Finally decided to get this thing in game to see if it was worth pursuing.  The b/w picture is the multiplier/diffuse in photoshop 3d.  The color picture is (obvie) in game.  (I think the PS picture is an older version of the texture though)

Now, I am painting on the wood texture, as you can see in the PS picture.  In the in-game picture, I’m showing it with in-game wood texture overlaid over mine and then also with just a solid texture.

What do you think?  Am I on a fool’s errand with this thing?  Keep in mind, I've only painted up to about her knee.  And I haven’t blended in the seams.

Could it be?!?!  Dun-dun-dun...the staves / staffs ?! (I still say somebody was a fan of Iron Maiden/Eddie what made this one... Just putting it out there...) 

Glass and not-glass...  I’m not showing the full staff because you’ve alredy seen the bottom half on the skull one - the difference being I removed the bolts/screws and leather texture)

Yeah, they are slightly different.  I set the scaling on the pattern differently on the one on the right, and I think I like it better... I don’t know.  Thoughts?

Well, there you go... That’s about the best it’s going to get.  You can see just how much I altered the original TSM staff.

NOTE: What you can’t see from that picture showing the original (left)... is that it is NOT ROUND.  It is square, but with “rounded” textures.  It looks horrid at an angle actually.

{{wailing and gnashing of teeth}}

And yes... I made sure there were no gaps in the mesh, and I aligned normals and all that jazz. 

FORK YEAH! I CRACKED THAT NUT!  2-group accessory with 4 channels and recolorable glass _IS_ possible. BO-YAH!  And because it uses the glass shader, it glows in the dark.

I do need to test that it is in fact base game, since it started life out as a clone from the Seasons goggles (with a LOT of setting changes to make it re-colorable on the glass).