Lightwave Render

(Maya Example coming soon)

In this comparison of renders, the first used the unaltered map ONLY in the color channel(In Maya, this would be the color node)

In the second render(middle) the original map was separated into a color and a diffuse map by converting to LAB, duplicating the "L" channel into a new document and using it in the diffuse.

This way the color channel contains only changes in color accross the shaded surface, and changes in diffuse(are controled by a map)

The middle render with the separate maps is clearly richer and not as "flat" as the render with only a color map.

Another Example