VALIDATION OF A 3D SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION METHOD: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Precise three-dimensional (3D) measurement of human body is essential for prostheses and orthoses design and fabrication. Traditionally, plaster bandage was used for molding and producing negative mold of the residual limb. However, it is a laborious, timeconsuming, costly and discomfort procedure, and the quality of the resultant product is subject to practitioners’ experience with poor repeatability and controllability. Close range photogrammetry (CRP) has been widely applied in industry to measure shapes and locations. CRP has also found its applications in the medical field especially in reconstructing 3D anatomical structures [1-4]. Recently, we have developed a method based on CRP using only entry level single-lens reflex (SLR) digital camera to reconstruct the 3D surface [5]. Though its performance based on theoretical calculation is satisfactory, its validity remains unknown. The objective of this study is therefore to attempt to validate the photogrammetry based system via comparing to other methods/systems.