Combining Stereo and Fourier Transform Profilometry for 3D Scanning in Dynamic Environments

Fast 3D optical sensing of complex shapes remains challenging. While in the passive techniques, there is the correspondence problem, in the active techniques based on fringe projection, there is the challenge of phase recovery and disambiguation. We propose a stereo system that combines active and passive approaches in a complete 3D measurement system. A modified version of the Fourier transform profilometry technique is combined with the beating technique for absolute phase estimation. Stereo correspondence is performed using the obtained phase images. The results demonstrate that one or two frames are enough to estimate the 3D shape of complex objects, and therefore, the proposed approach can be applied for fast shape characterization.