maya 8.5 rendering normal maps with bump maps

rooster

ok I doubt I'm going to stumble straight across the answer this time
I'm trying to render a normal mapped model with a bump map also applied. I can get straight forward bump maps to 'chain' ok and blend, but it aint working with the bump node set to tangent space. in software renderer, the normal map appears as if it were a height map and screw up, and in mental ray the chained bump just doesnt show up..

any ideas?

CheeseOnToast

I've not tried it with normal and bump together, but Jan Sandstrom's shader allows you to render tangent space normals with Maya's software renderer. It's nice and simple as well, with no massively complicated shader network required. You'll need to tick the option that flips the green channel if you're using a normal map generated in Maya.

rooster

aah excellent for some reason I thought a plugin wouldnt 'play nice' in the chain but it works spot on.. thanks man! also incase anyone's interested, it works with the transfer maps- you can bake a normal map with bump map to another normal map (or diffuse).