Flexible Automation and Integrated Manufacturing 1998

ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-118-1

NEW METHOD FOR SCANNING AND RECONSTRUCTION OF 3-DIMENSIONAL SURFACES

DOI: 10.1615/FAIM1998.600
pages 665-677

Abstract

A new structured light computer vision system has been developed to scan and reconstruct 3-dimensional geometry information of objects. After acquisition, the images are imported into ProEngineer for display and further processing. The system is composed of a dot matrix pattern laser projector, and two cameras. One of the cameras is used as the main image acquisition camera, while the other camera functions as a checking device to determine the correct image matching between the main image and the projector. The new method is based on use of epipoles and epipolar constraints. As part of this investigation, a new linear approach was developed for estimating the epipolar lines on the main camera, related to the projector. This new approach can guarantee that all points on the same epipolar line on the main image, related to the projector, have the same corresponding epipolar line on the projector. Also, two checking point equations were developed to determine the correct image matching among the main image, the checking image, and the projector. Using the methods developed here, 3-dimensional surfaces can be scanned and reconstructed accurately and rapidly. The methods developed here were verified experimentally, and the 3-dimensional information was imported into ProEngineer for visualization.