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Simulating Professional Camera Equipment with Drones - Russian Arm
The focus of the thesis is to lay the technical foundations for simulating a Russian Arm with a drone and to develop a user interface to use it. The goal is that an expert camera operator could use a drone instead of a Russian Arm without heavily feeling the layer of abstraction. Hereby, we will mak
Smooth shots have been in crucial demand in the media and entertainment industry ever since its first days. Creating spectacular images for sporting events or action movies, however, still requires heavy camera equipment such as dollies,cranes or so-called Russian Arms (in image).
These methods are very expensive and inconvenient: Due to their size and weight, transportation is cost-intensive and the setup often requires two or more people and a lot of time.
Drones are famously known for their aerial videography capabilities. However, fIlming with drones requires very skilled drone pilots. To make drones viable as a replacement for traditional camera setups, it’s necessary to provide a system that is easy to use for camera operators - without having any drone piloting skills whatsoever.
Smooth shots have been in crucial demand in the media and entertainment industry ever since its first days. Creating spectacular images for sporting events or action movies, however, still requires heavy camera equipment such as dollies,cranes or so-called Russian Arms (in image). These methods are very expensive and inconvenient: Due to their size and weight, transportation is cost-intensive and the setup often requires two or more people and a lot of time.
Drones are famously known for their aerial videography capabilities. However, fIlming with drones requires very skilled drone pilots. To make drones viable as a replacement for traditional camera setups, it’s necessary to provide a system that is easy to use for camera operators - without having any drone piloting skills whatsoever.
The focus of the thesis is to lay the technical foundations for simulating a Russian Arm with a drone and to develop a user interface to use it. The goal is that an expert camera operator could use a drone instead of a Russian Arm without heavily feeling the layer of abstraction. Hereby, we will make us of the concept of VirtualRails. With VirtualRails one can define a fixed rail or tube in 3D space along which the drone will move (MPC based). The drone is controlled in a reference frame that is fixed.
In a first step, the student would augment the existing MPCC controller to work with a moving reference frame (= the car for a Russian Arm). This includes vision based localization of the reference frame, state estimation of the reference frame’s movement and vision based self localization within the reference frame.
In a second step, the student familiarizes himself with the control inputs of drone gimbals and develops a model for lag-free real-time camera control with the given control input possibilities. A prototype input device should be built that uses IMU data (e.g. from phone sensors) and integrates it with the control model to steer the camera.
The focus of the thesis is to lay the technical foundations for simulating a Russian Arm with a drone and to develop a user interface to use it. The goal is that an expert camera operator could use a drone instead of a Russian Arm without heavily feeling the layer of abstraction. Hereby, we will make us of the concept of VirtualRails. With VirtualRails one can define a fixed rail or tube in 3D space along which the drone will move (MPC based). The drone is controlled in a reference frame that is fixed. In a first step, the student would augment the existing MPCC controller to work with a moving reference frame (= the car for a Russian Arm). This includes vision based localization of the reference frame, state estimation of the reference frame’s movement and vision based self localization within the reference frame. In a second step, the student familiarizes himself with the control inputs of drone gimbals and develops a model for lag-free real-time camera control with the given control input possibilities. A prototype input device should be built that uses IMU data (e.g. from phone sensors) and integrates it with the control model to steer the camera.