Transfer Maps and Parralax Mapping

I've been doing research on making good normal maps for a texture, instead of the default of taking the color map into a normal application like CrazyBump and playing with the settings. What I have been doing is taking my low-poly game mesh and importing it into Zbrush, where I assign the diffuse to the object and paint detail over noticeable deformations. Then, I'll import the high poly and low poly model into Maya and go to Lighting/Rendering>Transfer Maps. This achieves a much more fine-tuned normal map, instead of having random deformations on the surface if they're not supposed to be there (ex: a stain wouldn't cause the normal map to project from the surface, like what would happen in CrazyBump).

Also, another feature in Unreal 3 is the ability to create a parallax map: a combination of a normal map and a faked height map. I have played around with this, and it seems that the more subtle the offset the better, as details start overlapping and crawling over each other if the amount is too drastic.

I truly enjoy modeling and texturing, and now I'm even more exciting to achieve more convincing results in my textures!