The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

June 10, 2011 1:43 PM

Flying dreamlike around Venice Beach
posted by BeerFilter (39 comments total)

OK, that was just lovely.
posted by davebush at 1:53 PM on June 10, 2011

"getting high in Venice Beach"
posted by growabrain at 2:00 PM on June 10, 2011

Venice Beach, eh? See, my inclination would be to fly that as fast as I could, about 5 feet off the ground down the middle of the sidewalk, on a busy day, while playing flight of the valkyrie, with a little machine gun mounted on the front.
posted by tomswift at 2:03 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

That was pretty awesome. How do I make/buy one of these things with a camera so I can record all sorts of places I visit?!?!

Serious question.
posted by hal_c_on at 2:04 PM on June 10, 2011

Very nice stuff. The POV RC stuff fascinates me, mostly because I'm way too chicken to invest money in gear like that for fear that I would completely crater it at some point.
posted by jquinby at 2:06 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

That's a quad-rotor copter with live HD feed, very stabilized. I'd guess something along the lines of what my friends at Aeryon Labs put together -- for surveillance and remote inspection. Of course you could build one or assemble one out of a quadrotor kit and some video gear but it would take some effort. And cost less than $40K.
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:11 PM on June 10, 2011

Where are the crosshairs?

Nice, dreamy footage, but I can't help but think of the urban skies of 2025 dotted with the inevitable VigilanceBots and HeliCams.
posted by darth_tedious at 2:11 PM on June 10, 2011

Here's the stabilizer.
posted by MtDewd at 2:18 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

I know the "Beach" is in the post title, but I was hoping to see some canal action.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:27 PM on June 10, 2011

Here's the stabilizer.

Here's the camera.

$270. Usually marketed to surfers.
posted by 3.2.3 at 2:32 PM on June 10, 2011

Wow, that actually manages to make Venice Beach look beautiful. Instead of, you know, grimy. Where's that old dancing lady in the silver bikini?
posted by something something at 2:33 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

What's nifty is to look at his channel and see his progression of years of work.

I thought the video was a rendering at first, and I realized it's because the motion seems so unnatural. I wonder if camera movement has just as much impact on believability as the image itself.
posted by notion at 2:36 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

I wonder if camera movement has just as much impact on believability as the image itself.

It does, but when you project it onto a cinema screen you need to damp the movement down proportionately or a significant fraction of the audience develops motion sickness.
posted by anigbrowl at 2:46 PM on June 10, 2011

I dare him to put a speaker on the thing playing these sounds.
posted by straight at 2:52 PM on June 10, 2011

Where's that old dancing lady in the silver bikini?

Elton and Betty White? Sadly, Betty passed away a few years back.
posted by 2N2222 at 3:01 PM on June 10, 2011

Aw, man. I even still lived in Los Angeles in 2004 and I had no idea.
posted by something something at 3:03 PM on June 10, 2011

It's not a jetpack but it looks like RC with live video spectacles is a pretty cool substitute.
posted by bonobothegreat at 3:12 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

That was pretty awesome. How do I make/buy one of these things with a camera so I can record all sorts of places I visit?!?!

Kite Aerial Photography is something I'm just starting to get into with my kids and it's pretty similar. We looked into the RC rigs, but money got in the way. Our $7 (still) camera is on its way now and we have the kites. If it's fun and works well for you, you can move up to very expensive rigs that will produce really amazing images.

I know it's not the same thing and you need wind, but it's pretty cool stuff on its own.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 3:27 PM on June 10, 2011

I like the bit where the quadcopter flipped up the operator's beach blanket.
posted by exogenous at 3:42 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Blew me away: The guy sitting down at 2:26 is controlling the quadrotor, and if you zoom in, you can see he's wearing LCD glasses with a wire coming out of them leading to his antenna.

A similar set-up made this fly-by video of New York City by Team Blacksheep possible, except they were using an RC airplane and not a quadrotor. [Team Blacksheep happen to sell FPV (first-person video) kits]

The visual effect of quadrotors is beyond words.

