How to create your virtual dropzone for Landing Pattern

[Alexander Shyrokov]

This tutorial covers the basics of how to create your virtual dropzone for Landing Pattern application. It will lead you through a step by step instructions. If you have any questions, suggestions, or hints, please, share them with us at these forums.

Tools you will need

1. Landing Pattern version 1.4 or higher. You must purchase the program in order to test or use new dropzones.
2. Gimp version 2.6 or higher. It is a free software.
3. Blender with required modules. It is a free software.

Top level procedure

1. Prepare reference image: (1A) from an aerial photo or (1B) from online satellite photo service.
2. Create 3D model using reference image from the previous step: (2A) textured plane model or (2B) modeling your dropzone and (2C) adding buildings and trees.
3. Prepare dropzone for loading into Landing Pattern: (3A) single directory organization.

There are multiple ways to perform each of the three stages, pick those that work for you.

If it does not work
The following is the list of steps to take in case your virtual dropzone does not work as intended in Landing Pattern:

1. Check log file for errors: "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\logs\simulator.log"
2. Check that you followed the steps of the tutorials correctly.
3. Search these forums, maybe someone already had similar problem.
4. Post your question in these forums.

[Alexander Shyrokov]

The following steps describe how to convert an aerial photo into a reference image.
You need

1. An aerial image of your drop zone.
2. Length of the runway.

You will get

1. Reference image.
2. Area covered by the image.
3. Image scale as meters per pixel value.

Procedure:

1. Get an image of your drop zone from the drop zone or airport. For example, Skydive Kansas has an aerial image of the drop zone on their website. You can make one yourself on the way to the altitude, or your airport might have one handy.
2. You would need to find out the real size of an object on the image to find out what is area covered by the image. The easiest way to do so is to use the length of the runway (you should know it anyways). Skydive Kansas has the runway 776m in length. It is also possible to use Google Earth to measure the length of any object on the ground or a road.
   We need to correct perspective of the image. We can see that the image was not take as a satellite image looking straight down, but instead it was taken at some angle. We do not need to worry about the sizes to be very precise. First we make sure the runway is in north-south direction. We do that by rotating image slightly and then we correct perspective so that the west-east roads are perpendicular to the runway.
3. I used Gimp 2.6.7 to perform these operations. It is a free program, which is available for download from gimp.org . Start gimp and load/paste aerial image.
4. Select rotation tool by pressing Shift-R and rotate it 2.55 degrees. This makes runway to be strictly north-east.
5. Select perspective tool by pressing Shift-P and move top left corner up, so that the west-east road just above the runway is horizontal. Then move the lower left corner down so that the west-east road at the bottom of the page is horizontal.
6. Use Measuring tool to find out how many pixels is the runway. Shift-M and drag across the length of the runway. I get 513 pixels. I know that the runway is 776 meters long, hence I know that 776meters/513pixels = 1.51 meter/pixel. Now we can find what area is covered by the image. I use Scale operation to show what the image size is, but I do not scale anything. It is 1300 * 1.51 = 1963 meters horizontally (west-east) and 2100 * 1.51 = 3171 meters vertically (north-south).
7. Results: Background.jpg - reference image. Area: 1963 by 3171 meters. Image scale 1.51 meters per pixel.

Proceed to the next step in the tutorial: Creating 3D model.

[Alexander Shyrokov]

The following steps describe how to convert a satellite photo into a reference image. Notice, most of the free satellite photo service, such as Google Maps, do not allow derivation of products from them without special agreements. For example, Google Earth has a special edition, which will allow you to use the satellite photos.

