Implementation of a cheap and portable three-dimensional scanner system

A low-cost and portable three-dimensional scanner system is designed in this paper, including hardware and software systems. A common camera and a linear laser emitter are used to detect the distance of the object by using triangulation algorithm. Meanwhile, 3D point cloud data is generated. Then by using QuickHull algorithm or MeshLab software, the object´s surface can be recovered. To verify the methods mentioned in this paper, a cup is measured using the scanner system. The experimental results show that the system has the following advantages: low cost, lightweight and high accuracy.