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Shadow Map Window.

The Shadow Map Window allows you to load in a grayscale image that affects the colored Texture. There are many ways to control and alter the Shadow preset that's been loaded.

a-		The Blur slider softens the Shadow, which is good for realistic shading.
b-		Opacity sets how much the Shadow affects the Texture. Higher = Darker.
c-		Brightness and Contrast sliders set the tonal value.
d-		Use the Transform tools to move, rotate, or scale.
e-		The Mutation wells and slider can randomize the makeup of your Shadow.
f-		The Bend Editor [see below] sets how the Shadow distorts your Texture.

Simulate a shadow.

We call this window the Shadow ‘Map’ because the shadow acts as a bump ‘map’ for your texture. ‘Bump mapping’ is a graphics term that refers to a visual distortion in compositing two images.

Basically, one image alters the shading of a second image, in order to create the illusion of depth/height, like ridges or folds.

This ‘fake’ appearance of depth/height is based on the brightness values of the first image. White gives the highest height, and black gives the lowest. All values of gray give a range of height in between.

EXAMPLE: In both textures, the blue color wraps around the light/dark areas of the gray. The first Shadow has a higher contrast, and so the folds it creates are more pronounced.

Use Shadow presets.

This is the Preset Manager for loading and saving shadows that cast 3D material distortions.

The Shadow Map palette allows even more variation by adding in shadows and distortions (drapery folds, for example).