You need

1. Access to satellite photos. I am using Google Maps as an example.

You will get

1. Reference image.
2. Area covered by the image.
3. Image scale as meters per pixel value.

Procedure

1. Find your dropzone at Google Maps.
2. Zoom out to see the area of 2km by 2km with center on the target for landing.
3. Take a screenshot (press Alt Print Screen)
4. Paste it into gimp.
5. Use Measure tool [Shift-M] to find out how many pixels correspond to the scale shown in the bottom left. Let's saythe tool says 58 pixels, and the scale says 200 meters. MapScale = 200 meters / 58 pixels = 3.45 meters/pixel.
6. Crop the image so that it has only area of interest for you. It is advisable to have the image sizes to be some round numbers: 1000x1000 for example. (Do not scale, crop! Or use Image->Canvas size). The center of the image should be the place where canopy should land.
7. Save this image as Background.jpg
8. Find area covered by the image by multiplying the size of the image by MapScale. 1000 * 3.45= 3450.
9. Results: Background.jpg - reference image. Area: 3450 by 3450 meters. Image scale 3.45 meters per pixel.

[Alexander Shyrokov]

These are the steps that are required to install blender and required modules.

1. Install blender 2.49
2. Install python v2.6.2 to C:\Python26\ (default location)
3. Run blender to verify that it see python. You should see "Checking for installed Python... got it!" message in the console window of the blender.
4. Download Blender export script for Ogre. The link can also be found on Ogre tools page.
5. Copy contents of BlenderExport.zip into blender script directory: blender-2.49b-windows\.blender\scripts\
6. Install ogre command line tools.
7. Run blender and select File->Export->OGRE Meshes. Click Preferences and under Location: select Manual. Click Select to choose location of the ogre command line tools installed before.
8. Click Ok.
9. Click Export.
10. If there are no error messages in Export Log, then you successfully installed blender and all required components.

[Alexander Shyrokov]

The following steps describe how to create the simplest model of your virtual dropzone.

You need

1. Reference image.
2. Area covered by the image.
3. Image scale as meters per pixel value.

I use results from the previous step (1A) in this tutorial.

You will get

1. 3D model of the dropzone.
2. Material file for the dropzone.
3. Thumbnail for the dropzone.

Procedure

1. Start blender and delete default cube. By pressing X and confirming deletion of the selected objects.
2. Load reference image (View->Background Image) and set its size to 30. It only affects the zoom factor with which you will work.
3. Press Numpad7 to switch to the top view. And zoom out to see the reference image completely (use scroll wheel, or Numpad+/-).
4. Create a plane by pressing Space and then selecting Add->Mesh->Plane
5. Name mesh and object with the name of your dz. I use TutorialDZ in all the tutorials. You can replace it with your own name, but make sure that there are no spaces.
6. In Mesh panel depress Double Sided. I forgot to mention that in the video tutorial.
7. Use Ctlr-W to periodically save your work.
8. Resize the plane so it covers the background image. Press S, X, key in 30, Enter. Press S, Y, key in 50, Enter.
9. Press Tab to go into Edit mode. And select all the vertices by pressing A if they are not already selected (yellow means selected).
10. Change UV of the plane so it can be properly textures. By pressing U and selecting Project from View (Bounds). You still should be in Top view for that to work properly.
11. Press F5 to see the material settings for the plane.
12. Under Links and Pipline, click Add New to add new material.
13. Change name of the material to TutorialDZ.
14. Set Spec and Mir components to be black.
15. Under Texture click Add New. And rename it to TutorialDZ.
16. Press F6 to see texture buttons and under Texture Type select image.
17. Under Image select Load and choose background.jpg
18. Enter Object Mode (by pressing TAB)
19. Left click on the target that is shown on the reference image to position the cursor on it. You may have to press Z to go into wireframe display mode in order to see the reference image under the plane.
20. Press Space -> Add -> Mesh-> Cube. This will create a cube right above the target.
21. Press N to see transformation properties of the new cube. Remember LocX (8.477) and LocY (12.948) values.
22. Press X to remove the cube (no need in it any more).
23. Right click on the original plane to select it (click on the very edge of it). Press Tab to enter Edit Mode. Press A to select all vertices (if required).
24. Press G,X and key in minus LocX (-8.477), Enter. Press G,Y and key in minus LocY (-12.948), Enter. This will move the plane so that the target is in the center of the image, but it also will make the origin of the plane to be on target as well.
25. Enter Object mode by pressing TAB.
26. We want the plane to have the same dimensions as the area captured by the image. In Transform Properties (N) dialog enter DimX = 1963 and DimY = 3171.
27. Apply rotation/scale Object->Clear/Apply->Apply Rotation/Scale or press Ctrl A, 1.
28. Create thumbnail for your dropzone using this tutorial (2.1).
29. Make sure that the dropzone mesh is selected (by right clicking on it, or A to select all the objects, there should be only one mesh) and export it, by selecting File->Export->OGRE Meshes.
30. Change "Export Materials" to have: TutorialDZ.material.
31. Remember where the mesh is exported as indicated by Export Meshes field.
32. Select Fix Up Axis to Y.
33. Select OgreXMLConverter.
34. Press Export.
35. Check the Export log for error messages (shown in red).
36. Click Ok, then Quit.
37. Save your work (File->Save) and close blender (File->Quit blender).
38. Open TutroialDZ.material with notepad and replace the text inside with the following text:
    

