does anybody know what the best or "proper"
procedure in carrara is when working with
image maps as shaders?

the situation: i have a butt-load of image map
files in my shaders. (usually a color file for
color and grayscale maps in each of the other
properties - bump, reflection, and so on.)

these are often the same image. when i need
to use the same image repeatedly, would it
be best to create a shader with that map as
the color channel, then reference that shader
for all occurances in my main shader for the
object?

so i guess what i'm asking, is does an image
load into carrara once, or every time a shader
uses it?

i'm trying to find ways of speeding up file
parsing and rendering without sacrificing
quality by reducing resolution or compressing
images further.

i hope i've explained the question clearly enough.