If you're looking for a hassle-free, (relatively) inexpensive quadrotor that can work with your iPhone/iPad, the AR.Drone can be had for a paltry sum of $300. The AR.Drone with a GoPro attached was used to film this video at a waterpark.
posted by lemuring at 3:43 PM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]

you could build one or assemble one out of a quadrotor kit and some video gear but it would take some effort. And cost less than $40K.

your ignorance is adorable.

the quadrocopter used was a conrad quadrocopter 450. two clicks would have told you that.
posted by krautland at 3:46 PM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]

Note: The AR.Drone has it's own camera (640x480 @ 15fps)

posted by lemuring at 3:47 PM on June 10, 2011

Ok. I'm going to build and use one of these in Auckland...no joke.

I need a camera...and it seems like this is the camera I need.

What do I need to make it fly? Any old RC, or something specific? I understand that adding in a stabilizer will turn this into a $10K+ project...but what if I just have an RC with a camera attached? Can I do that?
posted by hal_c_on at 3:50 PM on June 10, 2011

Wow, that actually manages to make Venice Beach look beautiful. Instead of, you know, grimy.

Freaking tourists...
posted by hal_c_on at 3:51 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you're looking for a hassle-free, (relatively) inexpensive quadrotor that can work with your iPhone/iPad, the AR.Drone can be had for a paltry sum of $300.

SOLD!
posted by hal_c_on at 3:52 PM on June 10, 2011

The movie is missing the part where Venice Beach is a shithole and someone tries to sell you heroin
posted by Dia Nomou Nomo Apethanon at 4:41 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

If you're looking for more hassle (that is, geeky fun), there're projects like the UAVP-NG, Mikrokopter (us, de), etc. Lots of DIY development here. Previous Metafilter quadcopter threads have good links too. Fixed-wing POV is pretty cool too, but there seems to be less hacker activity in that area for some reason.

I understand that adding in a stabilizer will turn this into a $10K+ project

A pair of gyros, a pair of tiny servos, some bent metal and a µc to tie it together shouldn't cost more than $100, I think. Tiny rate-gyros are really cheap these days!
posted by hattifattener at 5:00 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Too cool. Right about at 0:06 you can see the shirtless skater between two palm trees spot the copter and point it out to his friend, who raises a first to it at about 0:16, then Mr. Skin drops into the pool.
posted by BeerFilter at 5:48 PM on June 10, 2011

and if you zoom in, you can see he's wearing LCD glasses

I knew we were already in the future, but we're deeper in than I had thought. LCD glasses are a real thing!?!?

Watching this video, I had two thoughts: It's a perfect match for that Brian Eno track, and it's the perfect thing for a Friday night when I just want to sit and watch pretty pictures. Thanks for posting this!
posted by A dead Quaker at 6:17 PM on June 10, 2011

I've wanted to have an R/C helicopter with camera before but now I *REALLY* want it :D
posted by LoudMusic at 6:18 PM on June 10, 2011

Just about anything looks nice to "Deep Blue Day" (not to take away from the cinematography or anything).
posted by Red Loop at 6:19 PM on June 10, 2011

This is what Venice would feel and sound like on a morphine drip.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:07 PM on June 10, 2011

Oooooh, dreamy. Just like how I imagined flying would feel. Lovely that. Thanks for the endorphin rushes.
posted by nickyskye at 9:05 PM on June 10, 2011

Thank you. That was awesome.

This. This is what I thought of back in 2000 or so when I first imagined a combination of mobile cameras and the web.

24 hours a day of this, all the time.

Only with the camera level.
posted by mmrtnt at 9:19 PM on June 10, 2011

This was great. For a while I've been wanting to put something like this together. My family owns in land in eastern Washington and frequently I'll go riding and there always seems to be something hiding just over the ridge or down the next draw. The other week I stumbled onto a small herd of antelope that had been recently transplanted from Nevada. A few months ago I spotted a cougar that just disappeared into the grass once he spotted me. It would be wonderful to get a bird's eye view of some of the wildlife around.
posted by the_artificer at 9:36 PM on June 10, 2011

I just found these two websites dedicated to hacking the AR.Drone. Fun stuff inside.
posted by lemuring at 1:17 AM on June 11, 2011

LCD glasses are a real thing!?!?

Totally! They even had clunky consumer ones during the abortive mid-90s VR craze.
posted by hattifattener at 2:46 PM on June 11, 2011

this is all very nice, but to get some really great footage, put a camera in a flying silver ball with a couple of prongs coming out the front! Just wait to see the expressions of mindless terror
posted by Redhush at 8:02 PM on June 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Two quadcopters playing tennis/badminton
posted by HLD at 6:49 PM on June 19, 2011