    Code: Select all

    material TutorialDZ
{
   receive_shadows on
   technique
   {
      pass
      {
         texture_unit
         {
            texture Background.jpg
         }
      }
   }
}

39. Save file.
40. Results: TutroialDZ.mesh - 3D model of the dropzone. TutroialDZ.material - Material for the 3D model

This is how it looks:

Continue to the third stage.

You can download the blender file from attachment.

[Alexander Shyrokov]

The following steps will allow you to create virtual dropzone to load into Landing Pattern. Make sure that you have the latest version of Landing Pattern.

You need

1. 3D models of the dropzone (at least one).
2. Material files for the dropzone (at least one).
3. Thumbnail image for the dropzone.

You will get

1. Virtual dropzone available for Landing Pattern application.

I use results from the previous step (2A) in the tutorial.

Procedure

1. Locate data directory for the Landing Pattern. If it was installed in the default location, then it should be:
   "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\"
2. Create directory named after your dz. In this tutorial it is TutorialDZ.
3. Copy 3D models of the dropzone and material files into this directory. For this example it is:
   "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\TutorialDZ\TutorialDZ.mesh"
   "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\TutorialDZ\TutorialDZ.material"
   If you have more files simply copy them into that directory.
4. Copy thumbnail image of the dropzone into:
   "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\"
5. Create description of the dropzone file with the name TutorialDZ.dz (notice dz is the extension of the file, but it can be opened and modified with notepad). The following is the complete description file for this tutorial. Bellow I will explain what needed to be changed.
   

