The above pic is one I grabbed off the net, cropped down a bit. It's Copyright/Royalty etc. free, so it's all right to post it:-)
It's an excellent example of something I've been trying to do for several years now, and never succeeded. I was trying again today (and still failed), which is what prompted me to post..
I want to try to re-create that scene (with a different point-of-view, no buildings and far less people)...
Oh, and I'm using V5Infinite.

My problem is in two parts.

1. what's the best way to go about creating that beach, with the profile being a shallow, almost flat rise from the sea, followed by a sharper upward rise of damp sandthen another shallow upward gradient of dry sand, followed by a rise again (into scrub-covered dunes in the pic I have in mind)?
   Should I use a procedural terrain?
   What size should I create the terrain at (512x512, 1024x1024 etc), given that I'm going to be importing Poser figures into the scene?
   How do I go about getting those subtle (horizontal) curves in the water-line and further back into the beach proper?
   Any other advice:-)

2. What's the best way to texture it?
   There's that smooth, slightly-striated look on the wet bit (with reflections).
   Next there's another smooth bit which is packed (damp, non-reflective) sand.
   Then there's the rise into the main beach, with dry, uncompacted sand. (My version doesn't need all the footprints, but does need a different texture)
   Do I have to create a grey-scale texture-control for the separate parts? (I've tried using Altitude to control a colour map to check where the different textures would need to be applied, but the result always seems to be a very tiny sectionsomewhere in the map, whether I use Object or World mapping)
   I realise I can use "Distance to object below" (the object below in this case being the water) but is this the best approach?

I've read lots of tutorials about creating surf etc, I think I can cope with that. But I've not found a tut for creating this type of beach.
Oh, and if I should use multiple terrains instead of just one, that too would be useful info.

It's WINTER here. I want to create somewhere I can go (in my head, if not in reality)..

Any and all help welcome:-)

TIA,
Cheers,
Diolma

The best beach tutorial I have come across is by Dave Burdick (of SkinVue fame).

http://www.skinvue.net/Tutorials/BeachShore.htm

Darn... just re-read your post.  This is a Vue 6 only thingy.  Layered materials are new. 

Hmmm.. Thanks, Peggy, but (as I said in my post) I have V5I, not V6I. No layers...

Maybe I can find a way around some of it by using compound materials, but I have no idea how/where to implement an "Altitude Constraint",

Thanks anyway - it'll give me something to think about.
Cheers,
Diolma

You can get the same effect as layers in a single material by using the appropriate node setup, it's just more fiddly to create and adjust.

Created a height-map in PSP and applied it to a terrain; then used Altitude->Filter:Map->Colour:Map with the "Rainbow" colour map in it, just so I could see how the mapping was working. Had to adjust the Filter:Map values, but I'm starting to get there...
Oh, and the wierd tiling in the forground is the water plane. Didn't want the water to start confusing me when trying to sort out the banding on the terrain.

I can use the same Filter:map to adjust between different textures for the sand...

Cheers,
Diolma
(Yawn - time for bed..)

Quote - Yup - I worked (some of it) out.

Great :)