I started playing around with a small prop that comes with some nice diffuse/specular/displacement maps, and i noticed that the template was also included. I thought this would be a good time to start learning some texturing. Two things i'm going to try out is:

1. Modifying an existing texture

2. Creating a completely new texture from scratch

I have a decent understanding of the material room, and how different kinds of maps work. I also know that the template is used to make your own textures, and you have to paint a 3d picture in 2d space. Right now i'm only concerned with the outside diffuse texture map.

I'll start with modifying an existing texture. The first problem is i'm not sure how i'd get it working. Most models you go to the pose or material section of your library, click a button, and apply the textures/shaders that way. So if i wanted to change just the diffuse texture, what's the best way to go about doing it? I was thinking that i need to make a copy of the existing texture, make changes to it in photoshop, then create a separate folder to store all my changed textures. Then when i need to use it, i load up all the original textures for the prop (so i can get the specular and all the other maps), then change the diffuse image map in the material room to the modified one. Is that how i would modify an existing texture and use it?

Next is creating a texture from scratch. How do i use the template? Do i just load it up in photoshop and paint my texture within the lines? What do i need to do to create a texture from scratch?