3D shape scanning with a time-of-flight camera

We describe a method for 3D object scanning by aligning depth scans that were taken from around an object with a time-of-flight camera. These ToF cameras can measure depth scans at video rate. Due to comparably simple technology they bear potential for low cost production in big volumes. Our easy-to-use, cost-effective scanning solution based on such a sensor could make 3D scanning technology more accessible to everyday users. The algorithmic challenge we face is that the sensor´s level of random noise is substantial and there is a non-trivial systematic bias. In this paper we show the surprising result that 3D scans of reasonable quality can also be obtained with a sensor of such low data quality. Established filtering and scan alignment techniques from the literature fail to achieve this goal. In contrast, our algorithm is based on a new combination of a 3D superresolution method with a probabilistic scan alignment approach that explicitly takes into account the sensor´s noise characteristics.