   Code: Select all

   <?xml version="1.0" ?>
<scene formatVersion="1.0" FullName="TutorialDZ" AmbientColor="0.7, 0.7, 0.7"  >
    <Thumb Texture="TutorialDZ.dz.jpg" Offset="0,0,0" Scale="-1024,1,-1024" />
    <Target Name="Target" File="../data/LandingPattern/models/CrossTarget.phs" Position="0, 0, 0" Orientation="1, 0, 0, 0" />
    <WindSock  Name="MainWindSock" File="../data/LandingPattern/models/Windsock.phs" Position="20,0,20" Orientation="1, 0, 0, 0" />
    <WindSock  Name="MainWindSock" File="../data/LandingPattern/models/Windsock.phs" Position="-50,0,-10" Orientation="1, 0, 0, 0" />
    <FileSystem Path="../data/LandingPattern/TutorialDZ/" />
    <FileSystem Path="../data/LandingPattern/sne/textures" />
    <GroundLevel Value="30" />
    <nodes>
        <node name="TutorialDZ" id="3" static="true" >
            <position x="0" y="0" z="0" />
            <scale x="1" y="1" z="1" />
            <rotation qw="1" qx="0" qy="0" qz="0" />
            <entity name="TutorialDZ" meshFile="TutorialDZ.mesh" />
        </node>
    </nodes>
    <Stream Name="BgMusic" File="../data/LandingPattern/sne/sounds/Ambient.mp3" Loop="true" /><RegionLimit Size="1000, 0, 1000" />
    <Approach Visible="false" NoTouchDistance="10" OtherSidePattern="true" Mesh="Cylinder" Scale="2, 1, 2"/>
    <Caelum Enabled="true" ManageSceneFog="true" SceneFogDensityMultiplier="0.0004" GroundFogEnabled="false" HazeEnabled="false"
        UpdateRate="0" TimeScale="1" ManageAmbientLight="true">
        <Time Year="2008" Month="7" Day="4" Hour="12" Minutes="0" Seconds="0" TimeZone="-5" />
        <SolarSystem ObserverLongitude="-70.8513889" ObserverLatitude="43.3944444" StarfieldInclination="13"/>
        <CAELUM_COMPONENT_SKY_COLOUR_MODEL /> <CAELUM_COMPONENT_SUN /> <CAELUM_COMPONENT_SOLAR_SYSTEM_MODEL />
        <CAELUM_COMPONENT_SKY_DOME /> <CAELUM_COMPONENT_STARFIELD /> <CAELUM_COMPONENT_CLOUDS />
        <Sun AutoDisable="true" AutoDisableThreshold="0.1" AmbientMultiplier="0.5, 0.5, 0.5" DiffuseMultiplier="3, 3, 2.7" SpecularMultiplier="0.1, 0.1, 0.1" />
        <Moon AutoDisable="true" AutoDisableThreshold="0.1" /><Clouds Speed="0.000005, -0.000009" BlendTime="86400" Cover="0.3" />
    </Caelum>
    <SunLight id="0" name="SunLightNode" static="false"> <light type="directional" castShadows="true" name="SunLightReplacement">
            <colourDiffuse b="0.551634" g="0.551634" r="0.551634" /> <colourSpecular b="0.0551634" g="0.0551634" r="0.0551634" />
            <direction x="-0.0485351" y="-0.935143" z="0.350929" /> </light>
    </SunLight><SkyBox Distance="5000" Material="EmptySky" />
</scene>


6. Make sure that there are no spaces in the first line of the file. Copy/paste from this post will add extra spaces at the beginning of every line. First line must not have any extra spaces.
7. Add scene->nodes->node tag with TutorialDZ mesh
8. Replace scene->name tag with TutorialDZ
9. Replace scene->Thumb->Texture with TutorialDZ.dz.jpg (thumbnail image of the dropzone).
10. Notice, all positions are given as x,y,z. Y is vertical direction.
11. scene->Target->Position contains location of the target cross where the canopy must land. The mesh was designed that the target should be in the center, but if it is a little off, you can add offset in this tag.
12. scene->FileSystem tags contain directories that have files relevant to the DZ. In this tutorial all the files are in a single directory. We also use some files from a different drop zone. Instead of copying them, we simply add their location.
13. You can place multiple Windosocks around the drop zone using scene->Windsock tag. Change Position attribute to move the windsock around.
14. scene->GroundLevel->Value contain elevation of the dropzone about sea level in meters. This accounts for the air density.
15. scene->nodes contains objects visible in the simulation. There is a single object with the dropzone.
16. Result: You will have the following files:
    
    1. "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\TutorialDZ\TutorialDZ.mesh"
    2. "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\TutorialDZ\TutorialDZ.material"
    3. "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\TutorialDZ.dz.jpg"
    4. "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\TutorialDZ.dz"

Start Landing Pattern and select the new drop zone for the jump. You can download ready to use result of the tutorials bellow.

TutorialDZ.1a.2a.3a.zip

End result of the tutorials 1A, 2A, and 3A

(1.83 MiB) Downloaded 41 times

[Alexander Shyrokov]

The following steps describe how to create a thumbnail for the model of your dropzone. You perform these steps before exporting your dropzone during any tutorial that covers step 2. This means that the blender is open and the model of your dropzone is loaded.
You need

1. 3D models of the dropzone loaded in Blender.

