“Scanning from Heating” and “Shape from Fluorescence”

Abstract

3D surface acquisition is a subject which has been studied to a large extent. A significant number of techniques for acquiring shape have been proposed, and a wide range of commercial solutions are available. Nevertheless, today’s systems still have difficulties when digitizing objects with non-Lambertian surfaces in the visible light spectrum, as is the case of transparent, semi-transparent or highly reflective materials (e.g. glass, crystals, some plastics and shiny metals). In this chapter, some of the issues of traditional scanning systems are addressed by considering various approaches using the radioactive properties of materials, the polarization information of the reflected light as well as the generated fluorescence applied to the digitization of transparent object These approaches led to three recent techniques which can be referred as shape from polarization, shape from fluorescence as well as shape from heating (SFH). The two latest approaches will be exposed throughout this chapter.