Tutorials

Today in this video we will talk about how to control MECHA using a smartwatch that has the ability to connect wirelessly to MECHA.
You can control MECHA C2, equipped with an OLED display, and C1, with LED indicators only.

I.
But first of all we will show you how to use it as a regular watch.
Before first use we recommend that you charge your watch, and while it is charging, you can already use it.
Depending on settings, you can turn the screen on, either by tapping the screen or by pressing the watch power button.
Alternatively, long press the watch power button to turn the watch on if it is turned off.

Right after turning the screen on, adjust the brightness to the level that suits you best.
Tap the bottom right area to increase the brightness, or the bottom left area to decrease it.
All new settings are saved automatically.
You can also tap the middle of the date line to set the brightness to maximum for 1 second, useful when using the watch in bright sunlight.

Tap the top left area of the screen to display the watch menu.

Depending on how you want to wear or use the watch, you may need to rotate the watch screen. Tap "ROTATE" to rotate the watch screen 90°, and do it again if needed.

Change the date and time using the "SET DATE / TIME" option.
First tap the screen to enter edit mode, then edit the blinking digit to set the date.
Alternatively, you can tap the date part that you need to change. For example, if you need to change the year, tap the year and change it. Confirm the new settings by tapping "SET".
Then edit the time in the same way.
Let's return to the present though.
You can set the screen to turn "on" either by touching it or by pressing the watch power button.
The "BTN ON" means "press the watch power button to turn the screen on", and it alternates with "TCH ON", which means "touch the screen to turn it on". In fewer words, we could say "button ON" and "touch ON".
As long as the watch is not connected to MECHA, you can turn the screen off, both by touching it and by pressing the watch button. Now we have to tap the screen to turn it on.
If we switch to "BTN ON", we can turn the screen off as usual, but we can turn it on only with the watch power button.

"RESET" is the option that resets the watch to factory settings.
Some custom settings, such as rotation, screen startup mode, the previous battery test and the passwords, have been reset to default.

Let's switch back to "TCH ON".

The "TEST" option allows you to find out how long a single battery charge will last.
It mainly depends on the quality of the battery, the tasks the watch performs, the brightness of the screen, and how the screen is set to turn on.
Make sure the battery is fully charged before running the test.
First the result of the previous test is displayed for about 1 minute, and only after that does the battery test begin.
To prevent the test from starting, you can press the watch power button.
The battery test consists of a continuous operation until the battery is completely discharged.
At the very beginning, or after "RESET", there are no data to display.

Here is an example of battery test result that shows us that the battery can last up to 15 hours and 12 minutes when the watch is constantly showing the time with the screen brightness set to 20.
For the same battery, the stand-by time is 12 days if the screen is set to turn on when the screen is touched, and 32 days if it is set to turn on when the button is pressed.
The battery test will run up to 1 day and the watch screen will be permanently ON.
During the test you can see the time on the screen and the duration estimation.
At the end of the test, the watch will turn off automatically and you need to charge it again.
To cancel the test, access the watch menu as usual, by tapping the upper left area of the screen, then tap "STOP", which alternates with "TEST".
This concludes how to use the watch as a regular watch.
Maybe you already have a favorite smartwatch with complex functions and you use it constantly.
On the other hand (literally) you can wear this watch to control MECHA.
We will show how to use it to control MECHA in the next part.

II.
To connect the smartwatch to MECHA, tap "Enable Wi-Fi".
If more MECHAs are available, select the MECHA you want the watch to connect to.
The firmware installed on this watch uses the default password to connect to the MECHA's network. If you have changed the password, but also in some other cases, you will be prompted to enter, or to confirm, the password to be able to continue.

We will show how to install the firmware in another video.

The curved lines at the top left suggest that Wi-Fi is enabled.

MECHA C2 users can easily recognise the C2 Controller menus and buttons.
Tap the area above the buttons to switch between the flat and normal button display.

The controller's virtual buttons work just like its physical buttons.
So navigate the menus using the arrow buttons.
Navigate to the "USE NN IR or SW" option in the Config menu, and enable it if it is not already enabled.
Tap the center button to switch between the OFF and ON states.

Use the menu button to switch between the Config and Preset menus.
Now switch to the Preset menu and launch a preset with the center button, as usual.
We will launch this preset.
When "Set POSITION" is displayed on the screen, position the upper rail as required, then set the initial view for your panorama using the arrow buttons. You can even set corners if needed. If no adjustment or setting is needed, then just tap the center button again to continue.

Switch between button and text screens by tapping the top left area of the screen.
Here you can tap the center of the screen to pause the preset execution. Then tap it again to continue.
Tap the top left area again to display the time.
After the time is displayed, the watch screen turns off in a few seconds if no action is detected, but this does not affect the execution of the preset.
Tap the screen to turn it on, then tap the time to show the MECHA button screen.

The preset execution can be paused with the right button.
Then if the script type is py (pitch and yaw), the pause can be used to go back and forth to any position in the preset.

Change the position (with the plus or minus button), for example, from 13 to 15, then move to the set position with the left button.
Use the center button to take photos when needed.
You can change the position again, with the minus button, for example, from 15 to 8.
Then use the left arrow button to move to 8.

Move to a temporary ZENITH position (with the up button), or to a temporary HORIZON position (with the down button).

Changing the position is useful if you need to omit some positions, but also to photograph a certain area again.

The menu button allows using the arrow buttons to move to arbitrary positions, for extra shots, for example. This is similar to Simple Rotations and you need to tap menu again to exit.

Let's go back to position 8 using the left arrow button.

To skip some positions, set a position with a greater number, then resume the preset execution using the right button.

When creating a preset, MECHA automatically generates a script in some cases, depending on the preset settings. It is editable and can also be created manually from scratch. The script type can be either py (pitch and yaw conventions) or TxN (tilt and number of positions for each tilt).

Let's launch a preset that has corners set. Tap the menu button to check the top left corner, and tap it again to check the bottom right corner.

This question mark tells us that the direction of rotation is not set in the preset, so we need to specify it now. It can be either to the right or to the left.

Let's connect the smartwatch to a MECHA DAC now.
Tap the top left area to display the watch menu, then "Enable Wi-Fi" again, and select the MECHA you want the watch to connect to.
Make sure the password to connect to the MECHA's network is correct. Tap "SET" to confirm that it is correct, if there is nothing to change. Otherwise, tap the screen to enter edit mode, then edit the blinking digit, use the back button if needed, or tap the digit to be edited in the password, and change it. After updating the password, tap SET.

There is an option on the User Interface config page that you have to enable before continuing.
So connect to MECHA's User Interface using a phone or computer, then access the config page and make sure this option is enabled: "Use Nodal Ninja IR Remote or SW".

Let's launch the preset assigned to button 3 by pressing 3 and right arrow button.
For details, switch to the text screen.
On the text screen we can also see the MECHA's battery percentage.
Here you can tap the center of the screen to pause the preset execution. Then tap it again to continue.
Once you launch the preset, MECHA knows what to do, so you can even disable the Wi-Fi if you want.
On the button screen, tap either left or right button to pause the preset execution.
MECHA users should already know that Left activates step-by-step mode as well, while Right can be used for a normal pause. To continue the preset execution normally, tap the same button used to pause it.

There will be more details on how to control MECHA using the smartwatch and how to install the firmware in another video.