I added another bump function, turbulance,dropped the scale of the material as a whole, and tweaked the color map. Also did a few other changes to the rest of the scene. Am I getting closer? Thanks, Rich

WEll, it looks interesting... Now it seems like a two way road with a grass divider... The material looks like gravel, which is a good thing... I think that the other picture also had good qualities... All in all this is a nice picture... Now my question is, how come one planet is translucent and you can see the moon through it?? I think a more natural look would be to either see the planet or the moon, but not one through the other... anyway, that's my 2 cents... :)

Being a big fan of lighting effects, I think you need to add in some hi-lites on the tree tops and the grass thats not in the shade. Sky atmospheres in Vue, like Bryce, effect how other stuff renders, and often the plants need to be "livened up" with some additional lighting. Otherwise they have that dull dark green look... Otherwise, an interesting image. It seems to speak of some kind of prophetic destiny...

"prophetic destiny"? As in, which road to travel? That's an interesting take on this, especially with the scenery towards which the split road seems to be leading-- kinda fantastical and realistic at the same time-- I'm sure there's a term for it, but I don't know. it's a very cool pic, nevertheless! If you want it to look like dirt though, why not take the predominant material, and create a sub mixture (sub-sub-mixture?) of it with a brownish color map, just to darken it slighttly. I'm thinking though--- a gate at the "end" of the path maybe--- a horse and rider--- just the way this path seems to be leading "somewhere" kinda makes me want to see someone traveling it to mysterious lands, or fates....

The planet looks to me to be behind the moon...not that the moon is visible through it. I can see where it might be visually confusing, though. I like this road. It seems to be made of gravel. I liked the other road, too, but that one looked like a very different material. Have you consider mixing the two materials to see what comes out of that? And I must compliment your trees. You've got a really nice bark going there, and good positions. :)

heyas; naw, its one of those roads with wagon-wheel ruts. the ruts are a bit wide, though, and a bit flat. :)

Bloodsongs right about the wagon-wheel ruts. The only problem is, I didn't have that effect in mind when I created the greyscale bitmap for the road terrain! I guess I'll have another go at that. The moon is in front of the planet, but I really hadn't thought about how someone else would see it. Move it so it only overlaps a little? I still plan on putting in a horse & rider at some point. Just want to say thanks to everybody for your help, I really appreciate it! Rich

Keep going with it. It's really very inspiring to watch! :)

AWESOME work on this one!!! Verdie of Dreamspinner