148 replies to this topic

[importon]

I read this on the rcgroups thread.  "CC does have basic camera stabilisation on the most recent release - called "accessory1", "accessory2" in the channel setting dialogue. I'd suggest you ask for support at forums.openpilot.org - they'll help you out for sure. "  Does this mean that camera stabilization is ready to go?  Is there any info out there on how to use this yet?  Thanks!

[osnwt]

Not quite yet.
Latest published firmware allows non-stabilized camera control from receiver using extra input channels and routing them through Accessory functions.
But real stabilized camera is in a branch yet, but should be merged soon. There is no published firmware for it. You can build a git branch and try it, but there is no GUI to setup, just few uavobjects. Also no support for that code since it is not completed yet.

[importon]

Thanks for the info.  Watching this thread like a hawk.

[jes1111]

I've got people asking me how to use a CC as a dedicated camera controller, i.e. mounted to the camera gimbal. As far as I can work out, there's nothing preventing this, is there? Two/(three) channels assigned in a custom mixer table to roll/pitch/(yaw). But what about the stabilisation settings? Does anyone have any suggestions/experience? I'm guessing Rate mode?

[joecnc2006]

jes1111, on 02 August 2011 - 03:06 AM, said:

I've got people asking me how to use a CC as a dedicated camera controller, i.e. mounted to the camera gimbal. As far as I can work out, there's nothing preventing this, is there? Two/(three) channels assigned in a custom mixer table to roll/pitch/(yaw). But what about the stabilisation settings? Does anyone have any suggestions/experience? I'm guessing Rate mode?

Could you try axis lock on them.

[aerialcameraman]

joecnc2006, on 02 August 2011 - 03:41 AM, said:

Could you try axis lock on them.

There are two ways to make a good camera mount imu. One is the traditional way of outputting an imu signal that is part of the FC board to servos that are working in normal mode with a pot. fixed to the axis of movement or the output final drive gear. This has limitations and I have taken this about as far as it can go with Arducopter and MK. Only with the new generation of cameras can this work to a decent standard. Those cameras need a lot of anti vibration techniques.

The other way is to have a dedicated imu that is fixed to the camera baseplate. this method allows the use of a better control system. Usually done via a separate Tx. I use a dedicated three axis stick.  The servo pots are locked up at around 1520 us and the stick commands then work like this. As you move away from the neutral position then the servos will gradually speed up and then slow down as the stick returns to the neutral position. Thus parking in a new position. It is the way in which most pro camera mount systems are operated. Typically a 4 or 5:1 gear ratio is applied

For those who want to take this to the next level then what you need is a dedicated imu 32 bit achitecture  70 hz clock speed 100 dmips with an ISZ-1215 Z axis gyro (67 deg/sec) plus a IDG-1123 (44 deg/sec) or IDG-1150 (20deg/sec) 12 bit ADC (4096 steps at the servo.) and some decent code. This may seem like overkill but not in the light of what is going on with optic flow technology. Thus .005 accuracy is theoretically possible.

Dankers this must be easily achievable with what you guys know!!! Nobody else makes this and everyone who wants to shoot decent video needs it.

Edited by aerialcameraman, 02 August 2011 - 05:55 AM.

[aerialcameraman]

jes1111, on 02 August 2011 - 03:06 AM, said:

I've got people asking me how to use a CC as a dedicated camera controller, i.e. mounted to the camera gimbal. As far as I can work out, there's nothing preventing this, is there? Two/(three) channels assigned in a custom mixer table to roll/pitch/(yaw). But what about the stabilisation settings? Does anyone have any suggestions/experience? I'm guessing Rate mode?

This has been done with a  Minsoo Kim board (aeroplane mode)   No acc. or mag. so it will drift

Edited by aerialcameraman, 02 August 2011 - 06:15 AM.

[peabody124]

jes1111, on 02 August 2011 - 03:06 AM, said:

I've got people asking me how to use a CC as a dedicated camera controller, i.e. mounted to the camera gimbal. As far as I can work out, there's nothing preventing this, is there? Two/(three) channels assigned in a custom mixer table to roll/pitch/(yaw). But what about the stabilisation settings? Does anyone have any suggestions/experience? I'm guessing Rate mode?

no you want attitude mode since you actually want it to level.  i posted a mixer table suggestion to a post by bartman yesterday.  if you get that tuned right and bolt it to the camera mount with good mechanical properties i think you'll be pleased.  actually looking at the last post by aerialcameraman if you used axis lock it would give the result he described.

[wolfes1126]

Hi,.
i ha ve a  Question about Cam Stab:
We  set  Checkmark to  en able Cam Stab on OP CC and  do Powercycle.
Tehn we set  Degree for   roll and  6  for  Tilt and  a  Degree of 60° (also  tryed   other  Numbers) ,  Apply, Save  Test and  Nothing happens.
GCS is build Sept. 6th  and matching FW  as   well.
Any Ideas  why  the Servos wont  move ?
Thanks for any INfo or Help.

[AlPackin]

wolfes1126, on 18 December 2011 - 03:24 PM, said:

Any Ideas  why  the Servos wont  move ?
Thanks for any INfo or Help.

