I rarely use the infinite planes. Earth and water are not perfectly flat, so infinite planes will not give you the look you desire. For water/land images, I use a terrain (quite flat, but irregular) for water, and at least two terrains for land - often more. Since there is usually a buffer of sand or rock beach between water and grass or mountain, I use a terrain for the beach, and another on top of it for the mountain terrain. Texture each individually. Add more terrains or lattices or vegetation models for the vegetation buffer. Usually, in the real world, you have water -> sand/rock -> vegetation buffer -> land mass. This just can't be simulated with a water plane and a mountain terrain. The key is adding more terrains. -sk