A drawing tablet is a must for serious work. Not that it cant be done with a mouse but it would take a hell of a lot longer with plenty of downtime correcting and back stepping as compared. A tablets pen tool is a much more natural feel and flow. My Intuos II has gotten plenty workout. DeepPaint 3D version 2.0, I have it as a Photoshop Plugin and can be used as a stand alone as has already been stated. I hardly ever use it since Photoshop is my main stay when it comes to textures (and Painter) but it is chock full of great features and comes in handy especially for those need fast textures. I really need to pay more attention to it. You can define if you want to make a color, bump, shine, glow or opacity map selecting such things as lighting and lighting angle, brush characteristics and brings many preset brushes. In 3D you can rotate your model in 3D space and paint directly on it. Absolutely a good and useful tool, go for it. My first introduction to 3D model painting programs came by way of Fractal Design Detailer, anyone remember them? I still have that CD here somewhere. Also tried Mesh Paint and a few others.