How Curved Litchi Missions and DJI Fly Waypoint Missions Differ

Most people who have used both Litchi and DJI Fly waypoint missions know that the flight paths differ. If the same set of waypoints are used in both applications, in DJI Fly, the flight path goes through the waypoints while in Litchi, they do not.

Upon initial inspection, it appears that Litchi is using a B-Spline while DJI is using a composite Bezier curve. However, that is not the case. I know that many will not care. If you do want to know but don’t care about the details and just want the answer, Litchi is using straight lines with quadratic B-Splines (or quadratic Bezier curves) at the interior waypoints while DJI is using a Centripetal Catmull-Rom Spline.

If you are curious and want to know exactly how both Litchi and DJI are creating their flight paths, I have created a document that explains in more detail.

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that’s my favorite spline :grinning:. seriously…thanks, that was fascinating.

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The Catmull-Rom and others can be computed using their characterization matrix and matrix algebra which I think is really cool. I also like the Catmull-Rom.

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Good morning, excellent article. Even if it’s beyond my knowledge. I read it all in one go. When I have some peace of mind I will try to delve deeper and understand. Thank you, Papaseven

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