Someone once told me to challenge myself with the minimal use of software and see what results I can get out of 3Ds Max and Photoshop.  Hand painting textures is always fun, but the projection baking part in 3Ds Max is definitely not perfect because of the tedious steps and imperfections. This day in age is great because lots of things are automated with one-two click buttons to save time, but I think its also important to go back to basics and see how things can be done 'manually' in a sense.