A system for 3D reconstruction and VRML conversion for virtual museums applications

Describes a system for the 3D reconstruction and VRML conversion of objects. The system is conceived to expand the capabilities of virtual museums. The 3D data are reconstructed by means of a structured light approach. Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) has been used to recover the phase shift of the projected pattern due to the shape of an object. With FTP, the acquisition setup results are very easy to build and calibrate, and, moreover, FTP can also provide dense 3D maps over uniformly coloured regions. A novel phase unwrapping strategy based on region growing is presented. It allows one to strengthen FTP's flexibility. Knutsson filtering (H. Knutsson et al., 1993) is used to smooth and interpolate incomplete 3D data, as we are able to define a certainty function associated with each height estimate. Tests over a set of masks have been performed. Numerical and qualitative results are presented, and both prove to be excellent.