Method of preparing a tufting process for tufting a fabric, comprising the step of: a) providing a pattern representation representative of a fabric to be tufted comprising at least one tufting structure region, said at least one tufting structure region corresponding to an area of the fabric to be tufted having a plurality of piles, characterized in comprising the further step of: b) in association with at least one tufting structure region, providing a tufting structure defined by a plurality of tufting structure parameters, each tufting structure parameter having an effect on the appearance of at least a part of the piles to be tufted in association with this tufting structure region and having no effect on the appearance of piles to be tufted in an area not corresponding to this tufting structure region, wherein, for determining the structure of the fabric to be tufted in the area thereof corresponding to the at least one tufting structure region without separately providing information about the pile height in association with each single pile to be tufted within this tufting structure region, a first tufting structure defines a variation of the pile height within an tufting structure region having the first tufting structure associated therewith, wherein the tufting structure parameters of the first tufting structure comprise: - the direction of variation, - the extent of variation, the extent of variation being defined by a maximum pile height (max) and a minimum pile height (min), and - the kind of variation of the pile height. a) providing a pattern representation representative of a fabric to be tufted comprising at least one tufting structure region, said at least one tufting structure region corresponding to an area of the fabric to be tufted having a plurality of piles, characterized in comprising the further step of: b) in association with at least one tufting structure region, providing a tufting structure defined by a plurality of tufting structure parameters, each tufting structure parameter having an effect on the appearance of at least a part of the piles to be tufted in association with this tufting structure region and having no effect on the appearance of piles to be tufted in an area not corresponding to this tufting structure region, wherein, for determining the structure of the fabric to be tufted in the area thereof corresponding to the at least one tufting structure region without separately providing information about the pile height in association with each single pile to be tufted within this tufting structure region, a first tufting structure defines a variation of the pile height within an tufting structure region having the first tufting structure associated therewith, wherein the tufting structure parameters of the first tufting structure comprise: - the direction of variation, - the extent of variation, the extent of variation being defined by a maximum pile height (max) and a minimum pile height (min), and - the kind of variation of the pile height. b) in association with at least one tufting structure region, providing a tufting structure defined by a plurality of tufting structure parameters, each tufting structure parameter having an effect on the appearance of at least a part of the piles to be tufted in association with this tufting structure region and having no effect on the appearance of piles to be tufted in an area not corresponding to this tufting structure region, wherein, for determining the structure of the fabric to be tufted in the area thereof corresponding to the at least one tufting structure region without separately providing information about the pile height in association with each single pile to be tufted within this tufting structure region, a first tufting structure defines a variation of the pile height within an tufting structure region having the first tufting structure associated therewith, wherein the tufting structure parameters of the first tufting structure comprise: - the direction of variation, - the extent of variation, the extent of variation being defined by a maximum pile height (max) and a minimum pile height (min), and - the kind of variation of the pile height. - the direction of variation, - the extent of variation, the extent of variation being defined by a maximum pile height (max) and a minimum pile height (min), and - the kind of variation of the pile height.