You will get

1. Thumbnail image of your dropzone.

Procedure

1. Delete existing lamp. Right click on the lamp (you may have to zoom out to see it) and press X.
2. Create sun light. Press Space->Add->Lamp->Sun.
3. Position the sun above the ground. Press N to the the properties and set (LocX,LocY,LocZ) = (0,0,100).
4. Press F5 and in Buttons window select Lamp buttons. Change energy to 0.6. This will make the sun less intense.
5. Select camera and position it above the target. Right click on the camera. Press N if required to see the transformation properties, and set (LocX,LocY,LocZ) = (0,0,90), (RotX,RotY,RotZ) = (0,0,0). This will point camera toward the ground above the target.
6. Press F9 and under Camera->Lens press D to use degrees and enter 60 next to it.
7. Press F10 to show rendering options and under Format->SizeX,SizeY enter 512 (for both).
8. Select type as JPG.
9. Select all the objects in the scene except sun and the camera. Press A and then right click on the camera and lamp to remove them from selection (you may have to rotate camera around and zoom in/out to do that properly). Scale selection down 10 times, by pressing S, 0.1, Enter. This will allow camera to render proper images.
10. Press F12 to render the current camera view. Wait for the rendering to complete and press F3 to save rendered image. Save it as TutorialDZ.dz.jpg
11. Camera positioned and configured to produce an image that covers area of 665x665 meters. With the landing target in the center of the image.
12. Scale everything back to the original size, by pressing S, 10, Enter.
13. Result: TutorailDZ.dz.jpg - thumbnail for your dropzone.

Continue the tutorial for exporting your mesh.

[Alexander Shyrokov]

The following steps describe how to model your virtual dropzone using a reference image. It may be helpful if you understand how to use textured plane as a model before proceeding with this tutorial. You will trace the reference image to create the geometry.

You need

1. Reference image.
2. Area covered by the image.
3. Image scale as meters per pixel value.

I use results from the previous step (1A) in this tutorial.

You will get

1. 3D model of the dropzone.
2. Material file for the dropzone.
3. Thumbnail for the dropzone.

Procedure

1. Start blender and delete default cube. By pressing X and confirming deletion of the selected objects.
2. Load reference image (View->Background Image) and set its size to 30. It only affects the zoom factor with which you will work.
3. Press Numpad7 to switch to the top view. And zoom out to see the reference image completely (use scroll wheel, or Numpad+/-).
4. Zoom to the target in the reference image and left click on it to position the cursor.
5. Create a filled circle by pressing Space and then selecting Add->Mesh->Circle. Use 8 vertices and radius of 0.1, make sure that Fill is selected. Press Ok. The circle must be the size of your target. If it is no, scale it by pressing S and moving your mouse.
6. Name mesh and object with the name of your dz. I use TutorialDZ in all the tutorials. You can replace it with your own name, but make sure that there are no spaces.
7. In Mesh panel depress Double Sided.
8. Use Ctlr-W to periodically save your work.
9. Create required materials
   
