3D object modeling with a Kinect camera

Abstract

RGB-D (Kinect-style) cameras are novel low-cost sensing systems that capture RGB images along with per-pixel depth information. In this paper we investigate the use of such cameras for acquiring multiple images of an object from multiple viewpoints and building complete 3D models of objects. Such models have applications in a wide range of industries. We implemented a complete 3D object model construction process with object segmentation, registration, global alignment, model denoising, and texturing, and studied the effects of these functions on the constructed 3D object models. We also developed a process for objective performance evaluation of the constructed 3D object models. We collected laser scan data as the ground truth using a Roland Pieza LPX-600 Laser Scanner to compare to the 3D models created by our process.