FIELD GUIDE · SINGLE-FAMILY HOME · GAUSSIAN SPLAT CAPTURE

Three Orbits,
Eight Cascades

Circle the house three times, top to bottom for the setting, then climb its faces eight times for the close-up detail. Orbits sell the neighborhood; cascades build the house.

3 ORBITS 8 CASCADES 360° COVERAGE GROUND → TOP ORBIT
The three numbered orbit rings and eight vertical cascade columns around a wireframe house, drawn to scale from the flown mission

The mission, to scale — every pyramid is one photo position. Three orbits step down the ladder, each tighter than the last; eight cascades climb the faces and corners of the house from near the ground up to the low orbit.

THE THREE ORBITS
HIGH The community Thin band of sky at the top; whole community in view 500–650 ft out
−15 to −20° MID The neighborhood Same framing, ~100 ft closer — the immediate streets fill the frame 400–550 ft out
−15 to −20° LOW The house No sky — house large and centered, just outside the roofline 100–150 ft out
−30 to −38° ×8 The cascades Four faces + four corners — rise from near the ground to the low orbit 30–60 ft out
+5 → −60°

Fly the ladder top-down — high, mid, low — then work the cascades around the house in one lap. Shoot on a steady interval through every movement; pause the camera while you reposition. On the upper orbits fly out roughly twice your altitude. This reference mission flew its orbits at 300, 200 and 100 ft; with a tighter site or lower ceiling the ladder compresses (say 200 / 100 / 50 ft) and the frame checks stay exactly the same.

GIMBAL ANGLES — WHY THEY CHANGE

The gimbal does two jobs: framing the story and feeding the splat. The model needs the house and its ground seen from many different angles — shallow on the high orbits, steep down low, and a continuous sweep on every cascade. Set the angle by the frame, not the number.

HIGH · −15 TO −20°Shallow. Sky in the top band, the house on the lower-third line while the community does the talking.
MID · −15 TO −20°Same angle as the high orbit — keep the POI and the gimbal follows. Sky holds at the top, the nearby streets fill the middle.
LOW · −30 TO −38°Steep. No sky anywhere — aim at the house itself. This orbit feeds the roof and yard detail.
CASCADES · +5 → −60°A sweep, not a setting. Start looking up at the roofline, finish looking steeply down at it — ease the tilt through the whole climb to keep the house centered.
Set the angle by eye, not by the number. Tilt until the frame check reads true; the ranges are where it usually lands.
ORBIT 1 OF 3

HIGHThe community

DISTANCE OUT500–650 ft GIMBAL−15 to −20°
Drone frame from the high orbit — thin band of sky, whole community in view
FRAME CHECKThin band of sky at the top; the house small and low in frame
WHAT IT CAPTURESThe extended community — tree lines, hills, main roads

The context layer. Fly the widest, highest circle of the mission and let the setting do the talking — the subject house stays small while the neighborhood, terrain and skyline anchor the model's edges.

ORBIT 2 OF 3

MIDThe neighborhood

DISTANCE OUT400–550 ft GIMBAL−15 to −20°
Drone frame from the mid orbit — immediate streets fill the frame
FRAME CHECKSky still a thin band; the house on the lower-third line
WHAT IT CAPTURESThe immediate streets, neighbors and amenities

One step down the ladder and about a hundred feet closer, with the same composition — keep the POI from the high orbit and the gimbal follows on its own. The house grows in frame while the sky band holds; this orbit places the home on its street and feeds the mid-distance detail between house and horizon.

ORBIT 3 OF 3

LOWThe house

DISTANCE OUT100–150 ft GIMBAL−30 to −38°
Drone frame from the low orbit — the house large and centered, no sky
FRAME CHECKNo sky — the house large and centered, yard to yard in frame
WHAT IT CAPTURESRoof planes, yard, driveway — every side of the house

Tight and steep, just outside the roofline. Every roof plane, the whole yard and the driveway get seen from all sides — this circle is the bridge between the big orbits above and the cascades below.

CASCADES · 8 CLIMBS

×8The house, face by face

STAND-OFF30–60 ft from the face CLIMBnear ground → low orbit GIMBAL+5 → −60° sweep
Cascade start: near the ground, camera level, whole house in frame
START · NEAR THE GROUND · WHOLE HOUSE IN FRAME
Cascade top: at the low-orbit height, looking steeply down at the roof
TOP · AT THE LOW ORBIT · LOOKING DOWN THE ROOF
Start low, whole house in frameHover 10–25 ft up, 30–60 ft out from the face. Tilt the camera just enough toward the roofline that the entire house sits in frame — eave to foundation.
Climb straight up, slow and steadyRise vertically while easing the gimbal downward so the house stays centered the whole way. No sideways drift — the cascade is a vertical column of viewpoints.
Top out at the low orbit, then slide overStop just at the low-orbit height, now looking steeply down the roof. Pause the camera, move to the next face or corner, and repeat — eight times around the house.

The eight climbs, evenly spaced — one at each face, one at each corner, about every 45° — worked around the house in a single lap.

WHY CASCADESOrbits see the house from above; cascades see it the way people do — walls, windows, porch — and tie the ground floor into the model
SPACINGFour faces + four corners ≈ every 45° around the house. Equal spacing matters more than exact spots

The cascades are what make the house itself solid. Each climb sweeps a face from a person's eye level to drone height, and together the eight columns wrap the home in viewpoints from every side and every elevation — the orbits above tie them all into the neighborhood.