High resolution acquisition of detailed surfaces with lens-shifted structured light

We present a novel 3D geometry acquisition technique at high resolution based on structured light reconstruction with a low-cost projector-camera system. Using a 1D mechanical lens-shifter extension in the projector light path, the projected pattern is shifted in subpixel scale steps with a granularity of up to 2048 steps per projected pixel, which opens up novel possibilities in depth accuracy and smoothness for the acquired geometry. Combining the mechanical lens-shifter extension with a multiple phase shifting technique yields a measuring range of 120 x 80 mm while at the same time providing a high depth resolution of better than 100 mu m. Reaching beyond depth resolutions achieved by conventional structured light scanning approaches with projector-camera systems, depth layering effects inherent to conventional techniques are fully avoided. Relying on low-cost consumer products only, we reach an area resolution of down to 55 mu m (limited by the camera). We see two main benefits. First, our acquisition setup can reconstruct finest details of small cultural heritage objects such as antique coins and thus digitally preserve them in appropriate precision. Second, our accurate height fields are a viable input to physically based rendering in combination with measured material BRDFs to reproduce compelling spatially varying, material-specific effects. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.