20.10.20264 min

Fabric in Corona: Sheen, wear and surface detail

Build a soft upholstery material in Corona Physical Material by combining a matte base with Sheen and texture masks. Keep color, wear and fine surface detail in separate chains so you can recolor the material without losing its character. This guide uses Physical Material rather than the dedicated Corona Fabric Material.

Start with a base and a reference

Create a Corona Physical Material in Slate Material Editor and assign it to the object. Connect CoronaColor to Base color, choose the main shade and enable interactive rendering. Start with high Roughness for the matte textile demonstrated here, then compare it with your reference.

Look at the difference between the front-facing fabric and the surface at a grazing angle. The example has a darker center and brighter edges. Reproduce that behavior rather than assuming the same settings suit every fabric.

Control Sheen without making the fabric glow

Raise Amount in Sheen layer to reveal its contribution, then adjust Roughness and Color. Reduce the intensity until the result looks natural. Sheen approximates soft reflection from microfibers; it is not a light source.

Review the effect on a rounded shape, as in the lesson. If the edges become too bright, lower Amount before darkening Base color, which would also change the main surface color.

Sheen layer controls in Corona Physical Material. 00:01:45

Add variation and adjust the projection

Connect a texture mask to Sheen amount. Route the map through CoronaTriplanar and adjust Scale for the demonstrated setup. This helps blend projection transitions and control the size of the pattern.

CoronaTriplanar does not make every source image seamless. If repetition or a transition remains visible, inspect the map, its scale and the affected surface. Changing the effect strength alone cannot conceal every large defect.

Blend wear masks in Composite

Create a Composite with two layers: the original mask below and an additional mask above. Route the second map through Color Correction and adjust contrast. The demonstration uses Subtract; the upper layer's Opacity reduces its influence.

Check the Composite preview and connect its output to Sheen amount. Use a separate CoronaTriplanar projection for the additional map. Aim for variation without covering the entire fabric in equally strong patches.

Composite blends the masks for Sheen amount. 00:04:22

Separate color variation from Sheen

Temporarily disconnect the Sheen chain to inspect Base color. Create a Mix node: connect the original color to Color 1, a corrected version to Color 2 and a black-and-white mask to Mix Amount. Connect the Mix output to Base color.

Adjust the second color's brightness and the mask scale, then restore Sheen. This separates color variation from microfiber reflections. Begin recoloring with the original CoronaColor while checking the other layers.

Add wrinkles and fine surface detail

Route a normal map through CoronaTriplanar and CoronaNormal, then connect CoronaNormal to Base bump. Add a separate bump map in Additional bump mapping and adjust its scale independently. Review the larger wrinkles before the fine pattern.

Do not enable Add gamma to input automatically for every normal map. Follow the map's loading method, supplied information and Corona warnings. Compare the final material with the reference under the same lighting; excessive bump can spoil the soft appearance.

CoronaNormal and separate maps in the fabric material chain. 00:07:00

Technical documentation: Chaos: Corona Physical Material · Chaos: CoronaNormal