** Note: this will be broken up with images and occasional bits of humor soon **
This post will attempt to explain some of the key points of texture mapping polygonal objects in Maya 8.5. This approach would be one you would use as a beginning 3d artist or as part of a production team that does not have some sort of 3d paint solution
I think it is useful to point out that this technique will inherently cause a bit of stretching of the texture over certain faces of the polygons. It is necessary to unitize your UVs to alleviate that sort of stretching. There will also be some seams with this method. Both of these points we will attempt to minimize by working intellegently. In regards to the seams, you as the modeler and texturer must try to find a way to minimize their visibilty, or use them as logical breaks in the surface you are modeling.