Fabric
Imperfections
Add subtle signs of use to your fabric one by one, each starting at zero, from a list that follows your material.
Matelume Guide. Upcoming features are marked separately.
Imperfections are the last Craft step before Export. They add the small, believable variation a real cloth has: a dye that is a touch uneven, a little fading, lint caught in the hollows. They are optional and meant to stay subtle: clean architectural variation, never dirt or damage. Each one is its own card with its own strength, and the list follows your material.
Adding an imperfection
- Switch a card on with the switch at its top right. It starts at 0 %, so nothing changes yet.
- Raise its Strength (0 to 100 %) until it reads the way you want.
- To remove it, switch the card off.
Each card says what it does and what it changes: colour, gloss or relief. You can switch on as many as you like; they work together on your material.
Colour and gloss only
Imperfections change the colour and the gloss of your material. Your relief stays exactly as built. The one exception is Wrinkles: soft creases in the cloth, the only option that changes the relief.
The list
| Group | Imperfection | What it does | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every fabric | Dye variation | The dye a touch uneven from place to place | colour |
| Every fabric | Thread polish | Raised threads a little shinier where they are rubbed | gloss |
| Every fabric | Lint in the hollows | Tiny pale fibres caught in the low parts | colour, gloss |
| Every fabric | Uneven nap | The surface fibres lying slightly differently, so the gloss varies softly | gloss |
| Every fabric | Sun fading | Large soft areas a little lighter and paler, as after years of daylight | colour |
| Every fabric | Rubbed shine | A few broad areas polished by use, where hands and bodies touch | gloss |
| Every fabric | Dust | A very fine pale veil, a little more in the low parts | colour, gloss |
| The stitched parts | Fuzzy threads | A faint fuzz on the stitched threads: a little paler and more matte | colour, gloss |
| The stitched parts | Snagged threads | A few short pulled threads catching the light | colour, gloss |
| Velvet | Crush marks | Patches where the pile was crushed: shinier and a touch lighter | colour, gloss |
| Velvet | Pile shading | Big soft areas brushed the other way: lighter and darker | colour, gloss |
| Velvet | Pressure marks | A few soft imprints where someone sat or leaned | colour, gloss |
| Chenille | Flattened pile | Areas where the soft pile has flattened and gone glossier | gloss |
| Chenille | Pilling | Tiny pale bobbles of fibre where the cloth is rubbed | colour, gloss |
| Silk | Water marks | Faint tide lines left by dried drops | colour, gloss |
| Silk | Crease shine | Thin bright lines where the silk was once folded | gloss |
| Silk | Shade streaks | Faint streaks along the weave, the silk's shading | colour |
| Suede | Brush marks | Strokes where the nap was brushed another way | colour, gloss |
| Suede | Scuffs | Paler, drier patches where the nap is scuffed | colour, gloss |
| Suede | Water spots | Darker blotches with a darker rim | colour, gloss |
| Cotton | Washed look | Soft mottling from washing: a little lighter here and there | colour |
| Cotton | Pilling | Tiny pale bobbles where the cotton is rubbed | colour, gloss |
| Cotton | Barre streaks | Faint bands across the weave from uneven yarn | colour |
| Relief | Wrinkles | Soft creases in the cloth | relief |
The Every fabric, The stitched parts and Relief groups are always there. A family's own group appears only when that construction is on in the step before. Without a construction, a note under the list tells you to turn one on to see the imperfections that material gets.
Checking them
The picture shows each map an imperfection changes, before and with the imperfections, side by side. Its labels give the measured change: the gloss change, how much the colour changed in percent, and "relief unchanged" or how deep the creases are. The 3D view shows them on top of your material and the construction you are trying.
In the export
Every imperfection you switch on goes into your export at the strength you set.
Tip: Gloss changes show only in reflections. Turn the object, or use Light to turn the lights, until the surface catches them. Some effects, such as Dye variation, Dust and Lint in the hollows, are faint by nature: look closely.