Here are some examples of my tries with "bare terrains" in Vue:

I must say that this kind of exercise is quite tricky. To try to get realistic results, I generally:

• Use Geocontrol terrains with exported material distribution maps. Material distribution is key to getting your terrain to look realistic (Terragen does this quite well).
• Use bitmap materials for some of the rocks (but I may try some of Monsoons procedural rocks materials)
• Use specific lighting (low sun, sidelighting or sun in front). This hides some of the less realistic looking areas while emphasising the shadows.

The one thing I still have not mastered is the use of rocks in these landscapes. Terragen uses elaborate displacement materials such as the ones you can see in this image (by Luc Bianco)

Using this type of material, you are able to get realistic looking rockslides on a near infinite surface. So far, I have not been able to duplicate this in Vue as my knowledge of the material editor is lacking. It is a problem for wide angle views such as the above one as you need to get a realistic foreground AND background.

Another thing I noticed with this kind of image (in Vue or Terragen). Most of the times, if you get a good looking bare landscape and add a couple of trees, it instantly looks less realistic.

If you want to mimic the natural chaos of nature, you need to cover your whole landscape with realistically distributed plants.

Here is an example of what I mean:

I used an Infinite ecosystem for this one, but I noticed that for for more "open" landscapes, you need to stretch your infinite ecosystems very far to get grass in the distance, otherwise you see the limit to which it is applied.

In order to get the most realistic landscape possible, you need to pay attention to everything: terrain shape, material distribution, lighting, ecosystem objects distribution. Quite a difficult task!

Fantasy pictures, free 3d models, 3d tutorials and seamless textures on Virtual Lands.