i've not seen any mapping jobs from simple which have left me particularly impresses ... infact there are alot of peoples mapping that doesn't.
the best way there is to skin an object is to make sure you make one once it is low - then add the detail up, once the mesh is quite complex you'll already have the basis to work from and its just a case of closing gaps rather than making sure that all of you're mesh is keeping the shape of the texture you place on it.
Good Texture artists are able to fixx problems with the UV Map, but that doesn't mean its acceptable to leave them as problems - i mean when your working exclusively in CGR and the textures can be setup as single maps easily then that is no problem, because all your doing is cutting the mesh up and doing a standard planner map on it ... BUT when you start working towards the goal of keeping everything tidy, you'll be using very few mesh and you have to actually wrap the areas of the model together because you simply filter the edges of them the same as highpolygon maps.
That said EVEN when working with CGR you should still be working the minimum engine work - because else you'll add hours -> days of rendering time to your work.
So its only a lazy 3D artist who will sit there and simply planner map everysection with the edging of a texture to solve the problem.
Tsu'va Oni Ni Jyuuko Fiori Sei Tau!
One block follows the suit ... the whole suit of blocks is the path ... what have you found?
