Recognition of a light line pattern by Hu moments for 3-D reconstruction of a rotated object

A simple technique of a light line projection for 3-D shape detection of rotated objects is presented. In this technique, an object is rotated around its symmetrical axis four times at an angle by using an electromechanical device and scanned by a light line. Four views of the object surface are extracted from each one of these rotations by processing a set of light line images. These views are connected using rotation angle and origin coordinates to obtain the complete 3-D shape. Angle and origin are calculated by recognition of a light line pattern. Light line pattern is recognized by Hu moments. In this manner, measurement errors on setup are avoided. It is an advantage over common methods, where these two parameters are measured directly on the setup to obtain the 3-D shape. Local profilometric method is based on the perturbation that the light line suffers when it is projected on the object surface. This perturbation is observed on an image plane due to the different direction between light line projector and viewer. These perturbations are measured by using Gaussian functions. In this technique the light line images are processed in very fast form. The technique and processing time are presented in detail. This technique is tested with objects, which have little information and its experimental results are also presented. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.