Do not worry about stepping on me, I am glad that there is a discussion, Texturing is what this thread is about

Most threads now days seem to be a couple o  posts and the hundreds of views with no discussion

even the tips thread has very few posts

What I call a mask you could call a pseudo material zone, and it can be used the same way

Here is an example of curved mask on ends 

Mask ( or material) is on right

Notice base texture has the top with no dots, 

Bill

People that know everything by definition can not learn anything