Help making a fabric sofa look like leather

[Domas3167883422zp]

Hey,

So for work I have to make renders of furniture in different colours and materials that we sell, going from leather to fabric is super easy but going the other way round is starting to look impossible, no matter what I try it never looks like a leather texture and just looks like a different kind of fabric, any suggestions, helps or even tutorial would be appreciated! I have attached a photo of the sofa that needs to be changed to leather compared to a actual leather sofa I am trying to mimic, I have also attached my ugly attempt and you can see the issue I am having.

Thanks

Domas

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

@Domas3167883422zp you can't just adjust the color of a fabric sofa to make it look like leather. You'll have to completely repaint the pieces to smooth out the texture, then add highlights and grain to mimic leather. This is a seriously rough example:

That being said - A big serious piece of advice considering you are going to use this for selling products:

Don't do this in Photoshop.

Shoot the fabric samples showing the actual product instead of trying to "fake it". As a consumer I'd be livid if those renderings were not 100% accurate representations of actual products and receive a sofa that does not look like the image portrayed on the site.

[Domas3167883422zp]

Yeah seems like this might have to be the best option, and we do offer samples and you can see the samples looks online aswell so most of the time customers have been happy with it but I know what you mean.

[J E L]

@Domas3167883422zp Did you try the Generative Fill option in either Photoshop or Firefly? You may get better results if you do it in patches or sections, depending on the original image. I did a quick test, and it was rather impressive as a starting place.

[Domas3167883422zp]

I have messed around a little with it but it wasnt working well, will definetly try it out now with small patches and see if it does a better job!

[Earth Oliver]

the only way to do that is completely illustrate it by hand. This would challenge even the best photoshop professionals.

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

A major problem with this is that leather has a fundamentally different texture than fabric, so you have to account for that. First I had to kill the fabric texture, so I applied a blur, then a mask to keep the blur away from the edges and seams. Then, the approach shown below is to use the Materials panel (choose Window > Materials) to apply the Fine Leather material from Substance 3D materials for Photoshop, tweaking color and other Materials settings. It also took some tonal adjustment with Curves, which still needs more work (crevices need to be darker). I don’t even think this is a great solution, unless it works for you.

Another major problem you have is that the fabric and leather sofas are lit quite differently, look at where the highlights and shadows are. They’re almost the opposite of each other. This might be the way the fabric reflects light, but it might just be that each sofa was photographed with lights in different positions, which is difficult or just impractical to fix in Photoshop.

The way this would be done in for example the Ikea catalog is that they have 3D models of everything (which you can now scan yourself with the right iPhone/iPad and a good photogrammetry app), and then they would apply an accurate leather material in 3D software so that it would properly follow the contours, then light the model and render it. In Photoshop, you can only sort of fake this texture since it isn’t real 3D.

Really, if materials are to be changed in photos without the photos in the ad or website just outright lying to the customers, the original photos must be lit and photographed (or built as 3D models, which is increasingly common) with future materials changes in mind and accurate materials on hand in 3D software. Otherwise it’s just a mess, like this.

I also tried changing it to leather with Generative Fill, but although it did look like leather, it kept changing the actual sofa structure…not good. Maybe I need to try a different prompt. In the future, you might be able to ask an AI feature to both change the surface and relight it. Both have been shown to be possible, but they are not both features in Photoshop right now.

[Domas3167883422zp]

yeah that was the issue I was running into, the lighting and the way the fabric reflects the lighting is a nightmare, We have recently started 3D scanning products for the website but this is a old sofa so its alot harder for us to scan it in sadly. 

Generative Fill is currently looking like the best bet with tweeks to fix it and make it portray the sofa accurally, hopefully that future comes soon where I can just ask it to relight and reskin the sofa to a different material, would make my job 1000x easier haha

[Leo33542418k2ez]

Have you tried adjusting the glossiness and bump settings? Leather has a unique sheen and subtle texture that you might capture by tweaking those parameters. Also, consider playing around with the lighting to enhance those leather-like highlights.

For some extra guidance, check out tutorials on texture mapping, especially those focused on leather materials. You might find some helpful tips and tricks there. And hey, don't be too hard on yourself – learning and experimenting is all part of the creative process!

By the way, have you heard of Von Baer? They're known for their exquisite leather products, and studying the details in their items might give you some inspiration for achieving that authentic look.