The use of close range laser scanning, terrestrial laser scanning, photogrammetry and topographic surveying has become a common occurrence for the recording of three dimensional data within archaeology and cultural heritage. The introduction of reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) has also increased our analysis of surface detail using two dimensional data. Despite the relative strength of RTI to highlight small changes in surface properties of objects it tends to be used in isolation, rather than to complement other 3D recording techniques. This paper will outline the use of RTI on existing three dimensional datasets in a virtual environment through working examples, and evaluate the potential of the methodology within cultural heritage. Moreover it will focus on comparing the different datasets and will highlight the surface detail that could be overlooked through conventional means.