Silhouette based 3D scanning: Overview

The generation of 3D models is an important step for many 3D applications. Modelling some objects requires a great deal of effort. One alternative is scanning. Many different versions of 3D scanners exist. Commonly used are scanners that use a laser or structured light to sample the object surface. In some cases even mechanical sampling may be used.

A simple silhouette based approach is implemented here. The animation shows how it works: the object outline from several photos is used to 'punch' the shape of a solid cube. Although only the convex hull can be reconstructed but with some objects it works quite well.

Unfortunately 3D scanning is expensive in general but the software which has been developed here is freeware (although only a windows version exists at present). A construction manual for the simple hardware is also available. The requirement to be able to scan on your own is a digital camera.