Abstract: Subjective paper characteristics such as visual appearance and print quality are often objectively related to certain scales of surface roughness. Three dimensional topographic surface data is obtained from a paper sample secured by vacuum to a flat, porous plate for translational movement in a grid pattern beneath a vertically compliant stylus that is resiliently suspended beneath a rigid, overhead support beam. Such surface data is mathematically filtered by a linear convolution technique or the distinctly alternative circular convolution technique to segregate the raw data characteristics of component surfaces that contain only certain frequencies of roughness. The root-mean-square variations of such component surfaces is then used to objectively characterize respective surface characteristics.