Can you move the servos using "Test Outputs" in the Output Configuration panel?
http://wiki.openpilo...a Stabilization

[wolfes1126]

AlPackin, on 18 December 2011 - 08:10 PM, said:

Can you move the servos using "Test Outputs" in the Output Configuration panel?
http://wiki.openpilo...a+Stabilization

LOL
Thanks  for   hinting me into the  right  Direction.
Since this Guy is about   150 Miles away from  me and i didnt find any Servos to  try myself on  my  CC  we  tryed it  through Skype.
He didnt have the OUTPUT set  up,  it  was  channel  5 and  6   each on  1000 high and  1000 low....
So  today after getting your Info and Link i  had him Skype me  to his Desktop and into his GCS and  found the Problem.
Working  fine now  as  far  as we can  tell on a  "dry" Run on  his Bench.

Thanks again for the  great Help and Support.

[AlPackin]

I had a feeling

[plantone]

Hi

Can someone tell me if you can use a pitch slider on the tx to tilt the pitch servo and also use the camera stabilizer if so can someone explain how its setup or done please. This is my current set up, i am using a CC board on a Y6, i have a 8 channel RX and want to run a feed of this RX to another stand alone CC board, this board currently has only the 2 servos plugged into ch 5-6 for pitch and roll and it works great but i now want to tilt the pitch using the TX on another ch aswell. I can get the slider working in the calibration window using my slider this is also on no. 6 in the list but unsure what option to use acc 1,2 or 3.

Could i Y-lead it, the servo i want to use direct to the tx channel so the servo can get 2 command from 2 differant places, one from the ch 6 on RX programmed to be run using the pitch slider and a signal from the stand alone CC for stabilizing ???

There must be more info out there, can someone help or point me in the right direction.

Heres a link to my Y6 im talking about

http://www.youtube.c...u/5/cPhDUYGy_uA

Cheers Wayne

[osnwt]

Not sure that I understand you correctly, but...

If you have 8-ch Rx and two CC boards, one of which is used for Y6, and another one you want to use for camera stabilization and control, then you have to read this wiki page first. Then connect 1,2 or 3 of your spare Rx channels (sliders) to the 2nd CC board, and then configure inputs to control the stabilized camera as explained on the wiki page ("To control camera from spare transmitter channels"). Then your 2nd CC will stabilize the camera and at the same time control it.

Also note that in the coming firmware (not published yet) you can use just one CC board for this if you use PPM, S.Bus or DSM satellite receivers. In this case will be possible to use 4 spare inputs as outputs, so you can have 6+4 outputs total and use them for camera control.

[plantone]

HI

I have started afresh and now nothing at all  works and i cant calibrate the channels as the gcs says im missing rudd, throt, roll, etc. Im not using these as i only need one channel. How do i know which colour lead from the cc no 2 ( camera ) do i plug into the ch6 on RX. I have assigned acc 0 1 and 2  to the first 3 channels and the rest are none. then in camera stab i have ch 1 roll chan2 pitch and yaw none. i am at a loss here ????

[plantone]

Ok This is now how far i have got after spending all day at it, after reading the wiki and not getting any of it to work ie. i cannot only use input acc 0,1 &2 as the gcs tells me rx not connected and missing other channels ie flight control and rudd and throt etc. then it wont allow me to turn on roll and pitch in the camera stab screen every time i hit save these go back to none???? This is what i have so far - camera stab roll ch 5  pitch ch 6 yaw none, rc input screen from top to bottom, roll pitch, thr,yaw, acc0, acc1, flight mode, none. In my tx i have the pitch slider set to ch 6 which should be acc1 but when moved nothing happens. if i flick my ch 5 for gain then the pitch moves to its end point so i simply swapped the two single wires on ch 5-6 now i have the tx slider working the pitch servo yee ha. but wait the gyro does not work to compensate any movement but it does on the roll axis, AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHH what the hell am i missing why does the input screen ch 7 ( flight control ) operate from my tx on ch5 ??? i cant move these as remember these are already set calibrated to the cc board flying the Y6 and its own rx i need to use channel 6 as its the only one i have spare as i have osd plugged in also, i have only got this far by using a separate rx and power supply. HELP Please..

[peabody124]

The easiest way to know which channel is which is to move all of the sticks.  Some of your questions depend a bit on the firmware revision so it would help if you told us what version you are running.  If it is saying tx not connected don't even move on to camera stabilization.

However configure it to have random inputs for roll, pitch, yaw, throttle and flight mode and you should see things moving calibration.

[plantone]

The version i have is f85ae84e 20110819.

I can calibrate if i select all channels like the throt, rudd, roll, flight mode etc, then it will see the rx and connect but then i cant do as you mentioned earlier and in the wiki and select ch 1 2 and 3 in cam stab page and select acc 0 1 &2  this is a stand alone unit

[peabody124]

Well the channels you select in the camera stab page are OUTPUT channels.  For selecting the input channels this needs to be done in the UAVObjectBrowser under CameraStabSettings.Inputs.

But before that when you add the accessory channels in the input configuration, is that when you are having problems?  A screenshot of the problem might help.

[Gentle Lady]

I would like to mention an issue that I have come across. When I plug in power and the board initializes, the servos on the gimbal move and shake the frame. This also happens after arming while the gyros are zeroing. My solution may be to put a switch in line with those servos to turn them off while initializing and then to turn them on before taking flight. Maybe someone knows if there would be a way to turn off the outputs to those camera gimbal servos until the system has fully initialized. Another suggestion I have is for there to be a way to reset the level of the board before arming.