This thread has gone beyond my wildest ;P Thank you to all who have taken the trouble to have contributed so far passing over their experiences and theories Thank you BB for your explanations on the subject did not know that you had already discussed this topic in another thread? Thank you BB, vilters, and Blackhearted for the renders posted giveing me a better understanding I think :/

  So if I am correct (which I doubt) there are cases where either Bump normal or displacements are useful but Bump wins over normal

Although  I must admit I was taken by the renders blackhearted  posted where the displacement in my tired old eyes just had the edge?  But that was displacement over normal and not bump !

BB I have very much enjoyed reading your posts it has helped a lot. So would I be right in saying that in your opinion Bump maps are more versatile than normal or displacement maps? with the right tweaking can achieve results that surpass the other two?