When in reality, it's making a cage and model, and importing it into a program like xNormal and trying to figure out what settings makes the right normal map. I wish it was that fun. I think I waited for 30-1hourmins for a normal map render once with what I could of heightmapped in 20mins max. This was my expression while I waited.
Still, if you have something that is high poly and organic(or inorganic but based on something like a bird), it's a good way to go. Heightmapping that kind of stuff gets hard.