Three-dimensional optical measurements and reverse engineering for automotive applications

The paper describes a very special and suggestive example of optical three-dimensional (3D) acquisition, reverse engineering and rapid prototyping of a historic automobile, a Ferrari 250 Mille Miglia, performed primarily using an optical 3D whole-field digitiser based on the projection of incoherent light (OPL-3D, developed in our laboratory). The entire process consists in the acquisition, the point cloud alignment, the triangle model definition, the NURBS creation, the production of the STL file, and finally the generation of a scaled replica of the car. The process, apart from the importance of the application to a unique, prestigious historic racing car, demonstrates the case of application of the optical system to the gauging and the reverse engineering of large surfaces, as automobile body press parts and full-size clays, with high accuracy and reduced processing time, for design and restyling applications. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.