Image-based 3D laser scanner using geometric transformation for reconstructing 3D models

Abstract

3D scanner is an important tool for any fields that need to represent scenes or objects in 3D models. However, most of the commercial 3D scanners are expensive because the procuction of the machine has to be precisely built according to the triangulation concept. Moreover, most of them are not capable for scanning non-Lambertian surfaces. This thesis presents a 3D modeling system that is low cost and easy to setup. The complexity and the cost of the system are recuded by employing the image processing concept. This is done through the construction of a special design reference box that, monitored from the camera, will give information that is necessary for 3D reconstruction. The distorted area of interest is recovered using the geometric transformation under the assumption that the distortion is linear. The experiments were conducted to analyze the performance and the limitation of the method. Light polarization concept is also studied in this thesis. A linear polarizer was used to test the feasibility to distinguish the light that scattered from non-Lambertian surfaces. The results of the study show that the proposed 3D modeling system can be an alternative way for building a 3D scanner that is low cost and not complex