   1. The following steps are used to create all the materials that we plan to use.
   2. Names of the materials are arbitrary, but Landing Pattern comes with a few predefined materials that you can use. Their names are: SandLand, LandingGrass, GrassLand, DirtLand, SwampLand, Water, PavedLand. It is a good practice to use some other names if you do not want to use these materials.
   3. Landing pattern supports the following surfaces: Cement, Grass, Metal, Sand, Water, and Wood. If you use one of these words in the name of the material, the material will represent this type of the surface. For example if you name your material Field.Grass, then the friction, collision parameters, sounds, etc. will be of a grass surface.
   4. For this tutorial we will use PavedLand, SandLand, and Water that are supplied with the Landing Pattern.
   5. We will create GrassyArea, and DirtArea.
   6. Press F5 to see Shading buttons. Select Material buttons.
   7. Under Links and Pipline click Add New.
   8. Enter name of the material, for example, GrassyArea.
   9. Set Spec and Mir components to be black.
   10. Set Color to what is the best color to represent this area, GrassyArea.
   11. Under Links and Pipline click up/down errors on the left of MA: GrassyArea and select NEW. Repeat three previous steps for all the materials to use. For this tutorial do it for DirtArea, PavedLand, SandLand, and Water.
10. Press Tab to go into Edit mode. And select a single vertex. Press E to extrude vertex and move it to the closest corner (between the runway). Left click to position it. If you want to move it again, press G and move the mouse, left click to confirm the movement, right click to cancel it. Keep extruding vertex to trace the shape of the runway. When you want to complete a contour, select the end vertices and press F, this will create an edge between two vertices. If there is a wrong edge or vertex, select it and press X and choose what you want to delete. Use Ctrl Tab 1|2 to switch between different selection modes (vertex, or edge selection). Use CtrlZ to undo your changes if needed.
11. When done, select all the edges (A) and use Mesh->Faces->Fill (Shift-F) to create faces. Then Mesh->Faces->Convert triangles to quads (Alt-J) to convert triangles to quads (it will make less faces to work with).
12. Switch to select faces mode (Ctrl-Tab, 3).
13. Press F7 to see Editing buttons.
14. Select all faces and assign predominant material to them. This is done on the right side of the Link and Materials panel. Click on the up/down arrows next to material name to select GrassyArea.
15. Select individual faces and assign them to different materials. Use shift right cliks, or B for box selection to select faces, then clicking New if it the first time you use this material, or Assign after the proper material group was selected. Use Z to switch between solid and wireframe view.
16. Adjust UV
    
    1. Select all the faces.
    2. Select top view
    3. Mesh->UV Unwrap (U), Project from View (Bounds)
    4. Select all the faces in 3D view.
    5. Switch to UV/Image Editor
    6. Select all the faces (A)
    7. We know that the area that we have covered is 1963 by 3171 meters. We want UV to repeat every meter.
    8. Change Rotation/Scale pivot point to 2D cursor ([Coma]). 2D cursor must be in the bottom left corner.
    9. Scale all the faces by pressing S, X, 1963, Enter and S, Y, 3171, Enter. Faces will be off the screen, and there will be not enough zoom to see them, but that's okay.
17. Switch to 3D view. and Enter Object mode by pressing TAB.
18. We want the plane to have the same dimensions as the area captured by the image. In Transform Properties (N) dialog enter DimX = 1963 and DimY = 3171.
19. Apply rotation/scale Object->Clear/Apply->Apply Rotation/Scale or press Ctrl A, 1.
20. Create thumbnail for your dropzone using this tutorial (2.1).
21. Make sure that the dropzone mesh is selected (by right clicking on it, or A to select all the objects, there should be only one mesh) and export it, by selecting File->Export->OGRE Meshes.
22. Change "Export Materials" to have: TutorialDZ.material.
23. Remember where the mesh is exported as indicated by Export Meshes field.
24. Select Fix Up Axis to Y.
25. Select OgreXMLConverter.
26. Press Export.
27. Check the Export log for error messages (shown in red).
28. Click Ok, then Quit.
29. Save your work (File->Save) and close blender (File->Quit blender).
30. Open TutroialDZ.material with notepad and remove sections that correspond to predefined materials: PavedLand, SandLand, and Water.
31. Add text from "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\sne\meshes\common.material" into TutroialDZ.material (or alternatively you can simply copy the file itself during the stage 3).
32. Save TutroialDZ.material.
33. Results: TutroialDZ.mesh - 3D model of the dropzone. TutroialDZ.material - Material for the 3D model

This is how it looks:

Continue to the third stage.
You can download the blender file from attachment.

