Problem with textures for a close approach, is they need to be impossibly large....16,000x8,000 and larger...as that's the WHOLE sphere.

OR, you take a sphere, cut out a square patch of it, so you have curvature, UV map it, fit a smaller, square texture to it ;) (figured that one out for meself, hehe).

OR you can warp the Field of View of a camera, so a flat horizon, curves. This can give a false effect of flat terrain = planet curve.
Tutorial on that inside Vue.

FLaming Pear "Lunar Cell" does planet textures, to look great though they do need work.
Very good tutorial on this on www.scifi-meshes.com

:)

"I'd rather be a Fool who believes in Dragons, Than a King who believes in Nothing!" www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Free tutorials, Vue & Bryce materials, Bryce Skies, models, D&D items, stories.
Tutorials on Poser imports to Vue/Bryce, Postwork, Vue rendering/lighting, etc etc!