Stereo vision-based 3D pointer for virtual object interaction

Modern advances in optical metrology and computer vision have provided an unprecedented ability to generate a wide variety of 3D digital content. The mouse, trackpad, and touch screens are typical 2D interactive interfaces of digital content. However, such interfaces are restrictive to manipulate 3D content such as models, object scans, and environments. In this work, a 3D pointer based on stereo vision to interact virtually with digital 3D objects is proposed. The theoretical principles and the experimental calibration procedure are provided. The proposed 3D pointer is evaluated experimentally by simple interaction routines with objects reconstructed by fringe projection profilometry.