for me, this is a "nailed it" moment, very pleased w/ how the detail of the texturing came thru. actually, some of the issues were mesh related, some tweaks to the material settings and the way i was exporting from 3dc, but it all came together. im not focusing on the scene per say, but the process of texturing in 3dc and outputting for blender. a bit harsh on the bump/normal, but im happy w/ how the displacement is working w/ the normals, the figure does not appear to be on a flat surface at all, and even the grit and pores of the pavement come thru. used the subdivision modifier on the low poly mesh (added, not applied, thanks ethan), and i "think" the seam was an issue of the mesh, not the displacement breaking the model. on very close examination, zbrush ripped the mesh when zremeshing, and gave a poly flow that was not consistent thru the model... shouldve expected that =/