Hi all,

I am considering a Phantom 4 for filming of snowboarding and motocross. As such I would need it to "lock on" to the footage subject and safely follow them down a ski run or around a motocross track. It looks like the Phantom 4 has two options for this, the older "Follow Me" and the newer "Visual Tracking."

Follow Me is explained as if the Phantom is told to follow a mobile device and essentially follows the GPS coordinates of the mobile device using its own internal GPS as a mimic of the coordinates of the mobile device. Is that an accurate characterization?

Visual Tracking seems more like a pixel matching scenario, where the Phantom is informed of the subject through the camera lens, then tracking relies on pixel matching with that initial instruction. Accurate?

Is Visual Tracking intended to obsolete or supercede Follow Me? I can see Follow Me perhaps being more practical for situations where you would normally be carrying a mobile device (snowboarding) vs that where you would not be carrying one (motocross), but I can also see Visual Tracking being practical for both situations.

Based on the Phantom 4 manual, Obstacle Avoidance is active while using Visual Tracking. True?

Is Obstacle Avoidance also active while using Follow Me?

If Obstacle Avoidance initiates while using either of the tracking mechanisms, does it evade the obstacle then resume tracking (catch up to the tracking subject)?

Can the parameters for tracking be adjusted? For example, can I instruct the Phantom to always remain 20 feet behind the subject as per their direction of travel?

Related to the above, for motocross there might be a few times in which the rider acceleration or speed exceeds the capacities of the Phantom. Can I instruct the Phantom to drift left or right of the subject when this happens (in anticipation of whether there is a left or right turn at the end of the faster section)?

Thank you all in advance for feedback and help.

Chris

You are correct and how follow me and Activ Track works  except follow me follows the GPS enabled device that is connected to the remote control. So the only way follow me will work in your situation is if the person who is being filmed carries the remote control on their body  which is a unrealistic solution for skiing or motocross.
Your only solution is to use active track, but it probably will not be fast enough to keep up with a fast skier and for sure not a motocross rider.   If it did lose lock on them and then regained it a couple seconds later it does not speed up to catch up to the same distance it was at.

Are there future plans to add a "homing" beacon that the Phantom will track? Similar to the AirDog or Lily?

that reminds me "WERE IS MY LILY"?  its been 1 years+ i bought

Also, you need to be aware that neither Follow Me or Active Track will follow the target down a hill or up one. It will maintain a constant height throughout the whole process, so if going downhill, the target gets smaller in the frame. If going uphill, it may fly into the ground.

Geebax Posted at 2016-8-19 23:59
Also, you need to be aware that neither Follow Me or Active Track will follow the target down a hill ...

Actually active track will terrain follow below 9 meters in height, this was added in last FW and does work very well.


My only real complaint with the DJI Object Avoidance is in active track and TapFly is will not navigate around large objects and I'm not talking buildings here but even large bushes it just says Object in path and gives up.

DJI need to open it up a little for it to keep gaining height or try to go around more rather than just stop.

Mad_Angler1 Posted at 2016-8-20 10:24
Actually active track will terrain follow below 9 meters in height, this was added in last FW and  ...

Thanks, I was not aware of that latest change.

Geebax Posted at 2016-8-20 06:59
Also, you need to be aware that neither Follow Me or Active Track will follow the target down a hill ...

However it will if you use Autopilot instead of DJI Go.

roger.crawford Posted at 2016-8-20 04:18
However it will if you use Autopilot instead of DJI Go.

Hmm. Is Autopilot a third-party control application? I'm sensing a hacking/mod opportunity here.

chrison600@hotm Posted at 2016-8-20 23:46
Hmm. Is Autopilot a third-party control application? I'm sensing a hacking/mod opportunity here.

Yes. Autopilot and Litchi are the two largest third party apps to control. Litchi is cross-platform Android and IOS, Autopilot is strictly IOS at this time. That said, I believe both require DJI Go to be installed, albeit not running, so they can hook certain settings and controls via the DJI API.
https://autoflightlogic.com
https://flylitchi.com

HI I HAVE A PROBLEM IN PHANTOM 4 FOLLOW ME MODE
I USE SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 4 WHEN I SELECT FOLLOW ME OPTION AND CLICK ON APPLY FROM DJI GO APP THEN ERROR SHOW ON SCREEN THE SUBJECT IS SO FAR.
BUT I AM IN UNDER 10 METERS DISTANCE  AND ALTITUDE IS 30 METERS.

KINDLY HELP ME

HI I HAVE A PROBLEM IN PHANTOM 4 FOLLOW ME MODE
I USE SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 4 WHEN I SELECT FOLLOW ME OPTION AND CLICK ON APPLY FROM DJI GO APP THEN ERROR SHOW ON SCREEN THE SUBJECT IS SO FAR.
BUT I AM IN UNDER 10 METERS DISTANCE  AND ALTITUDE IS 30 METERS.

KINDLY HELP ME

KINDLY ANY ONE TEL ME SETTINGS OF FLIGHT MODE SWITCH, SOFTWARE  AND ALSO HEIGHT AND DISTANCE SETTING FOR FOLLOW ME MODE