I prefer the 3D chiclets too. A major reason is because I foresee that the 3D chiclets will cast light not just outward but also back onto the column, whereas the version which is just a masked material area of the column surface itself will not. I can minimize the polycount increase by removing the backside polys (already done!) and deleting any chiclets which are on the other side of the set's walls. I'm installing chiclets now, but I'll keep a copy of the low-poly column on the hard drive in case it's needed.

I'll also put together a pack of templates, and post a d/l link when ready.

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