Three-dimensional shape measurement with a fast and accurate approach

A noncontact, fast, accurate, low-cost, broad-range, full-field, easy-to-implement three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement technique is presented. The technique is based on a generalized fringe projection profilometry setup that allows each system component to be arbitrarily positioned. It employs random phase-shifting, multifrequency projection fringes, ultrafast direct phase unwrapping, and inverse self-calibration schemes to perform 3D shape determination with enhanced accuracy in a fast manner. The relative measurement accuracy can reach 1/10,000 or higher, and the acquisition speed is faster than two 3D views per second. The validity and practicability of the proposed technique have been verified by experiments. Because of its superior capability, the proposed 3D shape measurement technique is suitable for numerous applications in a variety of fields. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America