Adjust brightness of an image draped on a 3D surface map

When you drape an image on a 3D surface map, sometimes the color and shading of the 3D surface can cause the image to be too dark to see. To see the image more clearly, you can try either turning off the 3D surface layer colors or changing then shading lighting angle and color.
Imagery draped on 3D surface maps can sometimes be too dark
In some cases, the shading and lighting of the 3D surface make draped imagery too dark.
To turn the 3D surface layer color off:
  1. In the Contents, select the 3D Surface layer.
  2. In the Properties, click the Overlays tab.
  3. Change the Color modulation to Use overlay color only. 

Set the color modulation to use the overlay color only to view the draped imagery in Surfer

Set the color modulation to use the overlay color only to view the draped image more clearly

Alternatively, change the lighting angle and color:
  1. In the Contents, select the 3D Surface layer.
  2. In the Properties window, click the Lighting tab.
  3. Specify a more vertical light position, such as setting Vertical (degrees) to 90.
  4. Click on the Ambient color box to change the color from black to gray if desired.
  5. If the shadows are still too dark, you can click the General tab, click the Custom colormap button to the right of Upper, select GrayScale from the list of Presets, and in the Color Mapping section change the left color node from black to white (or a lighter gray) and click OK.

Change the lighting to view draped imagery more easily in Surfer

Change the lighting vertical position or light colors to lighten the shading on the 3D surface to see the image more clearly

 

See also:

 

Updated December, 2021

Was this article helpful?

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.