Exploring the Hill Shade Dialog Box - MapInfo_Pro_Advanced - 2023

Input File

Select an input raster to apply hill shading to or browse to a location to select the file. On the Hill Shade dialog box, you can change the position of the sun shade and highlight from the widgets, as shown below in the image

Sun Shadow

The Sun Shadow section consists of the following:

• Angle - This drop-down list consists of sun angles (azimuth) that represent the four cardinal and four ordinal points of the compass. Azimuths range from 0-360 degrees. Zero degree means that the light source lies North. 315 degree means that the light source lies North West. The figure below shows the angles:
  
  
  
  
• Elevation - Elevation represents an angle of inclination between zero degree and 90 degrees. Zero degree means that the light source is on the horizon. 90 degrees means that the light source is directly overhead. The figure below shows the elevations:
  
  
  
  
• Intensity - Intensity affects the darkening of the grid based on the sun elevation. Intensity is only applied to areas that face a sun shade position. The default value is 50%.
• Saturation - Saturation compensates for the overall darkening of a lower sun position. For an elevation of 90 degrees, saturation set to zero will match a non-shaded grid. The default value is 50%.
• Shadow - Shadow controls the amount of darkening applied to areas that face away from the sun. The default value is 30.

Note: You can also click on the Sun icon in the preview window and drag to the desired sun angle and elevation.

The following shows how variations in Intensity, Saturation, and Shadow changes the shading of a raster.

Highlight

The Highlight section consists of the following:

• Angle - This drop-down list consists of sun angles (azimuth) that represent the four cardinal and four ordinal points of the compass. Azimuths range from 0-360 degrees. Zero degree means that the light source lies North. 315 degree means that the light source lies North West. The figure below shows the angles:
  
  
  
  
• Elevation - Elevation represents an angle of inclination between zero degree and 90 degrees. Zero degree means that the light source is on the horizon. 90 degrees means that the light source is directly overhead. The figure below shows the elevations:
  
  
  
  
• Intensity - Intensity controls how the brightness of the areas facing the sun's position. It will make areas whiter than the non-sun shaded grid file. The default value is 50%.

Note: You can also click on the Highlight icon in the preview window and drag to the desired sun angle and elevation.

The following figure shows the display of the input grid with Intensity set to 100% with angle and elevation set to 135 and 45 degrees respectively. Notice the white areas on the map. These are the areas where the sun intensity is maximum.