Displaying a DEM as a shaded relief

With the Image Analysis window in ArcMap, you can display a shaded relief from your DEM. This combines a hillshaded version of the DEM and the same DEM with a color ramp applied.

1. Click the Add Data button to add a DEM to ArcMap.
2. To view the Image Analysis window, click Windows on the Main menu, then click Image Analysis.
3. Click the layer of elevation data in the Image Analysis window.
4. Click the Image Analysis Options button , click the Hillshade tab, then adjust the illumination properties to be applied.
5. Click the Shaded Relief button in the Processing section of the window.

   This adds a temporary raster dataset layer to the table of contents.

6. To change the color ramp, click the newly added layer in the Image Analysis window, then click the color ramp drop-down arrow in the Processing section and select a different color ramp.

   The new color ramp will be applied to the selected layer.

7. If you want to make adjustments to the illumination, do the following:
   1. Right-click the raster layer in the table of contents and click Properties.
   2. Click the Functions tab.

      Functions are added within a mosaic dataset and by the temporary raster layers created from the Image Analysis window. They are used to define processing, which is applied on the fly.

   3. Right-click Shaded Relief Function and click Properties.
   4. Click the Shaded Relief tab and edit the properties.
   5. Click OK to close the Raster Properties Function dialog box and click OK again to close the Layer Properties dialog box.

Note:

Gamma can be used to help normalize the display and put more emphasis on lower elevations.

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