Generic gamma correction for accuracy enhancement in fringe-projection profilometry

Fringe-projection profilometry is one of the most commonly used noncontact methods for acquiring the three-dimensional (3D) shape information of objects. In practice, the luminance nonlinearity caused by the gamma effect of a digital projector and a digital camera yields undesired fringe intensity changes, which substantially reduce the measurement accuracy. In this Letter, we present a robust and simple scheme to eliminate the intensity nonlinearity induced by the gamma effect by combining a universal phase-shifting algorithm with a gamma correction method. First, by using three-step and large-step phase-shifting techniques, the gamma value involved in the measurement system can be detected. Then, a gamma pre-encoding process is applied to the system for actual 3D shape measurements. With the proposed technique, high accuracy of measurement can be achieved with the conventional smallstep phase-shifting algorithm. The validity of the technique is verified by experiments. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America