It usually that the preview maps arent updating. Quick hack: just go to the options tap(top right) and set the preview resolution to full. Usually gives it a kick in the butt and it will start working after that.
I do it on a semi regular basis but as some of the others that do the same in this thread, I work for a small company. I usually don't mind, it's usually technical stuff that interests me anyway.
I think something like 2 or 3 weeks usually, but there are many that are quicker than me...also i don't concept much, i usually explore shapes and volumes direclty in zbrush.
Usually I see FBX files, those usually don't include the full rig don't they? I don't really have experience in animation though, might try some simple ones.
Hmm, usually the reason for triangulating is to remove the chances of xNormal having issues with nGons. Those are usually found in the highpoly. So yes, you really should. What sort of horrific shading issues?
6150 is usually onboard so i guess the socket is 939 or am2, and second would still work and both usually have pci-xpress (maybe not 2.0 but it eats new graphics cards)
No, but it's usually easier to get a nice result using a realtime shader, than it is using a raytraced renderer. The latter usually requires a more careful material and lighting setup to get a solid result.
Any chance its a bad bake? Usually when that happens to me it's when I have geometry over geometry and the bake caught some of the faces of the underlying geo. Usually tweaking the distances fixes it.
also, it's usually worth thinking if there is a max way of doing what you want, and scripting that, usually is faster for max (noise modifier for instance sounds like what you are doing somewhat?) good luck!
Hmmm, if you're using Photobucket then that's what's compressing it, not Polycount. They have strict dimension restrictions and will automatically downsize stuff usually making it look awful. I usually use other hosts like imagur.