System for reconstruction of three-dimensional micro objects from multiple photographic images

We introduce a system to reconstruct a three-dimensiojnal (3D) polygonal model of 3D micro objects with outer dimensions ranging from several hundred microns to several millimeters from multiple two-dimensional (2D) images of an object taken from different views. The data acquisition system consists of a digital microscope that captures still images at a resolution of 1600 ×× 1200 pixels and a computer-controlled turntable. We employ the shape-from-silhouette (SFS) method to construct a voxel-based 3D model from silhouette images. The concave shapes are further carved by using the space carving technique. In order to make the resulting model compatible with a commercial CAD/CAM system, the voxel model is converted into a triangular mesh using the marching cubes algorithm. Because the mesh generated from the voxel model by using the marching cubes algorithm inherits the staircase effect, the mesh is adjusted to recover the object precisely by using silhouette images. Finally, we evaluate the accuracy of the proposed method. The reconstructed models of complex micro objects indicate the effectiveness of the 3D shape reconstruction system for micro objects.

Research highlights
► Our system can reconstruct micro objects ranging from several hundred μm to several mm.
► The accuracy of the system is within 0.5% of the bounding box diagonal of the model.
► It costs only approximately one third of the price of a laser microscope.
► It can reconstruct a polygonal model, typically within 15 minutes.
► It can reconstruct models with colors.