[Alexander Shyrokov]

The following steps describe how to model your virtual dropzone with building, trees, and other objects you may wish to add. It is based on tutorial 2B, which means you must have gone through the modeling of your dropzone.

You need

1. Blender file which you created following tutorial 2B.
2. Knowledge of what objects you would like to add. This means you saw the dropzone, or have reference images for buildings, etc. Gallery from the dropzone website is a good source of information.

You will get

1. 3D model of the dropzone.
2. Material file for the dropzone.
3. Thumbnail for the dropzone.

Procedure

1. Start blender and load the blender file you created following tutorial 2B. You can do that by pressing Ctrl-O, or F1.
2. Right click on your dropzone mesh to select it and Press M, 2, Enter to move the dropzone to the second layer. You can show/hide second layer, by pressing Shift-2. You can see only second layer by pressing 2. Go back to layer 1, by pressing 1.
3. Press 7 to go into Top view.
4. The simplest way to add a building is to create a cube and assigning different materials to top and sides of the cube. It is also possible to apply textures to the sides of the building, similar to how we assign texture to the plane in tutorial 2A, or modeling it's geometry similar to tutorial 2B.
   
   1. Center cursor at the center, by pressing Shift-C.
   2. Create cube by pressing Space, then Add->Mesh->Cube.
   3. Name it AirportBuilding.
   4. Enter Edit mode, by pressing TAB. Switch into side view by pressing Numpad3. Select all faces if they are not selected by pressing A. Move mesh up, by pressing G,Z,1, Enter. This will make sure that the origin of the building is in the bottom of the mesh and when you scale the model, the roof goes up, instead of floor going under the ground.
   5. Select the bottom face of the cube and remove it. Press Ctrl-Numpad7 to see the cube from bellow. Enter Edit mode, by pressing TAB, use face select mode Ctrl-Tab,3. Right click on the face and press X, Only Faces7.
   6. Press Numpad7 to see the cube from above again. Press F5 and create material that has the main color of the building sides. In our case, it's white, name it AirportWalls.
   7. Press F9 to see editing buttons. Select top face and add new material to it.
   8. Press F5 and rename the material into AirportRoof. Change it's color to Gray.
   9. Enter Object mode by pressing tab, and position the building mesh on top of the reference image, where the building should stand. Press G, and move the mouse to position the cube. Left click when done.
   10. Set proper size of the building, by pressing S, X and moving the mouse. Then S, Y and adjusting the other dimension. The model should cover the building in reference image. This will set proper width and length of the building.
   11. From the reference image it seems that the building does not have a flat roof. So we will make it slanted. Enter Edit mode by pressing Tab, and select the top face. Use knife tool to cut two opposite edges, press K and select Knife (Midpoints). Then making a horizontal straight line across the face and pressing Enter to finish. Now you should have additional edge going across the top face. Go into Edge selection mode and select the new edge.
   12. Switch to Side view by pressing Numpad3.
   13. Press G, Z, 0.5, Enter. This creates slanted roof. You can press G and move mouse to manually adjust how slanted you want the roof to be.
   14. Enter object mode, by pressing TAB and click S,Z, move the mouse to adjust the height of the building. You should know how high it should be in proportion to its length. You may want to move the previous steps to adjust the slant of the roof.
   15. You are done with the building. It is very simple, but should be a good reference point. If you would like to create a more realistic building you can texture it, or model it. This is not covered in this tutorial.
   16. You may want to repeat the previous steps to create more buildings. Notice if building have the same colors you can reuse the materials.
   17. Here I will simply copy the existing building. Enter Object Mode and press Shift-D. Move mouse to position your building elsewhere on top of the reference image.
   18. User R to rotate, and S to scale the building to fit the size of the new building.
5. Now we will create a tree and place a few of them around.
   
