Launchpad
Last updated
Last updated
A launchpad is the core object that used to design a drone show. Launchpads are drone containers and represent the starting positions of those drones in the show. Unlike other objects, launchpads must be located on the ground and have a locked y position component. Launchpads include a drone control channel that exposes functionality for launching drones, tracking scene shapes, and returning the drones to their landing positions.
The drone count field can be used to adjust the total number of drones in the launchpad. The drone count can be changed at any time and will propogate through the show design. The drone count is also automatically capped based on the formation shapes and the max number of drones that can be safely placed in that formation to maintain launchpad density.
A pool of shapes are available
Grid
Circle
Rectangle
Polygon
Arbitrary
The launchpad provides information about the distance between the closest two drone launch positions. This simplifies adjusting parameters to reach a desired density. In the case where spacing is too low to safely launch, an error message is shown and the render fails to run. As spacing is manipulated, the launch event will automatically adjust and scale in length to accomodate the additional or reduced time involed in safely launching the drones.
Optionally, an overflow shape can be defined on a launchpad. In the case where a targeted shape does not have enough available slots to place the drones, excess drones are automatically moved into the overflow shape.
Each launchpad also exposes parameters that can be used to configure the contained drone type and attached payloads. By default, a drone is assumed to be equipped with an standard RGBW LED. This section becomes important when configuring a show for using pyro or enabling yaw control.
