Tutorials Include:

Here are a few basics while the new site is under construction:

There will be tutorials on how to apply textures to many different media
-how to use textures within various 3D packages, including 3DS MAX and others.
-how to apply within 2D software, such as Photoshop.
-how to print for some unique applications.
-how to crop, re-size, scale, and change coloration within 2D and 3D packages.
-links to other useful tutorial sites.

General:
Use a thumbnail browser for day-to-day image work, such as ThumbsPlus from Cerious software. ThumbsPlus makes it easy to view large images in slideshow fashion, or to scale up to full-screen, or to do simple image manipulation within. Managing large numbers of image files becomes a breeze. You can batch process, view one image after another by hitting the space bar or backspace, or view it tiled as your desktop wallpaper by hitting SHIFT-F7.

General 2D:
In Photoshop, instead of using Brightness/ Contrast (Big mistake), use "Image>Adjust>Levels" (CTRL-L) to make your images pop. Where Brightness makes the darks in the image lighter, the "levels" control is like a graphic EQ...start with the middle ticker and slide it left and right, and the darks stay dark, yet the lights get lighter. Much more control.

Subtle color variation can be adjusted using "Image>Adjust>Color Balance" (CTRL-B), whereas strong color variation is achieved using "Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation" (CTRL-U)
The clone tool is like a vacuum that picks up texture from one area and sprays it out over another area. This is the most-used tool for cleaning bad spots out of textures.

Game Engines:
"The power of twos" to use textures with game engines or real-time, simply re-size within photoshop so that you get a perfectly square aspect ratio (512x512 if you like) or in a power of 2, such as 256x512. If there are long or tall textures, merge them together into a square-shaped tile, then offset your mapping coordinates within the engine, so that only one of the maps is used for the particular mesh. Try grouping the horizontal tiles with horizontal, or vertical with vertical.

Batch processing to resize images within ThumbsPlus is awesome... just select the files using SHIFT and/or CTRL, then go to Image>Batch Process. Click "New" then choose "Selected Files" (or "Folder" if you choose)... then under Batch Steps choose "Add", then choose "Transform>Resize". You can then specify a size that you want all the images to become. You can save your batch processes under names which are easily associated with each task.

General 3D:
Break up large expanses of materials with undulating geometry, or altering lighting conditions in different areas. You can also compostite two different organic materials using large-scaled "noise" or "cel" as the mask. That way repitition is minimized.

Bump-mapping: in many cases, the texture map itself can be used as a bump map (use a low mix-setting for subtle efects). Sometimes the map needs to be "inverted" within the material editor. For example, dark bricks with white grout...the grout is in reality a recessed space, but since it's white then the bump makes it pop-out. So in this case you "invert" the map, making the white become a negative bump instead.

Keep the lighting angles similar with the texture maps. Sometimes architectural textures have a light-source angle: keep the angles consistent within your scene by flipping the textures so that they match exactly.

Use the opacity maps as shiny maps as well. For architectural windows, the opacity mask levels can be set to 50%, so that you can gently see through the glass, but then the shiny map (set as inverse) makes the glass shinier than the rest of the building.

Materials with hard shadows in the image map make better exterior materials than interior. This is because interior surfaces have much more subtle shading than exterior surfaces.

Flavor your lights with a tad of color ..for outdoors, the sun has juuuust a little yellow, then diffuse has juuuust a little blue.

For organic materials (and ceramic tiles), rotate the mapping gizmo by 45 degrees or similar, so that your whole scene isn't perfectly 90 degrees all over... adds a little interest.

3DS MAX:
The material editor is a powerful control of your texture mapping.

Drag texture map files from Windows folders (or ThumbsPlus) into the map file slots, or use MAX's "Asset Manager". With the Asset Manager, you can even view 3D wireframe file thumbnails, or view webpages, then drag-and-drop web-images directly into the material editor.

Crop texture maps directly within the material editor (this function is fully animateable) if you like a certain part of the texture, then crop from edge to edge to ensure proper tileability.

Color Correct plugin for the material editor is a POWERFUL way to change colors and hues of your textures directly within max, and with realtime results. You can avoid the extra step of changing hues within photoshop.