3D image acquisition and NURBS based geometry modelling of natural objects

This paper presents a recently developed Image Acquisition-Geometric Modell ing system for the construction of geometric models of natural or artificia l objects. This construction is achieved in a two-step procedure. First, th e object of interest is digitised, i.e. points on the surface of the object are computed. Then, based on the cloud of digitised 3D points, an approxim ating surface, a geometric model of the object of interest, is constructed. Coupled with a mesh generation package, the system presented allows for fu rther processing and analysis of the resulting model instead of the real ob ject itself. (C) 2000 Civil-Comp Ltd. and Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.