Integrated system for quickly and accurately imaging and modeling three-dimensional objects
AssigneeCyra Technologies, Inc.
InventorsMark Brunkhart, Jerry Dimsdale
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An integrated system generates a model of a three-dimensional object. A scanning laser device scans the three-dimensional object and generates a point cloud. The points of the point cloud each indicate a location of a corresponding point on a surface of the object. A first model is generated, responsive to the point cloud, that generates a first model representing constituent geometric shapes of the object. A data file is generated, responsive to the first model, that can be inputted to a computer-aided design system.
Claims16
A method of manually separating from a plurality of clouds of points, representing three-dimensional features in a scene, a subset of the points that represents a desired feature in the scene, the method comprising:
- selecting all the point clouds that include at least some data points representing the desired feature;
- and
- changing a view of the clouds and drawing a polygonal lasso to refine a selected subset of points to be included in a point sub-cloud and repeating the refining as many times as required to obtain the desired sub-cloud.
A method for automatically segmenting a scan field of a scene into subsets of points that represent different surfaces in the scene, comprising the steps of:
- separating the scan field into a depth grid that includes depth information for scanned points of surfaces in the scene and a normal grid that includes an estimate of a normal to scanned points of the surfaces;
- convolving the depth information of the depth grid to generate a depth rating image whose values represent a gradient of depth change from one scanned point to another scanned point in the scene;
- convolving the components of the normal grid to generate a scalar value for each component for each point of the normal grid,
- for each point of the normal grid, determining from the scalar values for the components of that particular point a gradient of the normal at that point, wherein the gradients determined for the points of the normal grid collectively constitute a normal rating image;
- converting the depth rating image to a binary depth image using a recursive thresholding technique;
- converting the normal rating image to a binary normal image using a recursive thresholding technique;
- combining the binary depth image and the binary normal image to determine a single edge image;
- and
- grouping subsets of non-edge points as belonging to corresponding surfaces of the scene.
A method for fitting a point cloud representing a corner, comprising:
- determining a fit of three planes to the points of the point cloud and creating the planes for a model;
- determining the three lines at the intersection of pairs of planes and creating the lines for the model;
- and
- determining the vertex point at the intersection of the three planes and creating a vertex point for the model.
A method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising:
- generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene;
- determining a best fit of a cylinder for a group of the points using surface normal estimates and global error minimization.
A method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising:
- generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene;
- determining a best fit of a cylinder for a group of the points using a quadric surface fit and global error minimization.
A method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising:
- generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene;
- determining a best fit of a sphere for a group of the points using a quadric surface fit and global error minimization.
A method for modeling a three-dimensional scene, comprising:
- generating a plurality of points that each represent a point on a surface of the scene;
- determining a best fit quadric surface for a group of points;
- and
- determining which geometric primitive of a plurality of the family described by the quadric surface best fits the group of points.
A method for merging two geometric primitives of the same type to form a single geometric primitive of the type, comprising:
- creating a new group of points by combining the points used to originally fit each of the two primitives;
- and
- fitting the new geometric primitive using any appropriate fitting technique and the newly generated point group with points from each of the original primitives.
A method of registering a first model, consisting of a plurality of points and geometric primitives and having a first coordinate system, with a second model, consisting of a plurality of points and geometric primitives and having a second coordinate system, comprising:
- identifying by a user common features of the first and second scenes;
- identifying a transformation between coordinate systems that is responsive to the identification;
- and
- transforming the objects of the second model so that they use the first coordinate system.
A method of warping, comprising:
- selecting one or more models represented by a plurality of point clouds and geometric primitives;
- specifying constraints on the locations of any number of points or geometric primitives;
- creating an artificial volume that surrounds the points and geometric primitives in each view and assigning mechanical material characteristics to the surrounding volume;
- computing a minimum energy configuration for the material in the surrounding volume in which the points or geometric primitives are embedded such that the configuration satisfies all applied constraints;
- and
- displacing the points and primitives in accordance with the computed minimum energy configuration of the surrounding volume of material.
An apparatus for acquiring three dimensional information from a remote object comprising:
- a scanning laser module for measuring position information of the object;
- a video module for capturing image information from the object;
- and
- a processor for rendering a model of the object which includes the position information and the image information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.