Learn

Using the viewer

How to examine a record, compare and share what you see, and cite it.

The record page

A record opens with its image filling the page, and the light can be moved at once. Everything else is in the panel on the right, which can be hidden to give the image the whole width. The viewer is original software and runs in the browser without plug-ins.

The record page of a garland sarcophagus: the faces on the left, the toolbar above the image, the image in the middle, and the panel with Light, View and Share and save on the right; numbers 1 to 8 mark the parts described below.
  1. Faces: an object documented from several sides; choose one to view it.
  2. Toolbar: pan, light, orbit, zoom, fit, reset, comparison, full screen and the panel.
  3. The image: drag on it to move the light; the mouse wheel zooms.
  4. Examine, Record and Cite: the tools, the record's information and its persistent link.
  5. Light: its direction on a sphere, or as azimuth and elevation.
  6. View: the natural view and the views computed from the model.
  7. Share and save: a link to this view, saved views, an image and the view's settings.
  8. The current light and view; an enhanced view is flagged here.
RTI data: Garland Sarcophagus Perge (rti-0002), CC BY-NC 4.0; held by Antalya Museum.

Moving the light

Drag on the image, or on the sphere in the panel, to move the light; azimuth (0° from the right, 90° from the top) and elevation can also be typed as numbers. Orbit light turns the light once around the object at the current elevation. A low light (raking light) shows relief through its shadows, and each direction brings out the strokes that run across it.

Lines of a Greek inscription in natural colour, lit from the left at a low angle: strokes running up and down cast clear shadows.Light 174° / 19°
The same lines lit from the right at the same low angle: other strokes stand out, and the shadows fall the other way.Light 354° / 19°
The same lines under a low light from the left and from the right. RTI data: Pamphylian Dialect Inscription (rti-0007), CC BY-NC 4.0.

Enhanced views

Besides the natural view, the viewer computes views from the model that show the surface more clearly than any photograph. Specular Enhancement adds a synthetic gloss, with RTIViewer's diffuse colour, specularity and highlight size; Shaded drops the colour and lights the surface's shape alone; Radiance Scaling does the same and makes raised parts brighter and hollow ones darker by their curvature, so carved strokes read as dark lines (Strength sets the effect, Scale the size of the forms it follows; Colour tints raised parts orange and hollow ones blue); Normal Map shows the estimated orientation of each point as colour; Diffuse Gain, for PTM-LRGB data, exaggerates how brightness changes with the light. Any view can be sharpened (unsharp masking). These views are flagged as enhanced on screen and in shared links; what they can and cannot show is explained under Scientific limits.

The inscription in the Natural view: weathered stone with the letters partly lost in its colour and pitting.Natural
The same lines with Specular Enhancement: a synthetic gloss makes the edges of the cut letters catch the light.Specular
The same lines in the Shaded view: without the stone's colour the cut letters read clearly by their shape.Shaded
One light (azimuth 135°, elevation 32°) in three views. In the Shaded view the letters read by their shape alone, no longer hidden by the colour and weathering of the stone. RTI data: Pamphylian Dialect Inscription (rti-0007), CC BY-NC 4.0.

Comparing two views

Compare in the toolbar shows the same area twice, side by side. Click a view to make it active: the panel then changes only that view. Zoom and pan stay synchronised unless you turn it off, and Copy the active view's settings to the other starts both from the same point. A link to the view keeps both halves.

The viewer in comparison: on the left the inscription in natural colour under a raking light, on the right the same lines in the Shaded view, each labelled with its view and light; the panel shows the synchronisation option.
View A in natural colour under a raking light, view B in the Shaded view. RTI data: Pamphylian Dialect Inscription (rti-0007), CC BY-NC 4.0.

Sharing and saving

  • Copy link to this view: the link carries the record, its data version, the light, the view and its settings, and the zoom; it opens the same area on any screen.
  • Saved views: name a view to come back to it. Without an account, saved views stay in the browser you use; signed-in members' views are kept with their account and follow them to other devices.
  • Image (PNG) saves what is on screen; Settings (JSON) saves the view's settings with the record's identifier. Neither is a calibrated measurement.
  • Download: PTM-LRGB records whose owner allows it can be downloaded, under their licence, as a .ptm file (Record tab) for RTIViewer and other RTI software: the published data, not the original capture file.
Two parts of the panel: on the left Share and save, with a saved view; on the right the Cite tab with the record's persistent link and buttons to copy it or the link to this view.
Left: Share and save, with one saved view. Right: the Cite tab, with the record's persistent link.

On a phone

On a phone the image takes the screen. Drag one finger to move the light, and use two fingers to move and zoom. The Examine tab on the right edge opens the panel over the image, with the views in one row; a record documented from several sides also has a Faces tab on the left.

Two phone screens: a tall inscribed stone filling the screen with the Examine tab at the right edge, and the same page with the Examine panel open and the stone in the Shaded view.
The panel put away (left) and open, in the Shaded view (right). RTI data: Pamphylian Dialect Inscription (rti-0007), CC BY-NC 4.0.

Keys and gestures

Light
Drag on the image · arrow keys
Pan
Right-drag, two fingers or the Pan tool · Shift + arrow keys
Zoom
Mouse wheel, two fingers, + and − · 0 fits the image
Full screen
The toolbar button · Escape leaves it

How to cite

Records are cited by their persistent link (openrti.org/id/rti-…), which the Cite tab on each record page gives with a copy button. The link identifies the record and does not change when its title or other information is corrected; when a record has more than one data version, each version has its own link. The record's information (title, data creator, date, licence, references) is on its Record tab.

If you rely on a specific observation, give the link to that view alongside the persistent record link. When discussing the method, citing the core publications on What is RTI? is recommended.

To cite the platform itself: OpenRTI (2026). OpenRTI: an open-access platform for publishing, examining and citing RTI data of cultural heritage objects. https://openrti.org