monkeycloud,

yeah fun. Here http://bloodsong.warped.com/abs/pagemc3.htm is a single page tut from 1997, using Bryce 2 and RayDream (now: Carrara). That was one of the insider jokes in Avatar, bringing something that everyone was doing in those early days on the big screen now. The helicopters are a similar gag, they exist about as long.

Or have a look at http://www.daz3d.com/shop/bryce-masters-series-cloud-city/ It's free, as is Bryce 7. Can save to image or 3D mesh as well.

I'm not a layer but my guess is that you can distribute anything on any basis in any format as long as you're the owner / creator of the composition as well as the elements in it.

Since you will be drawing up the island / mountain yourself that won't be a big issue, there are so many other programs able to do that, but you'll have to do your own plants and rocks as well I think. If these are part of the intended export. You can't make freebies out of Vue standard libary contents, you know.
You can export height map terrains only, not the procedural ones as these are infinite.

For mountains, the best way of distribution is to make the heightfield map image (16-bit TIFF) from the terrain editor. The Exporter module allows you to export in 3D format from the File menu, but the simple 256x256 heightfield mountain made a 19Mb OBJ file (I just tried, the 16bit tiff took 95kb only!!), so be aware what to expect from a decent 4096x4096 terrain file, let alone when you're adding rocks and plants.

You can export the mountain from the Terrain Editor itself, textures included, I'm not sure whether you need the Exporter module for that. According to the Vue Manual one needs the Export module for the options in the File menu.

I guess you must be very, very good to make something commercially interesting, when it takes me 5 mins and a few free tools to do the same. Your call :)

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Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though