First, I had it on the default 2 light setting. I changed it 1 and it fixed the weird dark bands. It also properly displayed my normals, as another model I had been working on was actually inside out, but didn't display that way.
Second, it is definitely the gamma. I have been doing some experiments, and believe I had set up the gamma proper as I was reading in the 3ds Max help. By default the input and output gamma was set to 2.2.
According to what I read, I was supposed to set the input gamma to whatever the texture files' gamma was. I have confirmed that the images I have painted in mudbox are saved with a gamma of 1, so I set the input gamma to 1. Then I am to set the output gamma to whatever the working/screen gamma that I want to use is, so I left that at 2.2. Unfortunately, though, the textures are still brighter than in mudbox. I have tried all kinds of numbers but still can't gain consistency. If I turn off gamma correction in the 3ds Max settings, then the color display is identical. This would be fine if all I was working with was Mudbox and 3ds Max, but it's not.
(I have also experimented with cryengine3 a bit, and believe that the engine also probably runs on 2.2 gamma settings, as the textures are a bit bright and pinkish.)
Also I'm not sure how to adjust everything to work with gimp. I couldn't find any gamma settings, and the color seems to be slightly on the orange side.
I tried working with the tone mapper filter in mudbox, as I couldn't find any gamma settings in there either, which seems counter productive. It doesn't seem to effect the color wheel, however, and the gamma seems to dynamically change depending on how close or far away from the model I am.
Any ideas on how to set up a consistent workflow? Are there settings somewhere in mudbox I am missing? I really need to be able to adapt to whatever environment I may end up working in.
Thanks.