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Surface Visualization

After RTI Capture, adjust the virtual lighting and surface detail enhancement to bring out the features you want to document.

Understanding Light and Topography

RTI generates two complementary image layers, called the Light Mask and Topography Mask, and blends them to create the final image. Each emphasizes different aspects of the sample surface.

  • Light Mask shows how the surface responds to virtual lighting. Use it to interactively examine details and to apply a "shadowing" look coming from directional lighting. Changing the light direction and specularity settings helps reveal features that are less visible under uniform illumination.

  • Topography Mask emphasizes surface structure and fine relief. Use it to bring out the 3D structure of the surface - deeper spots are visualized as darker, while protrusions are seen as brighter.

Light

Adjust the virtual illumination with the Light controls to examine how light interacts with the sample surface.

  • Use Value to adjust the enhancement intensity.
  • Adjust Specular to adjust how "shiny" the surface looks like.
  • Use Detail Level to increase or reduce the emphasis on fine surface details in the Light Mask.
  • Enable Light Equalization (Light EQ) to balance the lighting and make subtle surface angles and fine details easier to see.

RTI Light

  • Adjust Direction to define where the virtual light comes from. Change the direction to move highlights and shadows across the sample and reveal surface features from different angles.

RTI Light direction

Topography

The Topography controls bring out fine relief, such as decorations, inscriptions, or use-wear marks.

  • Adjust Value to control the strength of the topography effect.
  • Use Detail Level to adjust how strongly fine surface structure is emphasized.

RTI Topography

Adjustment

In the Adjustment section, set the display mode, adjust overall brightness, and balance the Light and Topography Masks.

Brightness

Adjust Brightness to lighten or darken the overall image.

Light / Topography Balance

The Light / Topography Balance slider controls how much each mask contributes to the result. Move it fully to the left to display only the Light Mask, or fully to the right to display only the Topography Mask. Intermediate positions combine both effects.

💡 Tip: View each mask separately to see which features it reveals, then adjust the balance for perfect visual output.

Display Modes

  • Enable Pure 3D to display surface shading without the sample's color texture.
  • Enable Grayscale to display the image in shades of gray.

RTI Adjustment

Edit the Image Mask

If background separation leaves unwanted areas or excludes part of the sample, refine the image boundary with Toggle Mask.

  • Click Toggle Mask to access the mask editing tools.
  • Use Paint Masked Area () to include missing parts of the sample.
  • Use Erase Masked Area () to remove unwanted areas.
  • Adjust Brush Size to change the width of the area affected by each brush stroke.
  • Click Toggle Mask again to finish editing the mask and return to the visualization controls.

RTI Mask

Apply and Revisit the Result

When you are satisfied with the visualization, click Apply to add the RTI image to the standard LAP drawing.

RTI images remain editable after you add them to the drawing. Select an image and click Adjust RTI Image () to reopen its visualization controls with the original settings retained.

RTI Apply drawing