Making Stuff Look Realistic

Hiya I'm having lots of trouble making my clothing look real. I get halfway there, but as you can see from these two pictures, it's not quite perfect. Many of the lines still look very painted.

I'm getting frustrated with this and I would like to know if there is any tool in Photoshop -- like a texture or brush or something -- that might help me. I use PS CS.

Thanks so much in advance!

Lo, some words of wisdom from a artist that I respect a lot -

Rick Berry - "I'll use anything I can get my hands on to get the result I want"

I'm going from memory on that quote. I was part of an audience he was speaking to, but I think the essence of what he said is there. Rick is one of the founding fathers of the digital/traditional mixed media movement in art. He's been in the business almost 30 years, so I rerspect his words.

How does this apply to you? Think outside of the box (literally!). Use whatever you can to achieve what you're looking for - Scanners, cameras, photosampling, PS or other paint programs, traditional paint, an airbrush, charcoal and paper, the kitchen sink Just don't rip off other people's work.

Talent + Practice + (_________) = the result you are looking for.

Use any of the above to plug into the equation, or come up with what works best for you. Don't limit yourself.

Lo, I think your stuff looks great! Your shading is nicely done. The biggest thing I can see that might be lacking is texture. Your colors are all very smooth without any of the grain of the fabric. Adding a little bit of noise might make a big diffence. When I do overpainting on photosourced stuff, I always have to add noise to make it blend in.

And everything Nam said was good advice

Yup chip is right on the money theres nothing wrong with that at all except looking too smooth, heres the deal: If its supposed to be super smooth, like a rain slicker or vinyl you will need to paint in very sharply contrasting white spots to simulate reflection. If its meant to be fabric all it needs is a little noise to break up that smoothness a little. My suggestions would either be a simple filter>noise>addnoise or a filter>texture>grain or... possibly even filter>texture>texturizer, but the texturizer is dicey at best. Another way to do this wold be to grab an image of a fabric with good texture off the web and toss it in the mix. Hope this helps, your coat looks awesome btw.

Personally, I prefer my SL clothing to be only slightly textured. Some of my favorite clothes are from Avalon, because they're well defined (textures to indicate wrinkles, lapels, buttons, etc) but they aren't muddied with tons of texturing in an attempt to make them appear photorealistic. The textures are subtle enough to provide the hint of realism, without sacrificing that ethereal quality which I prefer.

Just my consumer opinion.

The biggest problem I see with your exanple is the lack of sharp lines where the material ends and the shadows begin. Add a little subtle black shadowing to go with the green. You will find that can make a big difference. Gimme a bit and I'll show ya.

Ok, here is a quick and dirty demonstration. First thing was to decide on a light source and it's direction. Since this is a 3d model the best is noonish to 3:00pm. (overhead, a little to the side) Deciding on light direction is very important as all the shading and shadows must agree or the mind shifts into unrealistic mode and turns it into a cartoon. Shading has to make sense and I found a lot of problems with the collar. Since cloth is organicly shaped, everywhere there is a wiggle on an edge line, there needs to be a wrinkle with a high and low shading for it to fool the eye. I outlined the collar with black then softened it, making sure the areas in shadow were darkest. Although hard to see, I added seams because the eye needs to see them to relay the idea of cloth. That detail alone makes a big difference.

I pulled out my trenchcoat and found it didn't have a callar shaped like yours so you may want to look at a few to make sure the shape is correct. Details like that can make or break clothing easily. This coat could really use some texturing as well but that is a matter of taste.

Wow, thanks for the example! Thanks to everyone!

You're right, Kathmandu, I do need to be far more specific about how things will be in my pieces of clothing. The light source idea is a great tip.

The texture is supposed to be that of an ordinary trench coat, which means that it's not a rough texture but not quite smooth either. I need to clean up my edges and go hunting for some nice fabric textures that I can make into brushes.

Thanks again for all the tips. Designing clothes is tougher than I thought; I see why so many people just give up and photosource for everything ...

-OR- find catalogs of clothing- japanese ones are good- that show a pic of a direct front and back of an outfit and cut and paste pieces of the real outfit to the template. Then you can use photoshop for fine details and alphas. Using real clothing pics makes it easy to make realistic textures for clothes.

DNA

BTW Lo is that hollywood Ca? If so...me too near sunset and La brea :}

Yep, I'm around Cahuenga and Franklin. Small world ain't it?

To add on to Kathmandu's comment about shadows ... When I want to add shadows under a collar, I draw the collar on a separate layer and then add the drop shadow effect to that layer. From there I can tweak the angel of the shadow, the density, and crispness of it too.

And no matter what kind of fabric, the clothes look "alive" when you add simple contouring effects. Highlighting the curve of a breastline, or shin adds dimension. A solid colour with no variances in its tone will definitely look flat.

adding to Lash's suggestion you can then in turn turn that drop shadow into its own layer to further manipulate via transform etc.