After your model has the appropriate texture coordinates applied to it via a UVW unwrap, you can bring the template into Photoshop and begin texturing it in 2d. There are also a number of applications, such as Mudbox that allow you paint directly on your model in 3d space. This is very useful if you have easily visible seams as it will make the texture transition seamless. You can also create procedural textures inside of 3ds Max that give you the flexibility to edit them within the program, and also animate them.