Four-dimensional measurement by a single-frame structured light method.

A four-dimensional [4D--three-dimensional (3D) shape varying in time] shape measurement system is described. A single 3D shape of an object is calculated from only one frame. The projected pattern is composed of sinusoidal intensity fringes and one color-encoded stripe, the analysis of which allows us to find the absolute coordinates of the measured object. During measurement, the position of the stripe changes due to the improvement of the quality of spatiotemporal unwrapping. The fringes deformed by the shape of the object are captured by a CCD camera and processed by an adaptive spatial carrier phase-shifting algorithm. The use of an algorithm based on fast Fourier transformation is proposed to approximate the local period of fringes. A new phase-unwrapping routine based on the spatiotemporal information is presented as well. All these features make the 3D shape measurement of an object in motion possible with the additional advantage of using a low-cost system. Experimental results of the developed method together with a preliminary assessment of measurement uncertainty are presented to show the validity of the method.