Image guided phase unwrapping for real-time 3D-scanning

3D-reconstructions produced by active 3D-scanning systems based on structured light can achieve high accuracy reconstructions of the scene surfaces. Structured light algorithms based on phase measuring triangulation (PMT) utilize phase-shifted sinusoidal patterns projected into the scene for a precise determination of correspondencies. The number of patterns used for that purpose may vary depending on the design of the algorithm. No matter how many patterns are required, all of these algorithms suffer from the acquisition time needed to record all patterns sequentially. In case of a dynamic scene the sequential acquisition of images lead to the capture of dynamic objects in different poses which in turn result in erroneous reconstructions depending on the object's velocity. Our goal is to achieve a more robust result during dynamic scene capture as well as better scene reconstruction rate. Two novel approaches are presented to reduce the amount of required patterns for a high-accuracy 3D-reconstruction. This is achieved by incorporating passive matching techniques in the phase-unwrapping stage of the algorithm, allowing to drop one half of the sinusoidal patterns.