V-Ray Tip: V-Ray Fabric and Carpet: BRDF, Microdetail, Scale

Dial in believable carpet and fabric by combining correct BRDF, microdetail, and scale. Here’s a focused checklist that works across 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, SketchUp, and more with V-Ray.

• Use Sheen for cloth realism:
  • In VRayMtl, enable Sheen for velvet/suede/knit. Start with Sheen color slightly darker than base diffuse and Sheen glossiness around 0.6–0.8.
  • Keep base lobe roughness relatively high (Roughness 0.4–0.7) to avoid overly specular fabric.
• Woven structure and normals:
  • Use high-quality woven normal maps (e.g., plain/twill/satin) at true scale. For close-ups, combine a woven normal with a larger macro-wrinkle normal using VRayCompTex.
  • For directional fabrics (corduroy, brushed velvet), add slight Anisotropy and orient it with Anisotropy rotation or a tangent map.
• Carpet pile and fuzz:
  • For close shots, use VRayFur to simulate pile. Typical lengths: 5–15 mm for short carpets; increase Gravity slightly and add Bend for natural lay.
  • For mid/long shots, a “microfuzz” look can be faked with a fine normal map plus Sheen; reserve VRayFur for hero areas via object/ID masks.
• Efficient weave geometry:
  • Leverage V-Ray Enmesh/Pattern (where available) to build woven geometries without heavy meshes. Use it sparingly on hero patches and bake to normal/displacement for the rest.
• Translucent fabrics:
  • For curtains and thin knits, wrap your fabric shader in VRay2SidedMtl. Use a slightly tinted Translucency color and keep overall thickness realistic (0.5–2 mm).
• Scale and displacement:
  • Scene units matter. A 1–3 mm displacement for fabric seams/stitching is often enough; clamp with Max subdivs and use 2D displacement for stability.
• UVs and repetition control:
  • Use VRayTriplanarTex for upholstery to avoid seams on complex forms.
  • Break tiling with VRayUVWRandomizer (offset/rotate/scale) and blend 2–3 color/roughness variants with noise masks for variation.
• Physically plausible reflectance:
  • Keep IOR low (1.3–1.5) and avoid overly bright albedo; diffuse albedo for fabrics typically stays under 0.8 linear.
• Wear, dirt, and edges:
  • Use VRayDistanceTex to fade fibers along skirting boards/traffic paths; combine with soft masks to add sheen loss and darkening.
  • Add subtle fuzz strands along silhouettes with sparse VRayFur driven by paint masks.
• Lighting, noise, and denoising:
  • Textiles can look “mushy” if over-denoised. Use the VFB Denoiser at moderate strength and preserve detail; keep Noise threshold around 0.01–0.02 for finals with fabric hero shots.
• Lookdev and asset sources:
  • Test under neutral HDRI and a soft key to judge sheen and weave response before production lighting.
  • Consider measured materials with Chaos Scans for complex textiles and manage licenses through NOVEDGE.
• Compositing control:
  • Render Cryptomatte by material for easy fabric isolation. Export multi-channel EXR and keep separate sheen/coat contributions if your pipeline supports it.

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