Visual Vertigo's FPV apps (FPV and 3D FPV)

[DefaultIT]

I didn't see this mentioned here yet, so I thought I'd give a heads up, based on a couple successful flights with my P3 using head tracking (!) via my iPhone 6 in a generic vr headset (homido-ish), using a $5 app called simply "FPV" by Visual Vertigo, which appears to be about a week old.

It's a little rough around the edges, but functional and kind of game changing for single-op camera control. Some things I noticed after day 1:

+ Pitch control via head tracking works as advertised, if a little slow (motion is VERY smoothed by the gimbal, which is great for commercial shots, less so for immersive FPV)

+ there' s minimal HUD showing battery status and basic telemetry that appears when you look up past horizon, and goes away otherwise. A record badge appeared when I hit the hard button on the remote...also nice

- App is crashy and specific about how it needs to be started: appears to need internet, NO DJI GO running, and must be active before the phone is connected to the controller. Once I figured all that out, I didn't have any problems with stability in use, but needed to start over when changing batteries

- There does not appear to be yaw control that I can find, which is slightly disappointing since I tried the Visual Vertigo App after seeing this video:

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I wasn't really interested in the stereo 3d feature of their more expensive app so I went with the more basic one, which may not get that feature...which would be a little bit of a bummer since it winds up being limited to the same pitch-only control already offered with Litchi (I gather...haven't used that either). Anyone had hands on the 3D FPV version?

Anyway I easily had my $5 worth of fun cruising around looking up and down, and keeping objects dead center frame without even thinking about it. Pretty awesome

 

[dmark1867]

I didn't see this mentioned here yet, so I thought I'd give a heads up, based on a couple successful flights with my P3 using head tracking (!) via my iPhone 6 in a generic vr headset (homido-ish), using a $5 app called simply "FPV" by Visual Vertigo, which appears to be about a week old.

It's a little rough around the edges, but functional and kind of game changing for single-op camera control. Some things I noticed after day 1:

+ Pitch control via head tracking works as advertised, if a little slow (motion is VERY smoothed by the gimbal, which is great for commercial shots, less so for immersive FPV)

+ there' s minimal HUD showing battery status and basic telemetry that appears when you look up past horizon, and goes away otherwise. A record badge appeared when I hit the hard button on the remote...also nice

- App is crashy and specific about how it needs to be started: appears to need internet, NO DJI GO running, and must be active before the phone is connected to the controller. Once I figured all that out, I didn't have any problems with stability in use, but needed to start over when changing batteries

- There does not appear to be yaw control that I can find, which is slightly disappointing since I tried the Visual Vertigo App after seeing this video:

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I wasn't really interested in the stereo 3d feature of their more expensive app so I went with the more basic one, which may not get that feature...which would be a little bit of a bummer since it winds up being limited to the same pitch-only control already offered with Litchi (I gather...haven't used that either). Anyone had hands on the 3D FPV version?

Anyway I easily had my $5 worth of fun cruising around looking up and down, and keeping objects dead center frame without even thinking about it. Pretty awesome

Looks like this costs $20 now?
Did you ever try fpv camera for dji?
I would love to hear a comparison
Have you noticed improvements with updates?

 

[DefaultIT]

So the one that costs $20 (This one) has 3 key differences that I can see (haven't forked over for it yet);
1. it does Stereo 3D extrapolation so you get some stereoscopic effect (despite have a non-stereo source...similar to what some 3D TVs will do)
2. it seems from one of their videos that you might be able to use head tracking to control the phantom's yaw...so you get full up/down/left/right capability
3. looks like they just introduced mode to switch between the phantom's camera and the phone's camera, so you can see from your own pov. Cool...I may have to try this now

The one I've tried (just FPV) is $7.99, does no stereoscopic effects, and has no yaw control that I can find. It hasn't been updated since my original post, and remains finicky. It can't seem to handle video dropout from the P3P and will freeze in a mpg-blocky mess, requiring me to switch to DJI Go in flight to regain video feed.
I have tried FPV camera now and there are some key differences:

