As long as you intend to stay on terra firma (and don't wander off into space) you can use a Distance shader in the Blend by shader option. Set the Distance shader to Z depth (planar) mode and assign the Render Camera as the Camera. Then adjust the Near and Far distances to something like 2000 and 10000 respectively (the more distance between them the smoother the transition from flat ground to full Alpine effect). Of course if you then decide to take your camera into the stratosphere and above, the Distance shader as a blend shader becomes ineffective and you should use another form of masking such as a power fractal ensuring you give it large scale settings to avoid jagged sudden transitions in displacement.
Quote from: wayne on December 18, 2009, 11:49:24 PM
I have tried looking down and then elevating but it doesn't seem to work.
You'll have to be more specific here as I've just simulated what you're doing (i.e. hiking the render camera into the stratosphere and beyond, using the navigational controls, to see the whole planet, and it does work, i.e. I can see the whole planet. To be sure I can no longer see my mountains as their scale is far too small to be visible in orbit.
John