Is Gesture Mode implemented in OSMO Mobile? (For starting "Follow Me mode, taking a selfie, etc.)?

Suggested in the past that it would be nice to look at using gesture control to initialize a face-track using the rear camera on the attached mobile.  At the moment we're limited to using the front facing camera which in most cases is less superior to the main camera found on the rear of the phone.

alphacrust Posted at 2017-1-22 14:28
Suggested in the past that it would be nice to look at using gesture control to initialize a face-track using the rear camera on the attached mobile.  At the moment we're limited to using the front facing camera which in most cases is less superior to the main camera found on the rear of the phone.

It would be nice to have regardless of the difference between front and rear face camera for certain activities, when operating alone. For example I wanted to start tracking myself while stand-up paddle-boarding from the swim-platform of my boat on the dock. If I tried to start the tracking before getting on the board it simply stopped tracking me once I was in the water. With the OSMO on its tripod on the dock I had to try to draw the 'tracking box' on my mobile screen while balancing on the paddle-board in the water (and holding the paddle in one hand). After knocking the tripod over and nearly losing my OSMO and mobile in the water I had to get out and anchor the tripod to the dock with luggage tie-downs. It still took me about five more tries to get tracking started properly, only noticing that tracking had not engaged after paddling away then having to return and try again.

I'm sure there are many other activities where gesture-control to start tracking would make life a lot simpler. And since gesture-control is already implemented in the Mavic Pro software surely it would not take a major effort to port it to the OSMO Mobile.

theflyingtinman Posted at 2017-1-22 22:40
It would be nice to have regardless of the difference between front and rear face camera for certain activities, when operating alone. For example I wanted to start tracking myself while stand-up paddle-boarding from the swim-platform of my boat on the dock. If I tried to start the tracking before getting on the board it simply stopped tracking me once I was in the water. With the OSMO on its tripod on the dock I had to try to draw the 'tracking box' on my mobile screen while balancing on the paddle-board in the water (and holding the paddle in one hand). After knocking the tripod over and nearly losing my OSMO and mobile in the water I had to get out and anchor the tripod to the dock with luggage tie-downs. It still took me about five more tries to get tracking started properly, only noticing that tracking had not engaged after paddling away then having to return and try again.

I'm sure there are many other activities where gesture-control to start tracking would make life a lot simpler. And since gesture-control is already implemented in the Mavic Pro software surely it would not take a major effort to port it to the OSMO Mobile.

DJI does not like putting new software features into "old" devices, especially if they are advertised for the specific product. Its a marketing scheme of theirs. They will only add a few things here and there solve a few bugs, but they will not put tracking for example which is a P4 thing on to a phantom 3 even though its totally do able.
I do hope that this will change in the future though.

alphacrust Posted at 2017-1-22 14:28
Suggested in the past that it would be nice to look at using gesture control to initialize a face-track using the rear camera on the attached mobile.  At the moment we're limited to using the front facing camera which in most cases is less superior to the main camera found on the rear of the phone.

Totally agree, having to try and highlight your face from the opposite side of the phone is a bit hit and miss and a slight design oversight

Capt.Capture Posted at 2017-1-23 03:54
DJI does not like putting new software features into "old" devices, especially if they are advertised for the specific product. Its a marketing scheme of theirs. They will only add a few things here and there solve a few bugs, but they will not put tracking for example which is a P4 thing on to a phantom 3 even though its totally do able.
I do hope that this will change in the future though.

Good to know.  If that is really DJI's policy then have just lost a potential drone customer.
I've had a 'pre-order' for a Mavic Pro in place with Amazon since they were announced  last year. The Mavic was to be my first drone.  I've watched the delivery date get pushed back from October, to November, to January, to February....  Last week I saw a notification from DJI saying I could buy a Mavic Pro direct from DJI and have it shipped within 5 days.  I thought I'd wait for Amazon to ship as I have Amazon Prime, I like Amazon's service and it was due to ship in less than a month, or so I thought. Then I saw DJI's press release that they are going to fulfill all direct orders, even new ones, before releasing stock to 3rd party vendors and immediately Amazon had to push out their shipping date  yet again, this time to March 20!  
My opinion of DJI really took a dive when I saw what they were doing to vendors like Amazon and their customers who had patiently waited for long-standing pre-orders to be fulfilled despite an unprecedented run of incremental shipping delays.
If it is true that they also have a policy of withholding easily ported software upgrades to essentially blackmail customers into buying newer models to get  new features that their products could easily support then I will  be buying a Mavic Pro, nor any other DJI product, ever again, either from DJI or Amazon.
I will however try to get confirmation from DJI themselves whether they have any intention of porting this feature to the OSMO Mobile.

