Only Bump seems to be showing the concavity I’m looking for (not with the same map, I use an inverted version of the B&W spec map you see in the nodes setup).
But the moment I switch to Normal (the nodes setup below), not only the concavity won’t show, but the glossiness is gone!.
This Bump is not too shabby, but Normal is supposed to be better. Plus not knowing why is not working is killing me! :mad:
Should you want to inspect the blend file 
, by all means!
Thanks in advance guys!
JDL
Non Color Data is not selected on the normalmap’s image node…
Thanks for replying eppo.
I just changed that back and forth while using the “Rendered” 3d view display mode and nothing noticeable changed.
Did you actually try it yourself?
JDL
Never mind! You were right 
I also reduced some values, like Normal map-strength: 0.450, and Mix shader-Fac: 0.050. I did increase Glossy-roughness: .300
I noticed that whenever I increase the Normal map strength to anything higher than 0.45 the Glossiness disappears 
Is this normal? Is it normal not to be able to use “1.0” ?!!!
Also, Jerryno from StackExchange was kind enough to point that my normal map is not “Normalized”, hence it’s too strong, reason why it washes out all the glossiness. So I’ll have to look into this too.
Actually, is it the same to just ensuring not to exceed 0.45 for the Normal map-strength?
Or is it best to always normalize normal maps?
JDL
What was the software you have used to get this normalmap? Blender itself?
And what is the intended direction for the bumps, in or out? In, i assume?
More i look into this more confusing it looks… and yes i have tried and normalized map too which still doesn’t really help. Swapping RG does help some but not all again… At nm value 0.5 there are severe distortions for some reason.
put you sun lamp in front and lower it to around 1 to 2 max
will looks a lot better.
and make you normal map as non color data
~
happy bl
Btw, have you checked Normals on the strawberry? Need to be flipped imho… Have you baked normals from this state?
Thanks for replying guys 
eppo - I used Blender 2.75a. And yes, the bump direction is IN (concave). Btw, how did you normalize the Normal map?
I generated 2 new maps from 2 different techniques: 1. Gimp Normalize command.
And 2. a) Duplicate the texture layer, b) Gaussian Blur at 100px, c) Invert colors, d) Use the Overlay layer mode. e) Export to desired format.
Ricky - Thanks for your input. I’ll play around a tad more based on your suggestion.
So far though, Bump is surprisingly yielding the best results, go figure!
JDL
Gimp nv normalmap filter, Normalize. Did you check Normals? I’d suggest re-bake after…
right normals are flipped so change it
also you don’t need to subdivide where the bumps are located
here is using normal and bumps
~
happy bl
Wow! I am learning that I was clearly underestimating this whole thing of making normal maps 
I wonder how I ended up with both meshes’ normals inverted, when I had created the normal map before without a problem.
Ricky, are you using BOTH the Normal AND the Bump too?!
If so, how do you that in the nodes setup? Do you connect A (Normal or Bump) to the normal socket of the Glossy, then B to the … vector socket of A? Or do you add another Mix shader maybe?
JDL
Excellent! Thank you ever so kindly Ricky!
JDL