FPV Camera:
• Much more stable
• Better, more comprehensive OSD showing most things you'd see from DJI Go
• Faster, adjustable Head tracking response
• Tracking seems limited at straight forward level regardless of whether the extra upward range is enabled in DJI Go or not
• Requires in-app purchase of the Goggles add-on ($7.99) for head tracking. There's currently a free 30-day trial for all add-ons when you buy the app

FPV:
• allows zoom-in such that you can fill each side (squarish, since it's half the phone screen) with the center of the video feed. Get to use more of the screen that way
• seems to be a little more graceful about easing to a stop, but this might just be a byproduct of being slow (or vice-versa)


* Also worth noting that while I'd like to try Litchi, it still seems to have no head tracking for the iOS version

 

[dmark1867]

So the one that costs $20 (This one) has 3 key differences that I can see (haven't forked over for it yet);
1. it does Stereo 3D extrapolation so you get some stereoscopic effect (despite have a non-stereo source...similar to what some 3D TVs will do)
2. it seems from one of their videos that you might be able to use head tracking to control the phantom's yaw...so you get full up/down/left/right capability
3. looks like they just introduced mode to switch between the phantom's camera and the phone's camera, so you can see from your own pov. Cool...I may have to try this now

The one I've tried (just FPV) is $7.99, does no stereoscopic effects, and has no yaw control that I can find. It hasn't been updated since my original post, and remains finicky. It can't seem to handle video dropout from the P3P and will freeze in a mpg-blocky mess, requiring me to switch to DJI Go in flight to regain video feed.
I have tried FPV camera now and there are some key differences:

FPV Camera:
• Much more stable
• Better, more comprehensive OSD showing most things you'd see from DJI Go
• Faster, adjustable Head tracking response
• Tracking seems limited at straight forward level regardless of whether the extra upward range is enabled in DJI Go or not
• Requires in-app purchase of the Goggles add-on ($7.99) for head tracking. There's currently a free 30-day trial for all add-ons when you buy the app

FPV:
• allows zoom-in such that you can fill each side (squarish, since it's half the phone screen) with the center of the video feed. Get to use more of the screen that way
• seems to be a little more graceful about easing to a stop, but this might just be a byproduct of being slow (or vice-versa)


* Also worth noting that while I'd like to try Litchi, it still seems to have no head tracking for the iOS version

Thanks for the info!

You are correct, it looks like the company Visual Vertigo has serveral different versions of the software
They also have an app called 3D VR cockpit (the company seems a little shady to me for some reason and not talked about often in the forums, at least that I can find)

If you look at the version history for FPV it just has 1.0, released Jan 15th, 2016
If you look at the version history for 3D FPV - Stereoscopic 3D VR viewing! For DJI Phantom 3 and Inspire 1
It has been updated 7 times since its initial release on Nov 20, 2015, with the latest update being on March 19th.

I emailed the company to see if there was anyway to try prior to purchasing. I have no problem spending the 20 bucks, but only if it works well.

Which vr viewer do you use?
I have this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Tepoinn®-Glas...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

I use litchi with my Nexus 7, which is to big for a vr viewer
I have an iphone 5S that I am using with my vr viewer, the litchi version of IOS does not have vr though.

I do like the idea of yaw control but wonder how well it would work.
Also do to the fact that I have an smaller phone I would like the image to fill more of the screen.
I only plan on using this when flying very very close line of site, so I would be fine with no telemetry data.

My wish list
Litchi had vr for IOS
That FPV Camera had yaw control and an option to fill the screen with no OSD data
That you could test these before buying

Thanks for the info

 

[dmark1867]

I sent FPV Camera a message about turning your head side to side for yaw control, here was there response:

Head tracking is only for camera tilting due to safety and reliability concerns.

In fact we did consider to implement aircraft yaw with head tracking in the app months ago.

As you might be aware back to early this year, another app developer found a so called critical issue (failed to RTH if signal lost during virtual joystick mode in SDK) affecting all flight modes in those app. This issue has been persisting in FW 1.6/1.7 as of today, and hope DJI will fix it in the next FW update. I'm unsure how many P3/I1 lost due to such issue. However, there is no impact to FPV Camera nor DJI GO apps since we don't use virtual joystick mode flying aircraft.

