"I'm not new to content making ;)"

But Kitteh, I didn't meant to advice you in content making I have seen your store remember?
I only meant that when you have several sets its not so important about one specific texture as when you only have one set..

Arien's textures are some of the best I ever seen. She maked Xurge look like a beginner! "sets include bump, specular, displacement, advanced shaders in Poser, HSS shaders in DAZ Studio, etc with very high resolution textures"

Advanced Photoshop work in ultra-high resolution and then enhancment with shaders. That's the professional way to do it. The answer to maps or shaders is of course "both", as I knew it would be.

I cannot express strongly enough how satisfied I am to join your exclusive club after so many years..:) vagabondallen wrote and said that he would texture one of models. It shall be fun!