@Dave-R
It's to be able to sample the texture to paint some geometry.
Typically urbanism. I get landscape bitmap drawings that I need to scale to match the DWG.
Then I need to explode the image to paint the mesh that I start to build with quadfacetool, vertextools and subD ( I use vertextools ability to keep the texture UV while editing the vertex).
Sometimes I use Google Earth images too, and trace the roads first, then start building quads.
Once I start moving the vertex, and break the planeity, the texture gets exploded and I use the source image to sample the texture scale and orientation ( by using the projected mode) and repaint the messed up geometry.
When creating complex terrains, I group the parts to keep the subdiviions fast. And once a group is created, I can't see the source texture anymore so I can't trace upon it.
When using DWG style vectorised drawings, there's no problem as the source remains visible when you're in a group (and the source drawing outside the group), but with bitmaps, you need it inside the group to be visible unless it's an image.
So I'd like to be able to keep the visibility of a bitmap in all circumstances, wether inside or outside a group..
Or, being able to sample an image and use it as a texture without having to explode it first.