d generation of the object?

[@sayaadadurian]

so we can use any drone with a camera to work with this app?

[@ephjay6t87]

Great info here. I'm looking into finding hidden pools beneath thick reeds to find micro habitats of the world's deadliest predator, the mosquito. If we can pinpoint their larval habits we will be able to reduce their numbers more effectively and efficiently while reducing both their nuisance and the threat of West Nile Virus with less harm to other wetland wildlife.

[@jacobherrman]

can you guys do a hands on tutorial on the 3D mapping software from drone deploy, i understand how the top down mapping works but i am having a hard time understanding the 3D mapping. I read the article on how to do this and i understand the POI feature that the Phantom 4 can use. But how can you use the POI feature for the drone deploy if the i can only access one software program at a time. thanks

[@321murf123]

Can i import this 3d model into AutoCad 2020? I have both licenses but i cant seem to import the .obj file into AutoCad. What am i doing wrong? I want to join all 3d models on a plane in AutoCad.

[@richardvoisin6080]

Great video. I'll attempt this with the mavic when it arrives. Are there export options that architects or geological surveyors can use on their platforms?

[@AquaCarb]

I want to 3D map a cemetery that has lots of trees but I dont want the trees to block the markers under them.

[@sarthakudaisingh6067]

could you tell how long did it take for the drone to scan the area?

[@tobymason8951]

have you guys got a video on open pilot just brought a race quad that runs it on the CC3D Atom

[@gregbrown5554]

Thank you gentlemen

[@andrewchesney]

Wow! Thanks guys

[@lakon7890]

Hi Flite Test, does it do a real time mapping or give a 3D perspective of a particular place, say a street in real time?

[@PaulRichardson_Canada]

Can we get a copy of the map to play with ?

[@abieariyodandoro3137]

Can we merge images gathered from 2 flights or more? in case we want a more detailed 3D image?

[@NabisGIGN]

Is it possible to 3D print what you’ve modelized? Thx and great vid btw

[@rajeshtank2087]

Does obstacle sensor work while using this method ?

[@Hagermann1]

Hi guys, awesome video, What’s the format of the 3d map? Are you able to export it as a DWG for using them in architecture programs?

[@davidbilia2371]

can you do a fallow up of how to build a scratch build geomaping fixed wing system

[@alfredzianini9217]

You read my mind! I want to get to it sunday

[@chrisrowl]

Question: how much overlap are you getting on the side-edge of the images? I'm assuming the 75-80% is front to back overlap. Thanks.

[@matugam5613]

Works this also with the Dji Spark?

[@AllucardA10]

Could this be done with the original Phantom? I have one that I almost never use and this would be an amazing way to create 3D models of locations for use in games/animated films. Safe flights and good hunting

[@ILOProduction2023]

nice work

[@ayoubzarzouri7276]

Does this work with a Small UAV fixed Wings ?

[@dodousenghore9960]

does it work on every drone

[@improfision]

this is so cool for indie game developers

[@Vikram8857]

is any sensor needed for that

[@harrypotter1155]

The app interacts with the DJI's Flight Conttoller, how do you do that? I always use Pixhawk Flight Controller because it uses Ardupilot firmware so I can give the Flight Controller commands.

[@nocogarden]

does drone deploy only work with dji?

[@SothsavdyTha]

hey dude, as u said in the video, to create 3D u have to use Point of Interest? does it take by image or video ?

[@dwtuomi]

Can you guys do I cheap quadcopter build video?

[@prateekarora4880]

Trying to understand how the 3D images are generated from what are essentially flat 2D images, especially since during the main flight the camera is pointing straight down? How is depth information being generated without any sort of LiDAR / Radar Sensing? Can someone help?

[@alekmabry8062]

Same concept as stereo 3D mapping. The overlap is required, it checks it's current position in the air, finds a point, then finds that same point on another camera, and triangulates to that point to form a depth map.