One of the most stressful moments in a drone show comes when operators arrive at a new venue full of excitement—only to immediately face unexpected challenges. Trees are taller than expected, a surprise security closure cuts into the takeoff zone, a pole and wire appear where none were marked, and the audience will be in a different spot, requiring rotation and repositioning of the entire show. These seemingly small changes can demand a full redesign—at the very last minute.
Sound familiar? Redesigns have been forced by every imaginable (and unimaginable) factor. Fixing them is often painful: the designer is on vacation, didn’t hand over the files, or no one feels confident touching the setup. Maybe they’re in a different time zone, where even small tweaks take hours. With just three hours before launch and no clear takeoff area, stress reaches new heights.
OK, stop! This might sound like a realistic nightmare from the past—but it’s no longer a real threat. The good news is: all that stress and hassle can now be a thing of the past, thanks to the new show adaptation feature integrated into Skybrush Server and Live.
What is show adaptation in Skybrush Live? #
The show control panel of the latest development version of Skybrush Live received a new checklist item with the title: “Adapt show to venue”. When you press this button, the show adaptation dialog comes up. In this dialog you can move and rotate the takeoff positions of individual or multiple drones, and the net show content, all independently from each other.
Adjust the net show to face the audience as needed. Reorganize your takeoff grid according to the real circumstances found at your venue. Or even throw out your drones to arbitrary positions and generate a random takeoff grid from that accurately. All this is possible now with a few clicks, after which a new show file will be generated for you automatically. This new show file will keep the net show content intact, but will replace the takeoff and RTH/land phases of the show with smooth transitions between your adjusted takeoff arrangement and the net show location.
Detailed help on this new feature is available at our Online documentation site.
What is needed to perform show adaptation in Skybrush Live? #
- You need to be a professional license holder of Skybrush Live to have the show adaptation feature enabled
- You need to select and download the latest pre-release version of Skybrush Live from your Skybrush account (currently 2.10.0). This requires enabling the “Show pre-release versions” switch in the download dialog.
- You also need to download the latest release of Skyrush Server (version 2.27.1 or later).
- You must generate a
.skycshow file that already contains annotations for the three show phases:Takeoff,ShowandLanding. These annotations are available in Skybrush Studio for Blender since version 3.8.0. - You should treat the takeoff and RTH+land phases of your show replaceable; do not design real content in these phases, only in the net show part between these two.
⚠️ WARNING: The show adaptation feature is in an experimental stage. Use it with care and always double check your newly generated show content with Skybrush Viewer before flight. Never fly a show that does not meet your predefined safety requirements!
Providing feedback #
If you are willing to test our latest development, we will be more than happy to receive feedback from you to be able to enhance it further according to your ideas and requests.
You can provide feedback on our Discord server or directly in the Skybrush Server or Skybrush Live issue trackers on GitHub.
If you like the open-core Skybrush Suite, use it, and wish to continue using it, please consider a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a professional license. We will use your support to keep Skybrush alive in the future with new and new features that best suit your needs.
Thank you!