Development of color 3D scanner using laser structured-light imaging method

This study presents a color 3D scanner based on the laser structured-light imaging method that can simultaneously acquire 3D shape data and color of a target object using a single camera. The 3D data acquisition of the scanner is based on the structured-light imaging method, and the color data is obtained from a natural color image. Because both the laser image and the color image are acquired by the same camera, it is efficient to obtain the 3D data and the color data of a pixel by avoiding the complicated correspondence algorithm. In addition to the 3D data, the color data is helpful for enhancing the realism of an object model. The proposed scanner consists of two line lasers, a color camera, and a rotation table. The line lasers are deployed at either side of the camera to eliminate shadow areas of a target object. This study addresses the calibration methods for the parameters of the camera, the plane equations covered by the line lasers, and the center of the rotation table. Experimental results demonstrate the performance in terms of accurate color and 3D data acquisition in this study.