Quote - How the @#$% do you get your textures to look so good?...;)  I've been able to UVMap for some time, but the 'density' (level of detail) of textures seems to be (to coin a phrase) all over the map.

I'm not claiming that my textures look so good, but what the heck, I'll have a go anyway.

Maybe we could see some annotated examples of your "all over the map"s to get some idea of the problems you're seeing? In private, if necessary - but you know what they say, many hands make light work. :)

Quote - I've looked at some of the texture packs that have been offered here, and tried some of them, but the thing I'm after is detail (I have a theory that the secret to modeling isn't loads of fiddly bits on the object file; it's a straightforward object with really finely detailed textures)

Erm - not necessarily. An appropriate level of detail is what you want. No point in using a 4096 x 4096 texture on a figure's eyeball, for instance, unless anatomical close-ups are your aim. But yes, if you can achieve your goals with maps applied to a one poly square, go for it. Bear in mind that you may want several maps - texture, bump, displacement, specularity etc.

Quote - I've seen bunches of psd files, for those lucky enough to afford Photoshop (I have Gimp, which limits me, but whaddayawantforfree?...;)

Paint Shop Pro will open PSD files. I use version 7 for just about everything. Never could get the hang of The Gimp, because I never really needed to. Maybe when I switch to Linux. :)

Quote - Are you creating the texture files from scratch; are there URLS of 'insanely great' textures out there, or is the secret using lots of different textures on just a few polys?

Sometimes I draw from scratch, sometimes I photograph or scan my own source material, sometimes I download some insanely great textures (try Mayang for a start, or my links page if you need more). Most often I combine these techniques.