Normal Maps Part 2 and Creating Realistic Feathers

After speaking to Paul in the tutorial he suggested using Blender's normal mapping tools, or Crazy Bump as they are much better than Maya's. I will give Blender ago later in the week.

Over the last few days while attempting to normal map my models I have also been considering other way's to give my characters the appearance of feathers/fluff. After some research I found this video which shows the results of using the MZFeather plugin which looks perfect for the overall effect I would like to acheive:

I was unable to locate the actual plugins itself though after some pretty heavy googling. Fortunately Paul managed to find it at:

http://malcolmz.multiply.com/journal

Unfortunately the author of this plugin is selling it for 160 Euros which is to expensive for my budget/if could afford it is a little steep for what it is. I have emailed the author to ask whether I can use this plugin for a lesser price as a one off for this assignment.