How to prepare stone wall samples for rendering

What to upload

A swatch of the wall: several stones and the joints between them, not a single stone. Renders build the wall stone by stone, varying each one's color, veining and face texture the way your sample does, and keeping the joints true to it.

Stone isn't repeated into a tile the way fabric is. A grid of repeated stones is what makes a stone wall look printed, so the sample is read as it is.

The ideal sample

A section of finished wall, or a sample board laid up the way it's installed.

• Several courses of stone, with the joints showing.
• Straight on, so the courses stay level.
• Soft light. A gentle light from one side shows the texture; deep shadows that hide the joints don't help.
• Typical variation in color and size, as a buyer would receive it.
• True color, with no filter or edit.

Measurements

Two numbers set the scale, and a third gives the wall its relief.

• Width and height, in inches: the average size of one stone. Left blank, stones are drawn about 9 by 5 inches.
• Depth, in inches: how far a stone stands out from the joint. It is what catches the light and casts a shadow into the joint below.
• There's no pattern repeat box: stone is laid in pieces.
• Guess scale with AI, on the product's page, suggests sizes from the sample for you to check.

Before you save

Check each sample:

• Several stones and their joints.
• Straight on, soft light.
• Typical variation, true color.
• Average stone size and depth entered.
• JPEG, PNG or WebP, 4.5 MB or less.