1. A system comprising: an illuminator, for illuminating a part to be inspected, configured to provide a gradient of light consisting of at least two different colors; a color camera positioned near a distal end of the illuminator, defining an optical axis through an interior portion of the illuminator, wherein the gradient of light is along the direction of the optical axis; a controller component operatively connected to the illuminator and the color camera and configured to trigger the illuminator and the color camera to acquire a single color image of the part to be inspected located near a proximal end of the illuminator; and a processing component operatively connected to the color camera and configured to receive and process the single color image to generate two or more topographic monochrome views of the part to be inspected from the single color image.