OK big thanks everyone.
Believe it or not - I have always been using Google Earth in Sky View or Street View. I didn't realize there was a way to toggle the controls so you can also get an angled view of the terrain.

For those learning to do this (like me) play around with the mouse buttons, and not just the buttons on the GE screen. It appears that the right mouse button helps with the angle view of the topography.

Pete

You are welcome.
Another fantastic 3D option, often overlooked, is the tool for casting the sunlight over the terrain at any moment in time. That way you can figure if a sunset or sunrise on a particular date is visible on location (the Sun's disk position is real). Or figure the best time to photograph a landscape (e.g. Once, I've been calculating when to photograph the Golden Gate silhouette over the Sun's disk from my balcony). Or just visually aid in that 3D scene perception.

Also keep in mind that there are plenty of static and online layers available for free for the GE. E.g. I'm using the light pollution overlay often to find a really dark location for my night trips (hunting for them is a part of the astronomy fun).

Alex

you are miles ahead of me with this stuff.
Today I noticed that good old fashioned Google Maps actually allows you to tilt the view. BUT it didn't work on my home computer. After checking it out, I figured out that I hadn't updated the Chrome Browser on my home PC. when you do that, Google maps adds more capabilities. automatically.

I'm leaning ... it's slow. Hahahahha!

Pete