By James Cochran.
Rendered using Blender 2.74 Cycles. I used high resolution topographical maps of Death Valley from the USGS web site and the displacement modifier to create the mountains. I blended several image textures to create the rocky craggily mountains and the green valley floor. I created 3 trees using the tree generator and the particle simulation to create the forest. This is only a fraction of the total scene which includes 2 million trees in total.
I also mixed in a snow texture to be able to change the seasons. I rendered a one minute video of the changing seasons and posted it on YouTube called “Seasons in 60 Seconds”. Here’s the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbrjtmXOUnY
The only thing left to do is to add the river running through the valley.