Faking Fabric Threads

One problem when creating cloth textures is trying to get tileable thread patterns. To help make this process easier I created a small pattern which when used on a number of offset layers creates lots of different believable thread patterns. This is the threads.tga file in the attached zip. Also in the zip are two Gimp examples of how a pattern like this can be used.

fabrics.xcf has two layers, just use Layer - Transform - Offset to change the threads pattern. With Wrapped enabled you can change X and Y by 0 to 15 pixels to see all the different patterns. I use this as the starting point for new cloths.

threads.xcf has 5 layers. Three are threads and there's two shading layers to add variation to the fabric. This was used to create the threads layers in the fabrics.xcf (with shading disabled)

Experiment with the layer modes (screen, dodge, burn, etc) and offsets to find a pattern you like.

You can use the finished texture to adjust shading on materials when building fabrics from scratch, convert them to normal maps, use them as alpha channels for string vests, etc. Play around and have fun, you're sure to find your own ways to take advantage of this technique.

As you can see, they are not accurate thread patterns, but at the scale these would be used at, they add pretty convincing shading to sell the idea that you are looking at cloth.