Node Description and Purpose:
The Image Map Shader allows you to load an external image map file in one of many supported formats. You can find a complete list of the image formats supported here. You can control the way the texture is applied in the scene - the "projection" - the position, as well as whether to flip or repeat the loaded image, adjust the colour values, determine whether displacement is applied, and control other image-specific effects.
Literally, to change the position of something. In graphics terminology to displace a surface is to modify its geometric (3D) structure using reference data of some kind. For example, a grayscale image might be taken as input, with black areas indicating no displacement of the surface, and white indicating maximum displacement. In Terragen 2 displacement is used to create all terrain by taking heightfield or procedural data as input and using it to displace the normally flat sphere of the planet.