   1. Select all the buildings and press M,3, Enter to move them to layer 3.
   2. Create a sphere. Space, Add->Mesh->UVSphere. Use 8 segments and 8 rings.
   3. F9 and change name to TreeTop.
   4. Under Link and Materials, click Set Smooth.
   5. Under Mesh unselect Double Sided.
   6. F5 and add new material named TreeTop. Make it green.
   7. Press G,Z,2,Enter. This will move the tree top above the ground.
   8. From top view (Numpad7) create a cone that will be used as a trunk. Space, Add->Mesh->Cone. Use 4 Vertices, Radius 0.1, Depth 2. Deselect Cap End. Press Ok.
   9. Press Alt-G and confirm that you want to clear location, to move the cone into the center.
   10. F9 and change name to TreeTop.
   11. Under Link and Materials, click Set Smooth.
   12. Under Mesh unselect Double Sided.
   13. F5 and add new material TreeTrunk. Make it brown.
   14. Enter Edit mode (Tab) and make sure that all the vertices are selected (A one or two times, vertices and edges must be yellow).
   15. Press G,Z,1,Enter. to move the cone up.
   16. Enter Object mode (Tab).
   17. Slect TreeTop (right click). Add TreeTurnk to the selection, by holding Shift and right clicking the TreeTrunk mesh. You may need to switch to side view Numpad3 to do that. We want TreeTrunk to be added to the selection last in order to preserve the origin of the mesh at the bottom of the mesh, so you can easily position your trees and scale them.
   18. Join meshes by pressing Alt-J.
   19. Switch to Side view Numpad3.
   20. Show your buildings. Shift-3.
   21. Scale your Tree model to be up to scale with your buildings. You may move your tree next to the buildings. Press S to scale.
   22. Switch to the Top view (Numpad7).
   23. Use reference image to place the tree above a place where a tree is.
   24. Just like with the buildings you can create as many different trees as you would like. Here I will simply copy the existing tree. Enter Object Mode and press Shift-D. Move mouse to position your trees elsewhere on top of the reference image.
   25. User S to scale the building to fit the size of the new trees if needed. If you created asymmetrical trees you can rotate them with R.
6. The next step is to add the created buildings and trees to the dropzone mesh. Press 2 to see only dropzone mesh. Select it and scale it fit the reference image. Press S, 0.03, Enter. Press G and move the dropzone mesh so it is on top of the reference image.
7. Press Shift-1 to see the buildings.
8. Press Shift-2 to see the trees.
9. Select dropzone mesh and press A twice. This will select all the objects.
10. Press Ctrl-J to join all the objects, left click to confirm the command.
11. Now scale back the mesh, pressing S, 30, Enter.
12. Apply rotation/scale Object->Clear/Apply->Apply Rotation/Scale or press Ctrl A, 1.
13. Create thumbnail for your dropzone using this tutorial (2.1). You may choose to add rotation to the sun lamp, by changing RotX and RotY to have 20 degrees. You can also add shadows for the lamp properties (F5, and under Shadow and spot select Ray Shadow).
14. Make sure that the dropzone mesh is selected (by right clicking on it, or A to select all the objects, there should be only one mesh) and export it, by selecting File->Export->OGRE Meshes.
15. Change "Export Materials" to have: TutorialDZ.material.
16. Remember where the mesh is exported as indicated by Export Meshes field.
17. Select Fix Up Axis to Y.
18. Select OgreXMLConverter.
19. Press Export.
20. Check the Export log for error messages (shown in red).
21. Click Ok, then Quit.
22. Save your work (File->Save) and close blender (File->Quit blender).
23. Open TutroialDZ.material with notepad and remove sections that correspond to predefined materials: PavedLand, SandLand, and Water.
24. Add text from "C:\Program Files\Landing Pattern\data\LandingPattern\sne\meshes\common.material" into TutroialDZ.material (or alternatively you can simply copy the file itself during the stage 3).
25. Save TutroialDZ.material.
26. Results: TutroialDZ.mesh - 3D model of the dropzone. TutroialDZ.material - Material for the 3D model

This is how it looks:

Continue to the third stage.
You can download the blender file from attachment.