How do I use a shadowmap with mesh?

[Innula Zenovka]

I am completely new to this, so please bear with me.

I have recently bought a full-perms mesh door and frame, which comes with shadowmaps for each component (door, frame and door-handle).

I would like, if possible, to work some magic in Photoshop (or Gimp, if it's easier) to apply wood and metal fills, as appropriate, without losing the shading provided by the shadowmap.   I understand how to turn wood and metal into custom patterns to fill selections with, but I 'm not at all sure where I go from there.

Where do I start?  Is there an online tutorial somewhere that would explain things.   

[ObviousAltIsObvious]

some AO or shadow maps are easier to work with than others. how to get them to work best will depend on how they are made, they can be created in a few ways and suppliers usually forget to tell you how they made them.

a popular way to use them - make the shadow map your topmost layer, then experiment with blending modes until it achieves the effect you want. "multiply", "add", "soft light" are some common starting points that work well. depending on the map texture, you also may need to reduce the opacity.

 

[Chic Aeon]

Here is a tutorial someone referenced awhile back. Hopefully it will help.

MAPPING is an art so some ambient maps are great and obvious and some "impossible" (a quote from a friend - LOL) so I hope you have a good one.

 

http://nakedmesh.blogspot.com/p/mesh-faqs.html

[Innula Zenovka]

Thanks both.   That looks considerably easier than I thought it was going to be!   Off to experiement.. 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

one of the things i have done is make the white of the shadow map into alpha and then play with the opacity on the shadow layer.. You can get some neat results.

[Linda McAllister]

I wrote a litte piece about it on my blog. Who knows you can do something with it

Good luck!

 

AO's what can you do with it.