Multi-camera system for 3D forensic documentation

• The botscan© and PhotoScan© produced 360° three-dimensional (3D) models.
• The 3D models had very detailed geometries and textures depending on the settings.
• This system represents a fast and markerless method of 3D documentation in the forensic field.

Three-dimensional (3D) surface documentation is well established in forensic documentation. The most common systems include laser scanners and surface scanners with optical 3D cameras. An additional documentation tool is photogrammetry. This article introduces the botscan© (botspot GmbH, Berlin, Germany) multi-camera system for the forensic markerless photogrammetric whole body 3D surface documentation of living persons in standing posture.We used the botscan© multi-camera system to document a person in 360°. The system has a modular design and works with 64 digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras. The cameras were evenly distributed in a circular chamber. We generated 3D models from the photographs using the PhotoScan© (Agisoft LLC, St. Petersburg, Russia) software.Our results revealed that the botscan© and PhotoScan© produced 360° 3D models with detailed textures. The 3D models had very accurate geometries and could be scaled to full size with the help of scale bars.In conclusion, this multi-camera system provided a rapid and simple method for documenting the whole body of a person to generate 3D data with Photoscan©.