Tutorials

Sometimes when shooting panorama photos, you may want to shoot several times a certain part of the scene, or even the whole scene, especially if the light changes during your photo session, or objects or people move.
Here are some ways to take extra photos when using MECHA.

Example 1 for C1 and C2 Controllers - Shooting an entire row twice.
Let us load the factory preset "FE 12mm NZ Level".
If the script field is not visible after loading a preset, select the Scripted option from this list, then you can create the script manually.
The first term in our script refers to the position of the upper rail, required when the preset is launched. For example, if the position is Level (or horizontal), make sure that the upper rail is positioned horizontally before launching the preset.
The second term is a row containing 4 shots at the tilt of 0°.
Then one nadir shot, and one zenith shot.
What we want is for this part of the preset - the row at 0-degree tilt - to be executed twice.
Therefore, this part must appear twice in the script.
Then save the preset with a different name, and launch it with either the LEFT or RIGHT button in the User Interface.
Position 1, 2, 3, 4. And once again the same row. Then the nadir shot, and the zenith shot.
Now let's see a MECHA DAC executing the same preset.
Position 1, 2, 3, 4. And once again the same row. Then the nadir shot, and the zenith shot.

Let's look at another example.
Example 2 for C1 and C2 Controllers - Shooting in step-by-step mode.
This shooting mode allows you to take any number of extra photos for each position. Here's how you can do that.
Load your preset. We will load the factory preset "FE 12mm NZ Level", as in example 1.
Before launching the preset, set MECHA to pause mode by clicking the PAUSE button.
You will note the button caption changes to NEXT.
Launch the preset as usual, by clicking the RIGHT button. Also expand the two-axis slider to see more information related to the preset execution.
Now, to go to the next position, use the NEXT button, and to take extra photos, use the SHOOT button. The regular photos of the preset are taken as usual, without any additional action on your part.
Position 2: 1 extra shot,
Position 3: 1 extra shot, and another extra shot.
Position 4: no extra shots here.
Nadir position: 1 extra shot.
And the last position in the preset - the zenith position - without extra shots.
If for some reason you want to exit the step-by-step mode, press the left arrow button on the controller instead of using NEXT, and the preset execution will continue automatically.

Example 3, mainly for C2 Controler - Extra shots when a Preset has a py script.
First of all, when creating a preset, MECHA automatically creates a script in some cases, which can be either TxN or py. TxN stands for tilt and number of positions for each tilt, and py - pitch and yaw conventions.
The advantage of a preset with a py script is that a pause in the preset execution can be used in a more flexible way. For example, the pause can be used to go to any position in the preset, or to any arbitrary position, to take extra photos, then the preset execution can be resumed.
This feature needs to be enabled either on the /config page or in C2’s Config Menu (BETA Feature OLED option).
On the /config page, find this option:
"Enable the beta features"
and make sure it is checked, then click the APPLY button.
The execution of a preset can be paused in several ways:
With the left or right button of the C1 or C2 Controller.
The center button of the C2 Controller can be used for this purpose as well.
When using the NN IR Remote, use the pause or center button.
Or use the PAUSE button in the User Interface.
Let's create a preset by specifying a focal length of 18mm. Select the Custom option from the Shots list, and enter the focal length in this field, then click OK.
Alternatively, you can create this type of preset directly using the OLED Preset Menu.
MECHA automatically creates a script, and if the script type is not py, change it to py by selecting the py option from the script type list.
When saving a preset, you should add a code from the range 021-089 to the beginning of the preset name, to be able to launch the preset from the OLED menu as well. The code indicates the position of the preset in the Preset Menu, and it would be good to make sure that that option is empty before using the code corresponding to it.
If the script type is py, the preset pauses can be automated by adding a colon before p or y in the script. Since we have not set any pause in the script, we will use the center button to pause the preset execution.

We will launch this preset from the C2's User Interface and show you how to take extra photos.
So launch the preset with the center button.
Now position the upper rail as required by the preset, using the arrow buttons or Simple Rotations. If the upper rail is already in the required position, press the center button once more to continue.
Let's pause the execution at position 4, then go to another position in our preset and take extra photos.
First we set the position where we want to go - for example 12 - using the plus button for this purpose. Use the minus button to set a lower value.
With a short, normal press of the button, the position changes by 1, and a single beep is heard. If you hear two beeps, it means that you have pressed it longer and the position changes by 2.
Then we use the left arrow button to actually reach this position.
Now we can take the extra photos we want, using the center button of the controller.
Alternatively, you can use the remote control, if you wish.
Then we can move to a temporary ZENITH position using the up arrow button.
The upper rail will rotate downwards, so that the camera is oriented upwards, as for a zenith shot. Use the center button for shots, if needed.
To move to a temporary HORIZON position, use the down arrow button.
The upper rail will rotate either up or down so that it reaches a horizontal position.
ZENITH and HORIZON are similar to Parked and Level, except that Parked and Level are unique, precise positions, while ZENITH and HORIZON are just ordinary, temporary, vertical and horizontal positions.
The menu button can be used to allow arbitrary panning, with the arrow buttons, for other extra photos, if needed. The OLED display will show "MENU".
On the virtual controller (MECHA-IP/c2), click the menu button twice, or long click this button until MENU is shown on the OLED display.
Now continuously press the arrow buttons to reach the desired position, then use the center button for extra photos.
Use the same button, menu, to exit the arbitrary panning.
The display is showing position 12, but the actual position is our arbitrary position, which we have reached with the arrow buttons.
If for some reason you need to go to position 12 without taking any photo, then use the left arrow button, as usual.
Now let's say that we have taken all the extra photos we need and we want to continue the preset execution from position 4. For this, first we will use the minus button to set position 4.
Then we can use the right arrow button to resume the preset execution without any delay.