3D Scanning

computer-aided design (CAD) digital model physical object

reverse engineering/ 3D scanning

shape

color

material

surface reconstruction

Why 3D scanning?

Digital models for many objects dont exist.

reverse engineering (Boeing 737X) archiving virtual environments

Traditional design (using clay)

car industry computer animation

3D faxing!

Surface reconstruction
points P surface S

reverse engineering traditional design (wood,clay) virtual environments

Surface reconstruction problem

Given: points P sampled from unknown surface U Goal: reconstruct a surface S approximating U

accurate (w.r.t. P, and U!) concise

Why is this difficult?

Points P

unorganized noisy

Surface S

arbitrary, unknown topological type sharp features

Algorithm must infer:

topology, geometry, and sharp features

3-Phase reconstruction method

points
Goals: Find initial surface of correct topological type. Improve its accuracy and conciseness. Find piecewise smooth surface.

phase 1
initial mesh

phase 2
optimized mesh phase 3

Detect sharp features automatically

optimized subdivision surface

Example
1 2

13,000 points

Phase 1: Initial surface estimation

If U were known, it would satisfy U = Z(d) = { p | d(p)=0 } , where d(p) is the signed distance of p to U

d(p)? + + + + + + + ++ + + ++ + + d(p)? + + + + + + + + + +

Estimate d from P

Extract Z(d)

Phase 1 (contd)

How to estimate d?
orient them consistently

compute tangent planes

Phase 1 (contd)

How to extract Z(d)?

run marching cubes

Phase 2: Mesh optimization

Input: data points P, initial mesh Minitial

Output: optimized mesh M, minimizing E(M) = Edistance + Ecomplexity

Phase 2 (contd)

Optimization over:

the number of vertices

their connectivity

their positions

consider any mesh of the same topological type as Minitial

Phase 2 (contd)
Nested optimization: optimize connectivity for fixed connectivity, optimize geometry Greedy approach:

consider local perturbations accept if DE(M)<0

edge collapse

edge split

edge swap

Phase 2: Results

using 31,000 points from Digibotics, Inc.

using 13,000 points using 182,000 points from Technical Arts Co.

Phase 3: Piecewise smooth surface

piecewise planar piecewise smooth surface

Subdivision surfaces

M0

M1

M2

S=M

tagged control mesh

Phase 3 (contd)

Generalize phase 2 optimization:

edge collapse

edge split

edge swap

edge tag

Again, apply perturbation if DE(M)<0

Phase 3: Results

Related work
volumetric representation phase 1
initial mesh phase 2 alpha shapes

optimized mesh
phase 3 optimized subdivision surface NURBS surface

CAD models