Gesture mode is for taking selfies and photos like that, with the Osmo Mobile you would just use the Osmo base or tripod and set the Osmo to take a photo at 2, 5, or 10 second countdown.

theflyingtinman Posted at 2017-1-23 09:48
Good to know.  If that is really DJI's policy then have just lost a potential drone customer.
I've had a 'pre-order' for a Mavic Pro in place with Amazon since they were announced  last year. The Mavic was to be my first drone.  I've watched the delivery date get pushed back from October, to November, to January, to February....  Last week I saw a notification from DJI saying I could buy a Mavic Pro direct from DJI and have it shipped within 5 days.  I thought I'd wait for Amazon to ship as I have Amazon Prime, I like Amazon's service and it was due to ship in less than a month, or so I thought. Then I saw DJI's press release that they are going to fulfill all direct orders, even new ones, before releasing stock to 3rd party vendors and immediately Amazon had to push out their shipping date  yet again, this time to March 20!  
My opinion of DJI really took a dive when I saw what they were doing to vendors like Amazon and their customers who had patiently waited for long-standing pre-orders to be fulfilled despite an unprecedented run of incremental shipping delays.

Its something I have noticed through out the years, it makes sense as a marketing strategy I don't blame them for that; every company  has its own marketing strategy. Be it a house cleaner which always happens to have a "new formula" that cleans even better than the rest, or a device that has new features.
Its sad to hear that about the Mavic. It really is an awesome drone its just so portable! :3 I would have ordered directly from dji and cancelled the amazon order, because I wouldn't be able to wait. Hope it comes sooner! ;)

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-23 10:38
Gesture mode is for taking selfies and photos like that, with the Osmo Mobile you would just use the Osmo base or tripod and set the Osmo to take a photo at 2, 5, or 10 second countdown.

I'm sure that a gesture for Active Follow could be devised also though which would be great for the Osmo and make it simpler to use as a lone operator.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-23 10:38
Gesture mode is for taking selfies and photos like that, with the Osmo Mobile you would just use the Osmo base or tripod and set the Osmo to take a photo at 2, 5, or 10 second countdown.

Is that not missing a trick though... ?  Surely there's a massive market at the moment in the home vlogger who chooses to sit at a desk or move around whilst talking to the camera.  Giving the user the opportunity to use the full resolution of the rear facing camera with some form of gesture control, maybe even utilizing the use of the flash as an indication of confirmation, would be a great tool to add to the app ?

alphacrust Posted at 2017-1-28 14:26
Is that not missing a trick though... ?  Surely there's a massive market at the moment in the home vlogger who chooses to sit at a desk or move around whilst talking to the camera.  Giving the user the opportunity to use the full resolution of the rear facing camera with some form of gesture control, maybe even utilizing the use of the flash as an indication of confirmation, would be a great tool to add to the app ?

I'm sure as time goes on, features will be added.
I'd rather have the front facing camera used. Maybe a few second delay in Active Track to give you time to walk in front of the camera then it will track you.
If you want to use the rear facing camera, you can pretty much do a self Active Track anyways.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-23 10:38
Gesture mode is for taking selfies and photos like that, with the Osmo Mobile you would just use the Osmo base or tripod and set the Osmo to take a photo at 2, 5, or 10 second countdown.

DJI Ken, In my follow up post, I explained that implementation of gesture control would be *very* useful  for far more than taking selfies. It would be great for starting active tracking  in situations where it is very difficult, if not impossible impossible draw the 'tracking box' when you want it to start tracking. Two sports I engage in where I would use that are paragliding and stand-up paddle-boarding. I haven't tried using yet for paragliding yet but without even trying I often hike up to launch alone and I know it is going to be impossible draw the 'tracking box' before launching and still have the OSMO (mounted on a tripod) track me while flying. It's not something I would do a lot - only when I know I will be able to land nearby to recover the osmo and phone, but it would be nicer to be able to do it when I get the opportunity. Paddle-boarding is a different story. I do that most weekends off the slip where my live-aboard boat is docked, and the last couple of times I tried to track a paddle-boarding session (OSMO on tripod on the dock) I could NOT get tracking started while out of the water, then have it keep tracking once I was in the water and on the board. It would stop tracking as I got onto the board and start paddling and never resume tracking. Trying to start tracking while already on the board nearly resulted in my knocking the tripod over and losing my OSMO and phone in the water!  Even after I tied down the tripod it took five or six tries to draw the tracking box on screen and have it actually start tracking. And of course I would only realize that it was not tracking when I paddled away and the OSMO did not turn to follow, so I would have to paddle back and try again.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who engages in solo activities that we would like to track with our OSMO Mobiles, but just find it too much hassle without gesture control  to initiate tracking,  a feature that is already available in the Mavic release of DJI Go,

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-28 18:27
I'm sure as time goes on, features will be added.
I'd rather have the front facing camera used. Maybe a few second delay in Active Track to give you time to walk in front of the camera then it will track you.
If you want to use the rear facing camera, you can pretty much do a self Active Track anyways.

Could you explain this in more detail. I feel like I am missing something.

