Nike Vomero 18.

Since we couldn't rely on a 3D scan — the shoe was in Europe and couldn't be shipped — I asked the team in Amsterdam to capture high-resolution photos of the shoe under the flattest light possible, ensuring no shadows would interfere. With about 100 photos covering every angle, I used Substance Designer to project these images onto the CAD model — aligning the sides, the toe, and the back to replicate the intricate fabric patterns accurately.

Substance was a great starting point, but to get the final texture perfect we had to dive into Photoshop. Some photos had out-of-focus areas, so we isolated specific patterns and rebuilt them from scratch using details from other images — a tedious, time-consuming process that let us land a seamless, high-res final texture.

From there, we used the diffuse texture to create a grayscale displacement map — bringing the material and pattern to life with the exact look and feel of the original shoe.