Non-Invasive Model Attitude and Deformation Measurement

A shape capture system for field and industrial capture of surface contours and discontinuous shapes is proposed. The system will provide accuracy of 0.01 inch or better at over 1 million points distributed over a region 100 inches across from three or more images obtained with a high resolution handheld digital camera. A tripod or bench mounted projector projects a pattern onto the surface from which the point positions can be derived. This can be moved to allow capture of different overlapping areas which can be combined into a single surface representation. The working envelope of the system is from less than 50 inches to beyond 200 inches, with accuracy proportional to the distance from the projector to the surface. Immediate feedback to the operator will ensure that all necessary regions are captured and resolved.