Heh, you are like me as I tend to write a wall of text as well. You might want to at least highlight your question so its quickly identified.

Unfortunately I have not used real world relief maps to create anything but it does look like a good idea.

I know some here have done this so its a matter of timing for them to catch your question. Hopefully someone will be along soon. If can remember who it was doing this I'll be back and drop their name so you can pm them just in case they missed this.

Hang in there. I remember being frustrated when I started working digitally myself.