(BB) 

Quote -   Generally speaking, a connection from bump to a series of nodes that eventually leads to an image map cannot be assumed to tell us anything about the image map's gamma, if that same image map also leads to a color input. 

     Exactly.  And though some of my concoctions may indeed be whacky, there is a method to my madness.  So what I ask of Poser is to let me rise or fall on my own merits, rather than making nanny-state decisions "for my own good".  I enjoy making new content which exploits the newest Poser features.  Sometimes I misuse Poser features in innovative ways.

     In this case, I'm making a massive enviro playset, and I'm trying to be economical with both poly count and texture maps, for the benefit of those who don't have gobs of RAM.  I know the color map is not really correct for bump, but it is plenty good enough for background "filler" props.

     The use of double maps blended with the spot tile allows me to economically cover a huge area without the obvious "checkerboard" artefact common to tiling, and maintaining good resolution even in a closeup.  Note the asphalt right near Mr Chipmunk in the foreground.

     I'm also reducing the need for a myriad of Poser lights;  this scene has one infinite light (dialed down to 12%) for moonshadow, and one tiny 10-degree cone spot focused on Mr Chipmunk (otherwise he'd be lost in the dark).  The buildings and streetlights are all done automagically with unseen IDL emitters.  When actually using the playset, I'll use a few Poser lights on the focus of interest (the main doll, etc) to gain specularity.  But these background props will take care of themselves.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5