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Quick start: your first fabric

Make your first fabric material in the Studio's four phases, Begin, Prepare, Craft and Export, with only the essentials.

Matelume Guide. Upcoming features are marked separately.

Start with a flat image you have the right to use: a scan, a catalogue swatch or your own design. Camera mode is coming, without an announced date. The app’s Photo and Choose a photo labels refer to the image you load.

This walk-through makes a fabric material with the essentials only. Every step has more to offer; the Studio pages explain it. Keep an eye on the 3D view: it shows your material the whole way.

You move on with Continue at the bottom of the panel, and back with Back. The step bar at the top shows the four phases: Begin, Prepare, Craft and Export.

1. Begin

  1. Photo: click Choose a photo, or drop an image on the picture side. Use a flat scan, catalogue swatch or your own design that shows the whole pattern at least once. Leave Even out the light on.
  2. Your software: click each program you'll use, for example Blender or 3ds Max + V-Ray.
  3. Material type: pick Fabric.

2. Prepare

  1. Quality: pick 4K, marked Usual. Matelume brings your image to that size first; wait until the comparison appears. On a trial, exports come out at up to 2K; see Trial and plans.
  2. Scale: tell Matelume how big the image is. Pick how many images make one cushion, for example 2 × 2, then the Cushion size. For curtains or a sofa, pick A size of my own and set the width in centimetres.
  3. Seamless: keep the tool marked Recommended. Look at the repeated picture: its label should say "join clean". If it says "a join is visible", try another tool.

3. Craft

  1. What stands up: click the parts of the design that are stitched or raised. Pick at least one.
  2. Ground, Height, Stitching, Construction and Imperfections: you can keep the defaults for a first material. Try a change or two and watch the 3D view follow.
  3. On Imperfections, click Continue to export.

The Fabric pages explain each craft step.

4. Export

  1. Click Choose the folder... and pick where the material goes.
  2. Leave Package it (install scripts, previews, ZIP) on.
  3. Click Build the maps. The build log and the time left appear on the picture side, and the 3D view shows your material building.
  4. When it's done, click Open the folder. Or bring the material straight into your scene with a card under Send to Blender or Send to 3ds Max.

Note: Matelume doesn't keep your steps after you close it. Export before you click Quit.

Tip: Click Step guide in the top bar. At every step it gives you tips about your own image.

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