Maps can use illumination to achieve different effects. You can make maps look more three-dimensional—for example, by applying shaded relief or hillshades. Every map needs a light source to illuminate it and you can configure this light source to achieve different effects within the map. For 3D faces, such as multipatches or extruded polygons, sun lighting applies shading to the surfaces of the 3D shape. In addition, you can apply atmospheric effects, which allow you to simulate real-world lighting. For example, if you want to show sunset in your map, you can use atmospheric effects to have a realistic ambience. Use ambient occlusion to make 3D content without textures appear more realistic with depth perception. Use eye-dome lighting to improve the depth perception for point clouds in your map.
Illuminate a 3D map
In 3D maps, spot lighting is available. You can set the azimuth and altitude of the light source, as well as the amount of contrast, used in rendering the illumination of the map. The illumination properties for a 3D map apply shading to all areal features, including 3D faces and surface data.
- In the Contents pane, right-click a map, and click Properties.
The Map Properties dialog box appears.
- Click the Illumination tab.
- Turn on Shadows options.
- Check the Display shadows in 3D check box to simulate shadows in the 3D map. Depending on the light source, 3D features such as multipatches or extruded polygons can have shadows. Simulating shadows can impact drawing performance.
- Check the Use ambient occlusion check box to make 3D content without textures appear more realistic with depth perception. If you add a layer with textures, you may want to turn off ambient occlusion because the textures already have lighting information included. Ambient occlusion can impact drawing performance. This option is checked by default.
- Check the Use eye-dome lighting check box to apply eye-dome lighting effects to the map. This will improve the depth perception for LAS datasets and point cloud layers. This option is checked by default. If this option is not checked, all layers will have eye-dome lighting disabled, regardless of the eye-dome lighting settings that are set from the layer's Appearance tab on the ribbon.
- Adjust the azimuth angle.
The azimuth is the angular direction of the sun, measured from north in clockwise degrees from 0 to 360. An azimuth of 90 degrees is east. The default azimuth is 315 degrees (NW). Default sun azimuth (direction) for hillshade is 315 degrees.
- Adjust the altitude.
The altitude is the slope or angle of the illumination source above the horizon. The units are in degrees, from 0 (on the horizon) to 90 (overhead). The default is 90 degrees. Default sun altitude for hillshade is 45 degrees.
- Adjust the contrast.
The contrast controls the amount of shading applied to a surface. No contrast is 100 on the contrast scale, and 0 is the highest contrast.
Illuminate a 2D map
You may want to change the illumination angle when applying a shaded relief or hillshade to a digital elevation model (DEM).
- In the Contents pane, right-click a map, and click Properties.
The Map Properties dialog box appears.
- Click the Illumination tab.
- Adjust the azimuth angle.
- Adjust the altitude angle.
- Optionally, you can adjust the contrast of the hillshading.
- Click OK.
To reset your changes to the default illumination values, click Restore Default