Laser Flash 3D Imaging - Structured Light Photogrammetry

        By projecting a pattern of light on an object and imaging it from multiple directions, many points on the object can be identified and resolved in 3-space. This approach can be used to resolve over 1 million 3D points on objects ranging in size from a few millimeters to 10 meters across from a single photograph with exposure times down to 1 microsecond. This enables real-time 3D capture of complex transient and vibratory deflections and motion. The high accuracy of conventional photogrammetry can be attained without targets, at unprecedented point densities. A white paper describing an aircraft suface mapping application can be found here.

Snapshot Surface Mapping

        Acuity has developed a capture system for field and industrial capture of surface contours and discontinuous shapes. The system has accuracy of 0.01 inch or better at over 1 million points distributed over a region 100 inches across from two or more images obtained with a high resolution handheld digital camera. A tripod or permanently mounted projector projects a pattern onto the surface from which the point positions can be derived. This can be moved to allow capture of different overlapping areas which can be combined into a single surface representation. The working envelope of the system is from less than 10 inches to beyond 500 inches, with accuracy proportional to the distance from the camera to the surface.