Attached Link: screenshot

First of all, take a look at the picture in the main view of the program screenshot.
http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/solutions/images/academic.jpg

I want to recreate that picture. Since I am a beginner to Vue, I have spent weeks playing with functions and "environment influences" and I still haven't come close to that. How can I create such realistic material?

Thanks

You can't exactly recreate this picture, because terrains in Vue are always random, you can't have the same terrain twice. plus, the terrain is procedural, it relies on mathematical functions linked together, so it will be impossible to recreate it .  This scene is, I think by Eran Dinur, a master of Vue, so if you're a newbie, don't expect to get that level of realism and beauty right now. I suspect this terrain uses a simple fractal node, where "roughness" is low, about 40%, and gain is under 1.00. I think the terrain is not set to zero edges, and the camera is high. Materials are a mix of a rocky texture ( created by Eran I guess), and a snow texture. Tip; for snow, make it a tad luminous, around 3 or 4%.

Eran uses many alpha planes for clouds that he groups together, and he makes subtle changes in their shading by adjusting diffuse and ambient lighting differently for each plane.

Your atmosphere should show a lot of contrast as well.

If you're interested in understanding procedural terrains & materials, I suggest you buy the procedural terrains a-z by Czarnyrobert at www.cornucopia3d.com

Sorry for being so concise. But I am very familiar with procedural terrains. I forgot to tell you that I just want to recreate the texture ONLY. But I guess that is very advanced too and I should continue learning Vue in order to recreate the texture. Thanks anyway.

EDIT: I also apologize for saying I am a beginner to Vue. I am an experienced Vue user, but when I compare my skill to other users' skills, I consider myself a newbie. LOL. Whatever. I guess the only way to learn Vue fully is by experience.

Oh, you liar! Lol!

As for texture creation, you have the choice to use bitmaps or procedurals. I would say study the materials that ship with Vue to see how thy are done.

A good start in the function editor is to load a simple colour map, connected to a filter, connected to a fractal node. Then you can start apllying different fractal patterns, add turbulence to their origin, combine different fractal nodes. It's endless.

I suggest you watch jim Coe's tutorials about the function editor, they are made for beginers, but you may find them useful anyway:

http://www.art-head-start.com/free-stuff.html

Thanks bruno for your help.

I also recommend Robert Czarny's "Procedural Terrains - A to Z". Has a lot on functions and acheiving materials that look good for near, mid and far use. I hear the free "Young Mountains" tutorial is also good.

Yes, Jim the  young mountain is excellent too.