If we implemented aircraft yaw when panning iPhone with virtual joystick mode, this critical issue would impact our app. We also considered what happen if the app crash? It's always a balance between feature-rich vs. safety and reliability. It's worth to read Safety and Usability and tell your friends who also fly P3/P4/I1.



So with that said, it makes me wonder if using "3D FPV - Stereoscopic 3D VR viewing! For DJI Phantom 3 and Inspire 1" with yaw control kills the return to home functionality. If so and they are aware of it, they should definitely let the user aware. I plan on only flying very close while using VR Goggles, but it is good to know that you might not be able to depend on return to home. I also suggested to FPV Camera that they might consider adding the option to enable yaw control in there app with a strong warning message that it is only for flying close by and disables return to home.

 

[DefaultIT]

It is interesting to note the RTH disable...and I would be interested to know what conditions trigger that or its re-enable. It's not a huge concern to me, though...since VR is strictly close-range LOS as a rule. In fact, at this point i've probably used it more for spectators than anything else...pretty great "mind blow" to hand someone a headset and say "here...take a ride, and look wherever you want"

I have a $40 japanese homido/google cardboard type headset that doesn't seem to be around amazon anymore (my old order actually links to one EXACTLY like yours now) but it does have a removable panel to clear the phone's camera, which looks like it would be REALLY useful with that latest POV-toggle that 3D FPV just added.

Still haven't plunked down for 3D FPV...even though it's really not much after the $1400 package I'm flying but I do sort of wish I could upgrade from the one I bought..or at least try it. Let me know if you do

 

[dmark1867]

It is interesting to note the RTH disable...and I would be interested to know what conditions trigger that or its re-enable. It's not a huge concern to me, though...since VR is strictly close-range LOS as a rule. In fact, at this point i've probably used it more for spectators than anything else...pretty great "mind blow" to hand someone a headset and say "here...take a ride, and look wherever you want"

I have a $40 japanese homido/google cardboard type headset that doesn't seem to be around amazon anymore (my old order actually links to one EXACTLY like yours now) but it does have a removable panel to clear the phone's camera, which looks like it would be REALLY useful with that latest POV-toggle that 3D FPV just added.

Still haven't plunked down for 3D FPV...even though it's really not much after the $1400 package I'm flying but I do sort of wish I could upgrade from the one I bought..or at least try it. Let me know if you do

Well I tried out 3D FPV - Stereoscopic 3D VR viewing
And I have requested a refund as well.

As you can see the full menu is not view-able on my screen.
The side to side motion did not work for me
The 3D view only seemed to work (which was somewhat cool) when the head tracking is disabled.

Overall the app just did not seem ready for prime time.

 

[DefaultIT]

Overall the app just did not seem ready for prime time.

I was afraid of that based on similar experience with regular ol' FPV. Does it at least start up ok? It's kind of a trick to get FPV running happily

 

[dmark1867]

It started up fine and seemed pretty cool actually. I like that it can take up the full screen. I wish it was more responsive. The yawing the aircraft would be really cool, even if it could just do that when the phantom is stationary, and maybe it is something that is in the menu that I can't see?

 

[DefaultIT]

It started up fine and seemed pretty cool actually. I like that it can take up the full screen. I wish it was more responsive. The yawing the aircraft would be really cool, even if it could just do that when the phantom is stationary, and maybe it is something that is in the menu that I can't see?

Yeah, bummer about yaw control. I hope it's not a case of iOS-as-afterthought; I see android versions of these apps, which may be where they're doing the bulk of their development.

 

[dmark1867]

Yeah, bummer about yaw control. I hope it's not a case of iOS-as-afterthought; I see android versions of these apps, which may be where they're doing the bulk of their development.

Actually prior to purchasing the developer said the the yaw control only works on ios. Shame it didn't work. I have emailed the developer, I will let you know if I get any updates.

 

[dmark1867]

Okay, tried it out again and if you switch to F mode then head tracking works left right up and down and it was pretty cool!
It locks the drone into a stationary hover to do this.

