Bump/Normal/Displacement in Arnold for Maya

[kapetanovicvanja]

If I have a Normal map exported from Zbrush or downloaded from the internet where do I plug it in Arnold for Maya ? I see I can go under GEOMETRY in aiStandardSurface and than BUMP MAPPING. But is this the same like using aiBump2d or aiNormal Map node in HyperShade ? When I use these nodes I can't figure out once the image is uploaded where are these nodes suppose to be plugged in ? In aiStandardSurface shader tab in Hypershade there is no such a slot. There are Base, Base Color, Diffuse Roughness, Specular,....last Normal Camera and nowhere any Normal, Bump or Displacement slots. How is this done ? Thank you.

[arenascdaniel · Accepted solution]

Hi, you have to plug the "Out Value" from normal or bump node to "Normal Camera" input in the aiStandardSurface, the last input in your image. Also you can use a different bump in your coat layer. You can do it plugin the same "Out Value" in "coatNormal". This input is hidden but accessible by the big green spot in the top-left os your aiStandard... or by the connection editor.

[kapetanovicvanja]

@Daniel Arenas Cortés ooohhh I see. Thank you a lot for clarifying this. Ok so I see when I plug aiNormalMap1 OUT into Normal Camera INPUT that GEOMETRY-BUMP MAPPING automatically accepts my normal map (aiNormalMap1) in that slot. That's cool. What is Coat for? I found CoatNormal but can't add it to a list in aiSTandardSurface. What is the most common way to use normal maps is it to just go to Normal Camera like you explained ?

Thanks a lot man.

[arenascdaniel]

Coat is for add an extra dielectric-specular layer to the top of the shader, it accepts a different normal input. the effect is like a varnish layer over the shader.
There are others Arnold and maya nodes to modify vector data like,aiSpaceTrnasform, aiVectormap or aiNormalize. But the most common way is to use the arnold nodes aiBump, aiNormalMap or the maya node bump2d. And always plugin them from outValue to NormalCamera.

[kapetanovicvanja]

@Daniel Arenas Cortés Thank you so much brother. I am new to Maya and Arnold (from Cinema 4D) so this is really helpful ! Cheers !

[davidDAW2U]

For reference: From the Arnold5 Docs:
https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/display/A5AFMUG/Normal+Map