Apparatus and method useful in the process of making a forming tool, such as metal stamping tool. The apparatus (20, 22) performs a method of scanning a working surface (18) of a tool part (14) with an optical shape measurement camera (22) to obtain electronic images from different views of the working surface, and then processing the electronic images to develop a first set of data defining the three-dimensional shape of the working surface. The first set of data is then processed with a second set of data having a correlation with the shape of the working surface to develop a third set of data defining differences between the first and second sets of data. The second set of data may define the shape of a part formed by the tool or the master shape of the part.