Distortion quantifier for analyzing surfaces

A method of manufacturing a device housing, the method comprising:

• projecting an arrangement of light onto a surface of the device housing, wherein the arrangement of light includes a plurality of projected light points;
• sampling a reflection of the arrangement of light reflected from the surface, wherein the reflection includes a plurality of reflected light points corresponding to the plurality of projected light points;
• determining coordinates for one or more light points of the plurality of reflected light points;
• generating characterization data based on the coordinates for the one or more reflected light points;
• generating ranks of uniformity for portions of the reflection based on the characterization data, wherein uniformity of a portion represents the amount of change between the projected portion and the reflected portion for that portion;
• and
• compiling the ranks of uniformity into an array of ranks having an order corresponding to the arrangement of light.

A surface analyzing device configured to analyze a surface for a computing device housing, comprising:

• a camera;
• a processor operatively coupled to the camera;
• and
• a memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the surface analyzing device to perform the steps of:
• sampling image data corresponding to a reflected quantity of light received by the camera;
• determining a characteristic property of each shape of one or more shapes of the reflected quantity of light, wherein the one or more shapes are defined by dots of light;
• comparing the characteristic property to a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is an indicator for a substantially uniform portion of the surface;
• generating a characterization value for each shape of the one or more shapes based on the comparing;
• and
• generating a data array comprising each characterization value.