This is a procedural terrain material I am working on, still a lot of work left… Need to figure out how to create that dusty/sandy look…
Both images have the same exact material, only difference is the mesh displacement texture.
Very cool! This would save a lot of work. 
Such terrain/areas are often windy. Made of small particles which are reflective and are so many in number that they make an effect as velvet. So may be to add some:
- velvet shader
- fresnel
- thin layer of mist, low clouds, rocks, DOF, airborne particles …
Could this might be of help? (done with povray)
Link: http://news.povray.org/povray.binaries.images/thread/<[email protected]>/
You might want to use the normal output from the geometry to help create a more sandy texture for the flat parts of the terrain.
String the normal output through the normal node and use the ‘dot’ output to mix a sand and rock material.
Very nice - yeah i think there’s too many ‘cracks’ over all the lighter patches- lower contrast/ bump in some of these areas and perhaps go for more smooth areas(with some grain) to create the sand look, that burnin talks about above:)
Will be really nice though when DOF, mist, contrast is all added!
Thanks all for the input! I have made some of the noted changes, but not all of them yet. It is now a bit simpler looking, but I feel it is more pleasant to the eye.
Probably a matter of taste, but it looked like you were heading to a more interesting result with the first two pictures, which doesn’t mean you need to get back, but probably make what you prefer in this one more visually explicit
Actually, the first one looked like Red Rocks mountains outside Vegas. Or another planet. Very intersting looking and detailed.