The existing standards for surface roughness cover only two dimensions, while in reality this is three-dimensional (3D). In particular, the 3D surface roughness parameters are important for solving the contact surface mechanics problems as related to the accuracy of 3D surface roughness characteristics. One of the most important factors for determination of 3D characteristics is the number of data points (NDP) on the x- and y-axes (i.e. in cut-off length). The NDP has a profound effect on the accuracy of measurement results, measuring time and volume of the output data (especially along the y-axis, where the NDP is identical to the number of parallel profiles). At a too small NDP the results will be incorrect and with too broad scatter, while a too large NDP - though not enlarging the range of basic information - considerably increases the measuring time. Therefore, the aim of the work was to find the optimal NDP for such surface processing methods as grinding, spark erosion and shot methods of surface treatment.