That method won't work for me unless i want to custom make 70 texture map variations for each colour change - the tex maps includes skin, shoes, hair etc so randomizing the colour would affect the whole person
If the maps were setup differently your method would improve things though.
Regarding the algorithm: hopefully you guys can come up with something. As you well know, I am not a programmer, but I was wondering if it could be an adaptation of the collision system? Like an added layer of collision detection that would be 'self collision' for individual geo: then you could raise the detection radius to a large percentage (like 1000%) to make sure no repetitions can occur within roughly 10 body widths etc.
I understand your point that it would be slower, but so is collision detection and there are cases where it would definitely be worth it!
Is that a possible way to go?
/b