Textures and Maps - a short explanation for beginners When you're using iRay, there are bump, diffusion and normal maps, as well as a .png of the texture itself. I was explaining this to my brother-in-law and I created these two renders of the same scene, but different sun angles to illustrate the effect those maps have on shadows. They are what turns a rather flat, 2D image, in to something that looks like it has depth in your render. Because it does simulate shadows, the shadows on your texture item will match the angle and length of the rest of the scene. Using Smuggler's Bridge, I applied the texture I uploaded to Free Stuff as an illustration.