chaos fabrics
Arsiliath - Intro to Compute Shaders Unity (C++/GLSL),Cinema4D. Octane
Cellular Automata Edge of Chaos PaperBased on the concept of cellular automata, edge of chaos generates an image a single pixel row at a time where each pixel in a new row determines its value based on the pixels in the previous row. For example, a rule could be that if the pixel above a cell is black, the pixel below would be white and vice versa. This would generate a checkerboard pattern. More complex rules which involve the state of more pixels above each new pixel (e.g., directly above, above to the right, above to the left) will develop more complex patterns.
Increasing the number of pixels in the previous row that are checked also increases the number of rules you'll need to come up with and can quickly become tedious. For instance, in a black and white image, sampling 5 pixels would mean 32 possible states to determine a new pixels value. The fun comes when you randomly generate these states. Chris Langton's Edge of Chaos paper provides much more detail on this approach (linked above)
My implementation uses the images generated using the Edge of Chaos approach as diffuse and displacement maps in 3D materials to generate convincing fabrics. This technique could prove useful in generated uniquely / interesting fabric materials rapidly.