White-light scanner uses Point Grey cameras

Engineers at 3D3 Solutions (Burnaby, Canada) have created a High Definition Imaging (HDI) scanner that uses a combination of Point Grey (Richmond, Canada) cameras, consumer-grade projectors and proprietary software called FlexScan3D to produce a digital 3-D scan from physical objects in less than 2 sec.

The new system uses white light, or structured light scanning -- a form of non-contact scanning that measures the 3-D shape of an object using projected light patterns and cameras.

A fringe pattern is generated by the scanner's projector over the object to be scanned. Within the scanning time, the fringe pattern is modified in width and phase and the 3-D scanner extracts the 3-D coordinates by calculating the returned patterns. The cameras and the projector are connected by a micro-controller that controls the exact timing between projection and image acquisition.

The field of view of the HDI 3-D Scanner can be adjusted from 20 cm to 1.5 m diagonal using interchangeable lenses. Users are able to scan objects of different shapes and sizes ranging from the size of a coin to a car. The FlexScan3D software acquires the 3-D data and performs mesh processing capabilities to create a 3-D model.

Depending on the scanner model, the built-in cameras on the scanner can be either dual 1.3MP Flea2 units running at 30 frames/sec or dual 2.0MP Grasshoppers running at 30 frames/s.

For more advanced users such as engineering and development companies, FlexScan3D software can be purchased separately to create custom 3-D scanners for OEM applications.

-- by Dave Wilson, Senior Editor, Vision Systems Design