looking for an easier way to make more realistic grass (so far only way i know is to make TONS of grass patches to cover a wide area) as apposed to making a terrain and assigning a grass, which gives it a green color and bumps a little, but doesnt have individual strands. any help? thank you!

I find using both works best. Use the patches closer to the camera, the ground textured with a grassy texture looks fine in the distance or behind the grass etc. But sure someone else will give a better solution.

Attached Link: http://www.eaglewing.org.uk/gallery/odds/vue/f-grass.zip

I use what Ms O described. Also, don't forget you can re-shape the grass patches. I invariably widen them along the X and Z, so they cover a larger area. :)

Attached Link: http://www.3dplants.com

you can download them here :

http://3dmodelworld.com/3dsmodels4.asp

or directly at :

http://www.3dplants.com

(go in the "free models" section)

There is no texture included, but you can create one very quickly in VUE (a green gradient with yellow highlights and variable transparency works nicely).

You don't need many of these models to cover a large area. In the following picture, I used only 8 of them in foreground :

http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=141357

ERic