Issues with getting it to follow another object

[justDee]

I've been trying to find a good YouTube video that explains, in English, how to get the Anafi to lock onto another moving person/object but I haven't found one yet that explains it very well in detail. I've been trying on my own, and have a hard copy of the manual, but either I am messing up or my Anafi is?
When I go to SmartDronies, I have orbit, parabola, dolly zoom, and boomerang as options. So I don't think that is it? Follow me will only follow me with the controller. It gives me an error stating the controller can't get a GPS lock.
When I select SmartDronies and draw a box around something, something moving, it will lock on but not follow, like cameraman.
And I can't find a good explanation of track, lock, and dynamic?
Any thoughts/suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

Using an iPhone XS

Thanks

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Anafi has no function "follow another object".

 

[Webvan]

Cameraman and flying manually would likely be the way to go.
DJI drones can follow any target...but will easily lose you in FollowMe mode as they don't use GPS, unlike the Anafi ;-)

 

[justDee]

I watched a video by Dustin Dunhill and I could have sworn he drew the box around his daughter on a hover board and the Anafi followed her around the park?
I know, and I may have to retest, but in SmartDronies, I could draw a box around my daughter as she walked her dog and the camera followed her but the drone did not actually follow her other than spinning on its axis.
And in FollowMe, is the Anafi locking onto me or the controller? And what is lock, track, and dynamic? I don't see the point of drawing the box around an object, (me), if it is actually tracking the controller. Does that make sense?
I'll use a baseball diamond for my example: If I'm on home plate, the Anafi is hovering at 30' above the pitchers mound, and my daughter is on second base. I can pivot the Anafi around to face my daughter, draw a box around her, but the Anafi will automatically spin back around and face me and attempt to lock on to me. It will keep drawing boxes in and around me on objects and that would indicate to me that it's trying to lock on the controller. Even if I start off on home plate, pivot the Anafi towards second base, then I walk to third base, then draw a box around my daughter on second again, the Anafi will pivot towards third base, not home plate where I was located, and again attempt to lock onto me, or actually the controller.
I could be wrong and I will test more. Sure was under the impression you could draw a box around a target and the Anafi would follow it. A disappointment on my part for that misunderstanding.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Perhaps Dustin Dunhill puts his smartphone into one of his daughter's pockets... .

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I seem to remember a cameraman option that would follow in one direction back or forth. I really never used it but I think and could be wrong that they did away with it on one of the last few updates. In the manual they have a statement that to me is kind of confusing but may produce what you want to do to point.

"When you release the commands in the Cameraman mode, keeps following the target, if it is moving. If the target is immobile, stops and stays focused on it.
To end the following of your target, tap the red “STOP” box at the center of the top bar of the HUD."

If I am reading this right I would say you need to use the sticks to start it off and if you let them go it continues on in the direction it was traveling keeping the subject in view until you hit stop.

Could it be that simple ?

 

[justDee]

Perhaps Dustin Dunhill puts his smartphone into one of his daughter's pockets... .

LOL Maybe so...

 

[MrDosa]

There are 3 options in Follow Me mode.

Track: Locking onto a subject and following it. The drone will move on the X and Y directions (left, right, forward and backwards), and rotate itself around the Z axis to keep you in the frame. It'll not move on the Z axis (up and down), but you can change the altitude manually on the controller.

Lock: Works like Track, but now the drone will not rotate itself to keep you in the frame. It'll only move on the X and Y axis to achieve a more fixed perspective effect.
As in Track, you can change the altitude manually here as well.
You might be able to change the rotation of the drone manually once the Lock is engaged, but I haven't checked that yet.
(I'm not sure if the drone is not rotating at all, or only very slightly, to allow some time for the drone to catch up)

Dynamic: Works like Track too, but the drone keeps orbiting around the followed subject. Once again, you can change the altitude and probably the distance from the subject manually.
Be advised, that you really need a huge space to use this mode.

 

[C. Mudgeon]

I had a similar experience: I executed a “Follow Me” orbit, then I tried to do a Cameraman shot, but after optically framing the new subject, the drone would rotate back to me, the subject of the previous shot.

I let the Anafi hover and unplugged the wire from my iPhone XS and swiped the app from memory. When I plugged it back in, the app re-initialized and I was able successfully shoot in Cameraman mode.

I’ve also had to invoke this procedure when the gimbal stayed locked in position after a POI dronie.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

The video of Dustin & his daughter was back in July 2018. Back then it was possible to track someone else. Like I said before I think they did away with that option in one of the updates. If you start watching Dustins video around 10:45 he starts his tests on cameraman and follow me modes. I'm guessing with all the options Parrot has added something had to be deleted from the firmware\software.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

In Follow-Me mode Anafi behaves also with the actual software like shown in that video:
The pilot (with a smartphone with GPS) is focussed and will be followed.
Another subject (like the daughter) can be focussed optically and will be followed as well if it stays near to the pilot, because GPS is not able to distinguish between the 2 subjects (pilot father and daughter/Anafi).
If the daughter drives further away from the pilot, then at a certain point Anafi will leave the optical tracking of the daughter and turn to the pilot. This will be the case, as soon as GPS positions of drone (near daughter) and pilot are recognized as TWO different positions.
The follow-me mode is therefore not a real "follow another object" function.

