This is all excellent feedback.  Unfortunately, I'm done with my three day weekend of madness and am back at work today.  I will play around with a bunch more of this stuff.

Excellent comment on the terrain shader.  As is always the case, the more power a tool has, the more complex it is and the harder it is to learn.  I just need to play with it when I have time.

There are several resources out there for dealing with all this stuff.  One thing I seem to have noticed though is that,

1.)  There is no real comprehensive "book" on buiding outdoor, "terragen" scenes the Carrara way.

2.)  I'm not convinced that it can be done given the current tools in Carrara.  However, I think you can get a lot of good results IF you know how.

Somebody needs to write such a book.  I think it would boost C's marketability quite a bit.

-Kix