Well, I've been very successful with UV coordinates in poser nodes. They are very very very precise, even if a corresponding 2D image map would be sloppy.

For example, I am able to create threads on a scale of 200 threads per inch that are entirely driven by the UV coordinates of the geometry. Even at these tiny scales, the coordinates are accurate, and so any procedural arithmetic works perfectly. As a result, I often can re-scale otherwise low-detail image maps to cover very tiny areas of UV space, even with twisting and bending.

Here are some examples: some cloth weaves I did procedurally.

http://poserbagginsbill.googlepages.com/weaves

If you scroll down to the blue one, you will see some extreme zoom renderings showing the incredible detail at such small UV scales. Individual fibers are visible and these were driven by UV coordinates.
 

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)