Integrated system for quickly and accurately imaging and modeling three-dimensional objects

• US 6,512,518 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2002
• Issued: 01/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Leica Geosystems AG (Hexagon AB)
• Original Assignee: Cyra Technologies, Inc. (Hexagon AB)
• Inventors: Dimsdale, Jerry
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phu K.
• Application Number:
  US10/079,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20020145607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 342 Days
• Field of Search: 345/419, 345/423, 345/424, 345/427, 382/195, 364/560, 364/578
• US Class Current: 345/427
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/002 for measuring two or more coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/24 for measuring contours or curvatures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/00 Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/002 Active optical surveying means optical plumbing G01C15/105
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4817 relating to scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4818 using optical fibres

Abstract

An integrated system generates a model of a three-dimensional object. A scanning laser device scans the three-dimensional object and generates a point cloud. The points of the point cloud each indicate a location of a corresponding point on a surface of the object. A first model is generated, responsive to the point cloud, that generates a first model representing constituent geometric shapes of the object. A data file is generated, responsive to the first model, that can be inputted to a computer-aided design system.

Claims

1. A method of manually separating from a plurality of clouds of points, representing a plurality of three-dimensional geometric features consisting of objects and surfaces in a scene, a subset of the points that represents a desired feature in the scene, the method comprising:

selecting all the point clouds that include at least some data points representing the desired feature; and

changing a view of the clouds to provide a different two dimensional projection of the three dimensional clouds and manually drawing a polygonal lasso around the desired points in the current view to refine a selected subset of points to be included in a point sub-cloud and repeating the refining as many times as required to obtain the desired sub-cloud.