AAAAHHHH!!!! Great Bone Biscuits, that's exactly what I was thinking of!!!!

I do not know what bump maps are, nor what you mean by applying layers to get a height field (nor what a height field is), nor.......... Okay, I'm a total technidiot, but I love the results! Heaps upon heaps of potential!

Do you think you could make a short tutorial on that--or at least be more A-B-C for we losers? I assume the close-to-same processes could be followed for Photoshop, Bryce/Daz studio/etc. as well. That is very, very impressive--especially for just a "lunchtime project"! Wow!