What is the best way to create textures and labels to applay to an helmet? In other words, as I cannot unroll a sphere, how can I create a sort of 2d projection of a sphere to paint in Photoshop? Thanks in advance.

If the helmet is not to distorted in shape you can use the 3D transform filter. It's a good idea to duplicate your text layer so you have a good copy for safekeeping. You'll have to experiment a little with the filter to get it right, but one trick you can do is to position the filters model (cylinder) to an upright, front and center view BEFORE you attach the label image. :) retrocity