Why do the edges step?

A stitch is the smallest unit the material has, so a curve can only be approximated in stitch sized steps. Smooth edges mean the texture was printed onto a smooth object.

How does colour change work?

At a stitch boundary, never inside one. That is why knitted designs are blocky and why a fine gradient is impossible in the material.

Should there be cables?

A cable or a rib on the larger surfaces reads immediately as knitwear and gives the light something to do. A field of plain stitches alone can look like a texture map.

Knitted

knit render
jumper texture
stockinette
cable knit

A surface of interlocking loops, so every form is stepped by the stitch grid.

Draw this style

Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.

What it is for

A knit is a grid you can see, so the material announces how it was made in every square millimetre. It also stretches, which is why knitted forms look slightly soft and slightly wrong in a way people find warm.

How it works

Interlocking V shaped stitches run in rows and columns. The grid follows the form and stretches on a curve. Edges step by the stitch. Cables and ribs raise the larger surfaces. The yarn carries slight fuzz that catches a rim light.

When to use it

Use it for winter, comfort and craft. Avoid it for anything precise, because the stitch grid limits how fine a detail can be.

Told apart from its neighbours

Crochet is built from chained loops and reads as rounder and chunkier. Quilted is padded panels with stitch lines rather than a stitch grid. Felt and Fabric is woven rather than looped.

Where it is used

It carries a seasonal advertisement, a product render, a greetings card and any picture about warmth.

Advertising and seasonal campaigns
Craft illustration and product renders

The prompt

Replace the blanks with your own character, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.

<character> knitted from wool, the whole surface made of visible interlocking V shaped stitches in regular rows and columns, the stitch grid following the form so it stretches where the surface curves, every edge stepped by the stitch size rather than smooth, a soft raised cable or rib running over the larger surfaces, slight fuzz on the yarn catching a rim light, colour changing only at a stitch boundary, soft even light

Run it

What goes wrong

A smooth object with a knit pattern printed on it comes back. Ask for the edges to step by the stitch and for the grid to stretch where the form curves.

Leave out

a smooth surface, a clean curve, printed pattern, gloss, fine detail, a seamless edge

Watch for

Stepped edges. A knitted thing cannot have a smooth curve, because the stitch is the smallest unit, and asking for the steps is what stops the model printing a knit texture onto a smooth object.

Questions

The basic knit face, a field of V shaped stitches in regular rows. It is what most people picture when they think of knitting, and it is the default for this style.