Advice on keeping within my package limitations

Hi,

Prior to subscribing, I’d been using my Phantom 4 to create some maps and 3D models, I’d upload them and pretty much all went well, they’d process on your systems in an ‘amount of time’ and then I’d export them to my site or for the 3D models to Sketchfab and then link in to my site.

I’ve since purchased a DJI M210 and have an X5s camera and went out for two days to see how well that would perform and check the quality of my maps etc. I understood the amount of pictures per project limit but not the 3GB size limit. My background is in IT, IT service provision and completely understand you guys aren’t Amazon Web Services offering pretty much unlimited storage and also understand that you also have limits on the processing power each client can consume on your servers etc.

I’d like to, ‘have to’ live within your service offering so really it’s advice on how to get the most detail for say a 3D model but not have huge GB’s of images and shoot myself in the foot by then having to revisit a location and redo what I’ve just done.

Not knowing the 3GB limit, I really went to town on the settings in your app, 90% overlap, 3D model enabled, then tried crosshatched and structure modes…ending up with three projects, these came out at around 2.5GB, 5GB and I think 7GB. From my side of the fence, it’s actually still uploading them to your servers, the message your system said was that I was above the 3GB limit but could continue but the quality may be reduced but I thought I’d leave it running anyway but for me, and this is nothing to do with you guys, but I think the broadband provider I’m using will be sending me a message soon wondering what the heck I’m up too.

So really it’s help i’m after and if you have some ball park settings I could be using to get the best quality 3D maps but at the smallest size that works for my side and also stays within your limits. The maps I’m trying to create right now are for promotion of my service hence wanting the best quality I could get but maybe I need to reduce my expectations and be able to clearly set expectations with clients as to the output they will receive.

Loving the software and your site by the way so keep up the good work and any advice would be much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Ken

Hi Ken,

Thanks for reaching out to us on the Forum! It’s perfectly understandable that you want to make sure your flight settings do not exceed any limitations on your plan. You might be happy to know that we created an app called Flight Plan Data & Processing Estimates that does just that.

This is free to install and it will supplement DroneDeploy’s core flight planning app. You’ll get an estimated number of photos, SD card storage space required and processing time while you are planning missions. It’s dynamic so you know what to expect whenever you increase/decrease your altitude, sidelap, and frontlap. Please give it a try and let us know what you think.

Happy flying!

Cheers,
Stephanie

Thanks Stephanie,

I’ll give that a go to understand what the estimations will be.

I kinda needed more specific settings for 3D mapping, overlap suggestions, hight, speed etc to get the best ratio of quality and size of my plans so you guys can process them and also it doesn’t take me 4 days to upload them.

I’ve had a look at the 3D model guide on your site, seems to indicate that some manual flying gives the best results, I was hoping to go the full automation route but it’s not a problem, I’m happy to try all types so I’ll see how I go over the next few days of testing.

Best Regards,

Ken

Hi Ken,

I see. Your flight parameters are dependent on the subject matter (i.e. if you are flying a field versus a rooftop) so it would be hard to recommend specific settings for you. Have you visited our guide to Making Successful Maps yet? We do provide best practices and techniques to optimize map processing.

In general, I would recommend 70/75 or 75/75 overlap settings and a flight altitude of at least 150-200 ft. I also highly suggest flying with our 3D Mode if you have a newer DJI drone. It automatically captures oblique images that will create a crisper, more detailed 3D model.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Stephanie