The way I understand it, active track requires you to draw a box around the thing you want to track. How would a delay help with that? If you aren't in front of the camera when you draw the box, the few seconds to get there won't help.

How can you do a self active track with the rear camera? (aside from reaching around and guessing)?

jrm11 Posted at 2017-2-6 20:48
Could you explain this in more detail. I feel like I am missing something.

The way I understand it, active track requires you to draw a box around the thing you want to track. How would a delay help with that? If you aren't in front of the camera when you draw the box, the few seconds to get there won't help.

You don't have to draw a box, you can tap on the subject and it will track that object. If you can't get a lock on it, then you can draw a box around the subject.
A delay would work if you wanted to be a park of the subject I guess.

You can self track by switching the camera to the rear camera then you can track yourself.
Since you'd be so close, you have it track your face when walk back (with the Osmo in it's base or tripod) then it will track you as you move around.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-6 21:14
You don't have to draw a box, you can tap on the subject and it will track that object. If you can't get a lock on it, then you can draw a box around the subject.
A delay would work if you wanted to be a park of the subject I guess.

Thanks for responding. That is exactly what I tried, when paddle-boarding, but I had only the very limited success I described above. I'll keep trying, but also keep hoping for the DIJI Go 4's gesture-initiated tracking to be ported into the DJO Go app for OSMO Mobile ;)  
Hey, in my day job I am a mobile video engineer at Adobe; if you give me access to the JDI Go and DJi Go 4 code repositories I'll do it for you ;)  

DJI, we are all waiting for the gesture mode for the Osmo mobile!!!

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-6 21:14
You don't have to draw a box, you can tap on the subject and it will track that object. If you can't get a lock on it, then you can draw a box around the subject.
A delay would work if you wanted to be a park of the subject I guess.

Nice to know about the tap. My confusion was regarding this:

"Maybe a few second delay in Active Track to give you time to walk in front of the camera then it will track you."

The "problem" with Active Track is that, when using the rear facing camera, you cannot see yourself (the subject) to draw the box (or tap). I was insure how a delay could resolve that dilemma. You can't tap on yourself when behind the camera, and you can see yourself to tap when you are in front of the camera.

jrm11 Posted at 2017-2-9 09:23
Nice to know about the tap. My confusion was regarding this:

"Maybe a few second delay in Active Track to give you time to walk in front of the camera then it will track you."

But you can see yourself when using the rear facing camera. Your face is right there on the screen and then you tap your face and walk back and it will track you around. It's works great.

Agreed, this should be implemented ASAP - please forward this thread the devs Ken - Thanks

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-9 09:44
But you can see yourself when using the rear facing camera. Your face is right there on the screen and then you tap your face and walk back and it will track you around. It's works great.

I see where the confusion lies. I consider the rear facing camera the one on the rear of the phone. The one on the front is the front facing (selfie) camera. I'm pretty sure that is industry standard terminology.

Obviously, you can see yourself on the screen with, what I consider, the front facing camera.

Regardless of the terminology, I don't see why you would need a few second delay to walk in front of that camera... you are already in front of it when you tap your face on the screen.

No big deal. Just an odd choice of words (IMO).

What it comes down to is this... If there was a way to simplify the use of Active Track when using the camera on the rear of the phone (opposite from the screen side), that would be a great feature.

jrm11 Posted at 2017-2-9 20:41
I see where the confusion lies. I consider the rear facing camera the one on the rear of the phone. The one on the front is the front facing (selfie) camera. I'm pretty sure that is industry standard terminology.

Obviously, you can see yourself on the screen with, what I consider, the front facing camera.

Yes, sorry. I meant front facing camera.
And there is no way to track yourself with the front facing camera.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-10 07:34
Yes, sorry. I meant front facing camera.
And there is no way to track yourself with the front facing camera.

So if we are using the rear camera, how do we tap our face to active track when we can't see the screen? I've tried randomly tapping, but this doesn't seem to work that well as I get away from the camera again. Again I think the gestures will be a great addition to the Osmo Mobile that many of your users would really appreciate.

growthpang Posted at 2017-2-20 07:30
So if we are using the rear camera, how do we tap our face to active track when we can't see the screen? I've tried randomly tapping, but this doesn't seem to work that well as I get away from the camera again. Again I think the gestures will be a great addition to the Osmo Mobile that many of your users would really appreciate.

You would have to use the front camera, or the rear one and starting with a mirror in front of you so you can see where you are tapping.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-20 07:38
You would have to use the front camera, or the rear one and starting with a mirror in front of you so you can see where you are tapping.

Hi Ken,
Thanks for the suggestion, I've tried the mirror thing before, but it's a bit hard to do in the field. I guess will just have to wait until the software is upgraded to support gestures.

growthpang Posted at 2017-2-22 19:41
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the suggestion, I've tried the mirror thing before, but it's a bit hard to do in the field. I guess will just have to wait until the software is upgraded to support gestures.

No problem.