DJI Says Project Vertex Will Let You Plan Flights Using Custom 3D Location Models

Wednesday was DJI’s big Zenmuse X7 event, where DJI officially announced that they were releasing the Zenmuse X7 camera, complete with a Super 35mm sensor and 6K RAW capabilities. But the Zenmuse wasn’t the only project that DJI announced at the event. They also announced a new pre-production project called Project Vertex, which is supposed to allow users to model and pre-program their drone’s flight path in 3D.

The way the DJI described Project Vertex is that you would first go to the location that you are planning to shoot with just your drone — no other equipment — and let your drone would do an automatic ‘sight-tour,’ allowing it to scan the location. You later would upload the images your drone took to the the Vertex software and it will generate a 3D model of the location. You can then look at the 3D location model and plan your flight path accordingly. The model recreates all the location’s details like mountains, trees and roads right in front of you. During the planning, you can do things like change the focal length and program your drone’s camera movements. You can even insert moving subjects like people into the model, so you can more accurately visualize what your set would look like during the shoot. After you’re happy with your flight plan, you then upload it to your drone. After that, your drone will automatically fly exactly the way that you programed it to at the location.

Project Vertex is really exciting and full of promise. Just think about all the time, money and manpower that would be saved using a program like it.

However, keep in mind that Project Vertex is still in the very early stages of development, so we can’t tell if yet if it will operate the way the DJI says it will, but we hope it does when eventually DJI releases it.
 

Sean Berry
Sean Berry
Sean Berry is Videomaker's Managing Editor.

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