Nonstructured light-based sensing for 3D reconstruction

Structured light-based sensing (SLS) requires the illumination to be coded either spatially or temporally in the illuminated pattern. However, while the former demands the use of uniquely coded spatial windows whose size grows with the reconstruction resolution and thereby demanding increasing smoothness on the imaged scene, the latter demands the use of multiple image captures. This article presents how the illumination of a very simple pattern plus a single image capture can also achieve 3D reconstruction. The illumination and imaging setting has the configuration of a typical SLS system, comprising a projector and a camera. The difference is, the illumination is not much more than a checkerboard-like pattern – a non-structured pattern in the language of SLS – that does not provide direct correspondence between the camera’s image plane and the projector’s display panel. The system works from the image progressively, first constructing the orientation map of the target object from the observed grid-lines, then inferring the depth map by the use of a few tricks related to interpolation. The system trades off little accuracy of the traditional SLSs with simplicity of its operation. Compared to temporally coded SLSs, the system has the essence that it requires only one image capture to operate; compared with spatially coded SLSs, it requires no use of spatial windows, and in turn a less degree of smoothness on the object surface; compared with methods like shape from shading and photometric stereo, owing to the use of artificial illumination it is less affected by the surface reflectance property of the target surface and the ambient lighting condition.