Well, the white is supposed to be the ocean. Originally it was blue like the little lakes and rivers, but somehow in the export process the background became white. The light blue was another anomaly since it was supposed to be swampy green like in the first picture. I was having some exporting pains and cared little for that at the time. About the gradual transition I certainly agree. I am not very sure how to do that, though. The main dissatisfaction I had with AR was that I could not find a simple way of subdividing an object. Most people suggested that I should use layers, but that is a paradigm that i am not very knowledgeable yet.