Hammer Missions: 3D Building Outline Tutorial
- Hammer Missions
- Apr 8
- 3 min read
Overview
Here at Hammer Missions, we have created the perfect workflow within Hammer Hub for you to generate a 3D building outline whilst onsite. Which then allows you to generate the flight mission based upon an accurate and most recent visualisation of the building. Using this method you can reduce the risk of discrepancies that can occur when planning missions remotely!
In this tutorial, we will look at how you can use the Building Outline feature in Hammer Hub to assist your workflows by defining the outline of a structure you want to survey or inspect.
This workflow is useful when online maps do not yet have information about the structure you want to inspect (e.g. newly erected structures) or when you wish to ensure that your flight missions are based on the most accurate and current information available. It is also very useful to inspect vertically maintaining the correct horizontal distance from the building or structure.
Note: The Building Outline functionality is available to Hammer Missions' Customers subscribed to our Cruise and Enterprise plans. Contact us for more information about our available plans.
Workflow (Initial Manual Flight)
The way this method works is that the Hammer Missions app allows you to mark the building or structure in question with the drone and them automatically generate a flight path around it!
As you will be flying your drone manually (using the RC stick controls) we recommend that you are fully familiar with flying the drone manually. The flight route you will use, will follow a path that lets you place a 'marker' at each corner or point around the building - in order to define the building outline.
Once you are at the location where you will create your building outline, we recommend that you check for hazards along the entire route that you will fly, (in order to mark the outline of your building/structure).
Ensure that no DJI Apps are running (use Force Stop to close DJI Apps) and launch the Hammer Missions App.
Power on your drone and ensure everything is normal.
In the Hammer Missions App, select the Building Outline icon from the panel on the right
Manually launch your drone, and position it at the first location that you want to define along the edge or corner of the building. Point the camera down (-90 degrees) as necessary to check your positioning.
In Hammer Missions click the icon shown below, to indicate you are ready to define your first point
With the drone in the correct position, press the C2 button on the back of your RC to mark your first position. Alternatively, you can also simply tap the white banner on the screen.
You will see a confirmation message indicating that this point has been recorded, Now fly the drone to the next point and repeat the step above.
Continue this process until you have marked all of the external points to define the building outline. (you need to define at least 4 points)
Once you have at least 4 points marked, the "Done" option will appear, which allows you to indicate that you have finished marking the building outline.
After clicking Done, a 3D model of the building will automatically appear!
At this point we recommend landing your drone and powering it off
If you now click on the 3D building's cog icon, you can select a suitable flight mission to fly and capture image data
Click on "Auto Plan Mission" to select an appropriate flight mission type
Once you have selected your Flight Mission, the flight plan will appear on screen as normal and from this view you can click on the Flight Mission's cog icon to adjust the parameters.
Once you have modified the flight mission parameters, you simply click 'Done' and you are ready to start capturing!
Summary
In this post, we looked at how to use the Building Outline function onsite, in order to define the boundaries of a building and generate a suitable flight plan in Hammer Missions.
If you'd like to learn more about how to capture high-quality data and get the most out of your drone flights using our cloud-based platform, please feel free to visit our learning resources.
