Using the Hill Shade Tool - MapInfo_Pro_Advanced - 2023

The Hill Shade tool enables you to add an illumination effect to a raster map based on the variations in elevation within the map landscape. Using this tool, you can easily mimic the sun's effects like illumination, intensity, shadows, etc. on DEMs and other grid files.

You can get a 3D effect without actually changing from a 2D perspective. The following example shows a DEM before and after hill shading.

Before shading

After shading

To apply hill shading on a raster:

1. Open a raster in the map window.
2. On the RASTER tab, in the Display group, click Hill Shade to display the Hill Shade controls.
   
   

   

   
   
3. Select the Sun Shadow check-box.

   Once you select the Sun Shadow check-box, the Highlight check-box gets activated and you can select a sun angle and elevation. By default, an angle of 45 degrees and an elevation of 45 degrees are selected.

4. Select a sun angle and elevation from the list.
5. Click Advanced Hill Shade Options to display the Hill Shade dialog box.
6. Select the Highlight and Sun Shadow check-boxes to open more options.
7. Modify the sun angle and elevation widgets to set the sun angle and elevation to a particular angle.
   
   

   

   
   

   Drag the Sun Shadow and Highlight icons to set the angles.

8. Select the Apply Automatically check-box to view sun shading and highlight modifications automatically on the raste in the map window.
9. Select the azimuth angle of the sun from the Angle drop-down list.
10. Select the elevation of the sun from the Elevation drop-down list.
11. Move the sliders right or left to increase or decrease the Intensity, Saturation, and Shadow of the Sun Shadow.
12. Select the azimuth angle of the sun from the Angle drop-down list.
13. Select the elevation of the sun from the Elevation drop-down list.
14. Move the Intensity slider to increase or decrease the highlight intensity of the sun on the raster.