3DMADMAC

3DMADMAC (3D Measurement with Algorithms of Directional Merging And Conversion) is a complex 3D objects scanning system. The developed solution includes both hardware and software for control and data processing. A universal, modular system structure allows to setup its custom configuration. Owing to this, it is possible to configure different measurement volumes, inaccuracies and measurement times adequate to a selected object. Measurement is based on optical methods, which allows for a simultaneous texture acquisition that can be put on an obtained triangle mesh representing a real object.

Object measurement process consists of several stages. At first a measured subject is placed in front of the system and stripe patterns are projected from a digital projector. Patterns are defined in software that controls the system. An acquisition unit gathers information about an object’s shape in the form of 2D images. The object is measured from one direction at a time. To get its full 3D representation we have to repeat measurements from different directions. After saving measurement images clouds of points are filtered, simplified (large amount of points is not required for a correct shape reconstruction) and fitted. The cloud fitting process is highly automated. Only some initial clouds matching is required to be performed by a user – the rest of the work is done by an iterative fitting algorithm. User may terminate process when results are satisfactory enough. Cloud fitting has to be repeated for all clouds obtained from measurements. This will give us a full 3D representation of a real object. To use this object in a 3D application, we must convert a cloud of points into a triangle mesh. This process is called triangulation. This process is completely automated, a user has to enter only parameter values. The first operation is filtering out unnecessary points. When this is finished, a user may smooth the mesh and fill holes that may be left after triangulation. After that a triangle mesh is exported into selected file formats. Finally, a triangle mesh can be used for example in visualization, medicine and archiving or documentation of artworks.

The whole point of cloud processing sequence is performed by Mesh3D application. This is an integral part of the whole OGX|3DMADMAC system. It is also responsible for processing of data obtained from a measurement module. The application has an extensive range of functions which allow for a wide data processing of point clouds and triangle meshes. With this software at our disposal we do not need any additional application for converting raw measurement data into a triangle mesh.

Project 3DMADMAC has been implemented on a commercial market by SMARTTECH Sp. z o.o. in a form of Mesh3D application.