Recreating Real Material
Looks and Textures on Plastic
Explore how the visual and tactile qualities of real materials can be recreated on plastic components. This page showcases examples of real material recreation, explains how they are achieved, and highlights the design possibilities they enable.
What Materials Can Be Recreated?
Nissha’s IMD technology captures the visual and tactile qualities that make natural materials appealing. By combining gravure printing and surface texture engineering, we recreate authentic material experiences on plastic components that look and feel remarkably real. Below are three representative examples of material texture designs.
Wood Grains
Wood grains bring warmth and a natural character to products, helping them blend seamlessly with furniture and living spaces.
Nissha’s wood grain designs are developed from digitally captured natural wood patterns and refined by CMF designers to achieve the desired appearance. By combining graphic design with precision surface texture engineering, we recreate not only the visual depth of natural wood but also the tactile qualities that make it feel authentic.
Fabrics
Fabrics create a softer and more approachable product appearance while helping products harmonize with their surrounding environment.
Using high-definition gravure printing and carefully designed surface finishes, Nissha reproduces a wide range of textile-inspired expressions, from cotton-like softness to refined woven fabrics. The result is a level of realism that often surprises customers when they see and touch our samples.
Natural Stones
Natural stones add depth, sophistication, and a premium visual presence to product designs.
By carefully studying the distinctive characteristics of natural stone and reproducing them through graphic design and surface finishing, Nissha creates realistic stone expressions that capture the look and feel of the original material.
Try Our Real Material Design Samples
Experience authentic appearance and tactile finishes through physical samples.
Request SamplesHow are Real Materials Recreated on Plastic?
We recreate real materials on plastic components through
In-Mold Decoration (IMD),
combining advanced printing and molding technologies.
Real materials are digitally captured to preserve both
their visual appearance and surface characteristics.
These details are then reproduced through high-definition
gravure printing and precision mold texturing,
creating surfaces that faithfully recreate the look
and feel of real materials.
Custom Recreation Based on Your Sample Material
Beyond standard wood, fabric, or stone designs, Nissha can recreate the looks and textures of customer-provided materials. Whether it is a fabric, natural material, or unique surface finish, we digitally capture and reproduce its visual and tactile characteristics to create custom designs tailored to your product.
Benefits of IMD Beyond Material Expression
IMD is not only a way to recreate material textures on plastic. It also expands the possibilities of product design by combining authentic material expressions with practical advantages that can be difficult to achieve using real materials alone.
| Key Considerations | Nissha IMD | Real Material |
|---|---|---|
| Material Authenticity | High | Real |
| Design Flexibility | High | Limited |
| Integration with Light Transmission Design | Possible | Limited |
| Consistency Across Products | High | Variable |
Design Flexibility
Real materials come with inherent colors, patterns, and surface characteristics. With IMD, specific features can be selected, refined, and combined to create the desired material expression. Color tones, pattern scales, and surface finishes can also be precisely adjusted, providing greater freedom in CMF design.
Integration with Light Transmission Design
IMD combines material-like surfaces with light transmission design, enabling seamless product interfaces where icons, displays, and graphics appear only when needed.
Consistency Across Production
Selected material textures can be reproduced consistently across products, helping maintain a unified design expression throughout a product family.
Interested in Learning More?
Whether you have a specific project in mind or are simply exploring possibilities, we would love to hear from you.
Contact Us