 

[justDee]

Some great information here and I sure appreciate the input. I will practice more, if I can talk my daughter into being my test subject again. LOL

Why do you think I am getting the error message about the controller not receiving GPS?

 

[justDee]

Pretty nice work and I'll print it out and keep it with me.
I still have a lot of testing to do myself before my trip in September.

 

[justDee]

There are 3 options in Follow Me mode.

Track: Locking onto a subject and following it. The drone will move on the X and Y directions (left, right, forward and backwards), and rotate itself around the Z axis to keep you in the frame. It'll not move on the Z axis (up and down), but you can change the altitude manually on the controller.

Lock: Works like Track, but now the drone will not rotate itself to keep you in the frame. It'll only move on the X and Y axis to achieve a more fixed perspective effect.
As in Track, you can change the altitude manually here as well.
You might be able to change the rotation of the drone manually once the Lock is engaged, but I haven't checked that yet.
(I'm not sure if the drone is not rotating at all, or only very slightly, to allow some time for the drone to catch up)

Dynamic: Works like Track too, but the drone keeps orbiting around the followed subject. Once again, you can change the altitude and probably the distance from the subject manually.
Be advised, that you really need a huge space to use this mode.

Thanks for this explanation, I have printed it out to keep handy.

 

[Rocky the FS]

....
Dynamic: Works like Track too, but the drone keeps orbiting around the followed subject. Once again, you can change the altitude and probably the distance from the subject manually.
Be advised, that you really need a huge space to use this mode.

This is not what I experienced. The drone stayed behind me, not orbiting, but it did move around considerably, needing at least 70 feet on either side of the road I was riding down. It tends to cut the corners or swing wide, definitely not the mode for following you on a wooded lane!

I was operating solely from the smartphone which I then placed in my pocket, no controller used. As you can see, I'm contrasted well with the background and not very far away, maybe 100 feet. In other follow me attempts, I was a much smaller target and experienced loss of subject. I believe the drone will not follow a subject that is not carrying the smartphone.

As a comment on Locked mode, I think of it as heading lock. If you set the drone up as in the video and came to a 90 degree corner and turned left, the drone would now be 90 degrees to your left and the same distance away, flying sideways....also not good if there are any obstacles!

 

[justDee]

This is not what I experienced. The drone stayed behind me, not orbiting, but it did move around considerably, needing at least 70 feet on either side of the road I was riding down. It tends to cut the corners or swing wide, definitely not the mode for following you on a wooded lane!

I was operating solely from the smartphone which I then placed in my pocket, no controller used. As you can see, I'm contrasted well with the background and not very far away, maybe 100 feet. In other follow me attempts, I was a much smaller target and experienced loss of subject. I believe the drone will not follow a subject that is not carrying the smartphone.

As a comment on Locked mode, I think of it as heading lock. If you set the drone up as in the video and came to a 90 degree corner and turned left, the drone would now be 90 degrees to your left and the same distance away, flying sideways....also not good if there are any obstacles!

I wonder if it will orbit a slower moving object, say a person walking? It can only go so fast, so maybe a motorcycle or car moving in a straight line, the drone can't go fast enough to orbit? Just a thought and I haven't had the opportunity to get out and test this myself, but I intend to do so as soon as I can. Thanks for the input and the video

 

[MrDosa]

Yeah, I was walking when I tried, maybe that could be it.

 

[Rocky the FS]

Here's a video in dynamic follow me mode while the subject is walking. The effect is quite different from what my video showed.

I think the dynamic mode will produce rather different effects depending on the speed of the subject, the amount of turning in degrees, reversal of direction by the subject, and so on.

The basic point is well taken.....you need quite a lot of room and you had better be well above any obstructions!

 

[jmbsmt63]

Some great information here and I sure appreciate the input. I will practice more, if I can talk my daughter into being my test subject again. LOL

Why do you think I am getting the error message about the controller not receiving GPS?

The controller itself does not have a GPS capability, it gets that information from your device/phone so if your device does not have GPS or the signal is blocked, it will show as the controller not having a signal

 

[justDee]

Here's a video in dynamic follow me mode while the subject is walking. The effect is quite different from what my video showed.

I think the dynamic mode will produce rather different effects depending on the speed of the subject, the amount of turning in degrees, reversal of direction by the subject, and so on.

The basic point is well taken.....you need quite a lot of room and you had better be well above any obstructions!

That's very interesting to watch. It really doesn't have a set pattern. Great video.