Having read the excellent tutorial for the Mavic Mini Two by  No Original Thought  a few weeks back, I was inspired to follow up and have a go myself with my Mini One. The DJI Fly App unfortunately does not have this function for the Mini One however, and so I used the Litchi Beta version for my attempts.

Sure enough, I achieved some satisfactory results – albeit with the looming Black Hole at the top.

On to chapter 2 of N.O.T.’s tutorial regarding the filling in of the black hole. I was less interested in the idea of filling in with a logo, and so he and I have had an exchange of ideas on how to disguise the hole in the sky.

  

Apparently, the DJI Fly App has a default setting of 26 images in a grid, from which the Panorama is created.

The Litchi Beta App has the option to select the number of rows and columns required, and also one or more nadir shots (vertically downwards).  I’ve experimented with various options – taking up to 88 shots in total in the expectation that this would give better stitching. Maybe it does, but the number crunching causes the laptop to go into overdrive for a good five minutes.

  

Again following the ideas of N.O.T. for filling the black hole, I selected an image from the stack which had as much matching sky as I could judge might merge successfully. From this image, I copied and saved a section as TOP.jpg.

This had to be resized to the same dimensions as all the other images ( in this case 4000x2250) before incorporating it into the panorama, using Kolor’s Autopano Giga software.

  

Again continuing as per the instructions of N.O.T. I added the new image to the stack, but here is where the method differs slightly.  The added image has to be modified as he explains, but I discovered that you should, before modifying the Pitch and FOV settings, convert it to a seperate layer by right clicking on the image and selecting Move to New Layer from the dropdown menu.

Then a double left click on the Pitch and FOV values will allow modification.

I agree with N.O.T. that the Pitch value should be 90.

But the FOV value can be selected as required to make the extra image fully cover the black hole.

I found the a value of between 140 and 150 was required to achieve that. A preview appears in the Edit section so that you can adjust it to your satisfaction. In the dropdown menu for Render, I found that it is handy to set the output width and height to 15000x7500 - the maximum that Skypixel allows.

Then it was time to run the program and check the result, which you can see at the link below.

Hope this helps someone - and I'm open to other ideas and comments

Lots of work Mr. B. but the results are splendid.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 5-11 13:38
Lots of work Mr. B. but the results are splendid.

Thanks RDB. Now that I've practised the method a few times, it's not that difficult.
And most of the work is done by the Drone and the Computer

As soon as I can get my Mini 2 taking panos again I'll give this a go.

I've never had to go through the 'move to new layer' step to adjust the settings of the top image, but I'll maybe have a go increasing that FoV of the top image to help with blending - I think that's the secret key you've found to getting such a good blend.

Blériot53 Posted at 5-11 13:43
Thanks RDB. Now that I've practised the method a few times, it's not that difficult.
And most of the work is done by the Drone and the Computer

My pleasure Mr. B.   

Some of the video and graphic software can be quite demanding on your laptop/PC memory, graphics card and processor.  I've found that out the hard way on a couple of 4K videos.  First time, I'm like I might as well go have lunch and come back and see how it is doing.  Came back and it still took a while

Hello there Blériot53. Good day and thank you for sharing these information and for posting this cool sphere that you have created. Keep flying and have a nice day.

DowntownRDB Posted at 5-11 14:23
My pleasure Mr. B.   

Some of the video and graphic software can be quite demanding on your laptop/PC memory, graphics card and processor.  I've found that out the hard way on a couple of 4K videos.  First time, I'm like I might as well go have lunch and come back and see how it is doing.  Came back and it still took a while

Yes it's a bit like that with this old laptop I'm still using.
My wife has a much newer model with a high spec and lots of memory - so when she's not using it I do my video editing on it in a quarter of the time this one takes.
It's really time I upgraded ( the computer, not the wife)

Thats a super result,  If you hadn't mentioned what you done Id not have noticed it.   

Blériot53 Posted at 5-11 22:07
Yes it's a bit like that with this old laptop I'm still using.
My wife has a much newer model with a high spec and lots of memory - so when she's not using it I do my video editing on it in a quarter of the time this one takes.
It's really time I upgraded ( the computer, not the wife)

She definitely has the better computer.

Oh yeah, for sure keep the wife, but do upgrade the computer.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 5-12 04:08
She definitely has the better computer.

Oh yeah, for sure keep the wife, but do upgrade the computer.

I shall act upon your sage advice

Blériot53 Posted at 5-12 07:15
I shall act upon your sage advice

Like I have said before....you are a wise man.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 5-12 11:55
Like I have said before....you are a wise man.

Blériot53 Posted at 5-12 13:29

    

Have a great day.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 5-13 03:18
Have a great day.

U2

Blériot53 Posted at 5-13 03:54
U2

Going to give it my best shot.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 5-13 10:54
Going to give it my best shot.

Hope your aim is good

Blériot53 Posted at 5-13 11:15
Hope your aim is good

  

Very nice info!

Montfrooij Posted at 5-14 13:01
Very nice info!

Thanks Peter

No Original Thought Posted at 5-11 13:49
As soon as I can get my Mini 2 taking panos again I'll give this a go.

I've never had to go through the 'move to new layer' step to adjust the settings of the top image, but I'll maybe have a go increasing that FoV of the top image to help with blending - I think that's the secret key you've found to getting such a good blend.

I just built on what you suggested, really. Playing around with the settings to get the best result.
Have you been out with the drone much, recently?

DAFlys Posted at 5-11 23:49
Thats a super result,  If you hadn't mentioned what you done Id not have noticed it.

It was worth the fiddling about. I think

Blériot53 Posted at 5-29 10:36
Thanks Peter

You're welcome!

Montfrooij Posted at 5-29 12:07
You're welcome!

Blériot53 Posted at 5-29 10:38
I just built on what you suggested, really. Playing around with the settings to get the best result.
Have you been out with the drone much, recently?

Not for a couple of weeks, unfortunately. To much going on.

Haven't even managed to look at the stuff I shot in Devon at the end of last month yet....

No Original Thought Posted at 5-29 14:27
Not for a couple of weeks, unfortunately. To much going on.

Haven't even managed to look at the stuff I shot in Devon at the end of last month yet....

OK. Look forward to seeing the results when time permits

As someone who litterally uttered "where tf is panorama" uopon my first flight, after selling my Mavic Air 1, and buying a Mini.

THANK YOU SIR...