 

[DefaultIT]

Ooh...that's really good to know. So no forward movement at all?

 

[dmark1867]

Ooh...that's really good to know. So no forward movement at all?

The way it works is that when you have your remote in P or A with head tilting on you can look up and down and control the drone going forward, up down, etc
But in P & A modes, only up and down head tracking work.
When you switch it to F mode you can no longer fry the drone around, it just sits there hovering,
but you can look up down left right and the drone will spin around
It actually worked pretty well for me and was pretty cool.
Also worth noting is that 3d mode looks pretty cool but as soon as you turn on head tilting it disables the 3d.
The developer said there are reasons you can't have both on at the same time but did not elaborate.
Hope that makes sense

 

[dmark1867]

another thing I like with the app vs fpv goggles is that the phone camera mode displays videos on both sides vs just one side of the screen

 

[DefaultIT]

another thing I like with the app vs fpv goggles is that the phone camera mode displays videos on both sides vs just one side of the screen

Yeah that part is pretty significant. There doesn't happen to be any control over the zoom level through the phone camera, does there?

 

[dmark1867]

Yeah that part is pretty significant. There doesn't happen to be any control over the zoom level through the phone camera, does there?

no, no zoom there that I am aware of, that would be cool if there was though, that is a good idea

 

[Sim597]

like

My goggle thing is coming today for my IPhone 6+ and I made sure it has a slider for the camera on the phone. So what's the consensus? Which one is the best on to get?
I thought I could get an app that let me split the screen on the DJI go app, that's what we all want isn't it? All the telemetry and info, and settings, and the 3D look, or at least FPV.
I don't think I care about the head tracking, if I can use remote to fly, with the gimbal on FPV, and see 3D I'd be a happy camper, I think, you guys have used it so I may be wrong.

 

[dmark1867]

My goggle thing is coming today for my IPhone 6+ and I made sure it has a slider for the camera on the phone. So what's the consensus? Which one is the best on to get?
I thought I could get an app that let me split the screen on the DJI go app, that's what we all want isn't it? All the telemetry and info, and settings, and the 3D look, or at least FPV.
I don't think I care about the head tracking, if I can use remote to fly, with the gimbal on FPV, and see 3D I'd be a happy camper, I think, you guys have used it so I may be wrong.

I have both and based on what you said, I would go with
FPV Camera for DJI (8.99, plus FPV Goggles 7.99)
FPV Camera for DJI on the App Store

 

[dmark1867]

What's New in Version 2.0
3D FPV version 2.0 is a major update with many new features and a new layout!

What's New:

- The app menu can now be accessed using only the DJI remote C1 and C2 buttons. This means you don't need to take off your head set to change settings.
- Our patented 3D conversion technology now not only converts sideways but also forward drone movement into stunning 3D!
- Added video multi screen. See your phone's camera video stream at the same time while seeing your drone's video feed.
- Toggle between main screen and miniature screen input options.
- Map viewer added. Split your screen into two; upper screen for FPV video and lower screen for a big map!
- In the map the drone icon is in 3D!
- Optional head tracking feature to increase and decrease map size.
- Ultra HDR takes 5 images with different exposures and stitches them into one HDR image.
- RAW HDR image capture option.
- Adjust photo format.
- Adjust photo image size.
- Adjust photo and video exposure.
- In-flight panorama viewer.
- Improved screen recording feature.
- Added preview mode.
- Added permanent OSD.
- Added voltage to OSD.

***Added Phantom Standard mode! This allows Phantom Standard owners to use all the updated by pressing on screen user buttons.

- Added user guide.

+ Fixed bug that kept on closing app on iPhone 5S.
+ Fixed app crashes using iOS 8.

All the above features are compatible with:

+ Phantom 4
+ Phantom 3 Standard
+ Phantom 3 Advanced
+ Phantom 3 Professional
+ Inspire 1
+ Inspire 1 Pro
+ Inspire FLIR Camera

iPhones supported:

+ iPhone 6S
+ iPhone 6S Plus
+ iPhone 6
+ iPhone 6 Plus
+ iPhone 5S
+ iPhone 5