3d-camera for scene capturing and augmented reality applications

Coordinate based 3D multimedia applications benefit from cost effective, compact and easy-to-use profilers like the miniaturized 3D-Camera that works on basis of the fringe projection technique. The system uses a compact housing and is usable like a video camera with minimum stabilization like a tripod. Camera and projector are assembled with parallel optical axes having coplanar projection and imaging planes. Their axes distance is comparable to the human eyes' distance, giving a compact system of shoebox-size and allow measuring high gradient objects like the interior of tubes and delivering captured scenes with minimum loss by shadowing. Additionally, the 3D-Camera can be used for the Inverse Projection technique, allowing single-frame video rate capture and to virtually place information like virtual labels or defect maps onto the surface of objects, thus, allowing augmented reality applications. In this paper, the concept and realization of the 3D-Camera is described and an over-view of possible applications is given.