The pictures in the above graphic are screenshots from a video (available for viewing below) taken from a radio-controlled model plane.
My hunch is that your immediate response is that the scenery is pleasant enough but taking pictures with a camera mounted on a model airplane is hardly novel and certainly not impressive.
Fair enough. Now, consider the perspective from which these particular shots were taken. Picture yourself as the pilot. In the upper left scene, you’re looking over the instrument panel while banking gradually, easing into a left turn. Got that? OK, in the upper right frame, you’re glancing to your right, looking at the countryside below and beyond your right wing, the blue tip of which is visible on the far side of the picture. In the lower left quadrant, you’re making a hard left bank as you look over the cowl of the plane. And, perhaps feeling bored with such routine maneuvers, you, in the lower right view, are in the midst of executing a roll, which explains your inverted state.
So, how was the camera controlled to shoot a video that included these scenes, given that
- Only one camera was used
- The camera could rotate but was otherwise stationary
- The video was shot continuously; i.e., the final video from which these shots were taken wasn’t the result of editing hundreds of hours of video and then splicing together disparate segments
- The camera was not directed automatically; i.e., it wasn’t programmed to move in a specified or random pattern or in response to the movements of the plane
- The camera work is too smooth, as will be obvious on viewing the video, to have been shot by someone on the ground directing the camera reactively (for example, by using a remote control joystick)
- And, no teeny-tiny people, robots, or trained animals were in the model airplane running the camera
The Plane
This specific video was shot from this radio-controlled model plane. I’ve circled the camera mounted behind the cockpit.
The Pilot-Camera Man
This is the French hobbyist who built and flew the plane and who did the filming. Those goggles he’s wearing receive a live video feed from the plane’s camera.
Those goggles also have a gyroscopically determined linkage to the camera which causes the camera to turn in concert with motion of the pilot’s head. (This is demonstrated in the video.)
Consequently, the camera mounted on the plane records precisely what the pilot sees as he naturally and automatically orients himself to guide the flight, which explains why the video from which the pictures at the top of this post were taken and which is available for viewing via a link below looks like - well, it looks like what a pilot would see during a flight. The only unusual element is that the pilot is standing on the ground while his plane is soaring overhead.
Très cool, eh?
Really Virtual Reality
When I watched the video(s) I felt as though I were in the plane’s cockpit. Providing more dramatic evidence of the realism of this experience, one forum site includes several attestations to motion sickness being provoked by viewing the video.1
And, it is especially impressive that, while the builder is clearly an accomplished hobbyist, he is not, if I am reading the posts correctly, an aeronautical engineer or an inventive genius. Most, if not all, the equipment used is readily available and its cost is estimated to total $1500-20000.2
Accolades from me, radio-control vehicle freaks, generic net geeks, and those who tolerate us notwithstanding, the builder-pilot-cameraman-producer probably does not receive the appreciation he deserves because his accomplishment competes with a perception that this kind of thing is commonplace. Predictions of virtual reality experiences that are indistinguishable from the real thing have been in the press for at least the past five to ten years, and the tricked out special effects of movies have caused amazement-fatigue for those of us in the audience as well as convincing us that one can buy a carton of Virtual Reality Video Enhancer at the local camera shop. Finally, at least the American population has been exposed to mutiple newscasts featuring military propaganda films demonstrating camera controlled smart bombs and drones, which, although no more impressive in performance and exponentially more expensive than this video, reinforce the idea that this is run of mill stuff.
It isn’t.
The Videos
Embedded Video Players for the video discussed above and similar videos can be found at
~The Media Page For Virtual Vertical Video Virtuosity~
The links below go to the Google Video site that contains these videos:
~Flying Over The Bromont Golf Club (Video Referenced Above)~
~The Same Video Set-up On A Radio-Controlled Car~
~An Earlier Aerial Video Take From A Funtana Model~
Several other videos of this sort are listed by the same hobbyist, who also discusses and displays photos of his equipment, at
~RC-Cam: R/C Model Video & Projects~
Footnotes
- One alternative explanation, admittedly, is the possibility that the nausea was triggered by the musical accompaniment (The Enterprise Theme from Star Trek, I believe) which has not proven to be to everyone’s taste.↩
- The information in this specific paragraph should be read as my best guess based on what I gleaned from reading posts on forums written by individuals who may or may not be knowledgable or reliable, some of whom are not adept at English — although their fractured English is superior to my nonexistent French. Caveat emptor.↩
