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Three Dimensional Scanner Using Laser Triangulation Technology

Conference Paper · June 2011

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Lutfi Al-Sharif
University of Jordan
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 Proceedings of the 23rd CANCAM
THREE DIMENSIONAL SCANNER USING LASER TRAINGULATION
TECHNOLOGY
Lutfi Al-Sharif
Department of Mechatronics Engineering
University of Jordan
Amman 11942
Jordan
lal-sharif@theiet.org

a CMM once he/she is happy with the visual

ABSTRACT appearance of it. This is also used in movie
This paper describes a three dimensional laser scanner that animation, where the character is modeled out of clay,
was designed and built at the University of Jordan, modified and then captured using a contact CMM.
Mechatronics Engineering Department, as a final year c) Quality control: A CMM can be used to
graduation project. automatically check the final dimensions of a product
The three dimensional laser scanner uses three actuators and compare it to the original CAD design in order to
and a triangulation based laser range transducer. An object is assure the quality of the manufactured piece.
placed on a motorised precise turntable. The laser range d) Virtual art galleries or auctions: Where an accurate
transducer can be moved in two dimensions (horizontally and three dimensional image is required for a piece of
vertically using stepper motor driven lead screws in order to sculpted art (for the purpose of a virtual auction or a
scan a full ‘face’ of the object. Once a complete face scan is virtual art gallery) a CMM is an ideal tool (as the art
completed the object is turned by a certain angle using the piece was not produced from a CAD drawing).
precise turntable in order for another ‘face’ scan to be carried
out. A minimum of three faces is required in order to fully 3. CONSIDERATIONS IN THE DESIGN OF CMMS
capture the surface details of the object. Objects with multiple A number of considerations in the design of CMMs’ are
vertices and hidden areas will need more face scans. listed below:
The scans from the different faces are then merged or fused
together based on the original angle of rotation of the turntable. a) Contact vs. contactless: Contactless CMMs
Commercially available software is then used to convert the (sometimes referred to as scanners) are becoming
resultant point cloud into a CAD model of the object, and much more popular compared to contact type CMMs.
rendering added to give it a real life appearance. The main advantages of a contactless CMM are the
fact that it reduces the required manual intervention by
1. INTRODUCTION the user and allows the automation of most of the
Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) have become an scanning process. It is becoming viable due to the
extremely vital tool in modern day manufacturing and other presence of modern contactless transducers that are
applications [1]. Their applications range from reverse cheaper, more reliable and that possess higher levels of
engineering to quality control to virtual art galleries. This accuracy, precision and resolution. Good examples
paper reviews a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) that of such modern transducers can be found from many
uses a laser point triangulation transducer as the basis for specialist companies (Sick, Altechna) where
capturing the surface details of objects. resolutions of around 10 μm can be achieved using
triangulation method laser technologies. Examples
2. APPLICATIONS OF CMMs of such systems can be found in [5], [6], [7] and [8].
There are many applications of CMMs in manufacturing b) Number of degrees of freedom: A balance has to be
and other areas. Some of the more prominent examples are: achieved between the number of degrees of freedom of
the CMM with the resultant complexity and the
a) Reverse engineering [2]. In many applications today, benefits from the extra degrees of freedom. It is
there is a need to reverse engineer a component or a worth remembering that, in the case of contactless
product. CMMs are ideal for capturing a three transducers, the transducer itself represents one degree
dimensional CAD model of a product, and can also be of freedom.
instrumental in helping the designer capture the c) Multiple face detection: In the case of objects that
original ‘design intent’. have details on all sides, it is usually necessary to scan
b) Design and visualization aids: In many design the objects from a number of different angles and
application (e.g., automotive body design), the combine the resulting scans. This usually requires
designer prefers to build the prototype of the model, intelligence in the software to correctly align the
amend and alter it physically and then capture it using different face scans and combine the repeated points.
d) Scanning time and human intervention: The different Once the whole scanning process has been completed
methodologies vary widely in the required scanning a matrix with a large number of points describes all the
time and the need for human intervention. These two points on the surface of the object. The third party
points nearly seem to be inversely proportional to each software is used in order to mesh the points and then
other. The acceptable scanning time has to be based render the resultant surface.
on the application and the required resolution of the
final scan.

4. SYSTEM DESIGN
The system comprises the following components [4]:

1. Triangulation based point laser transducer: This

transducer uses the principle of triangulation to detect
the distance of an object. The principle of
triangulation offers excellent resolution at small ranges
(12 μm to 100 μm). The limited range is not a
problem in this case, as the object is usually placed
within a small distance from the transducer. The
transducer used here has a resolution of 100 μm at a
range of 200 mm. It connects via a USB connection
to a PC or laptop. It has an excellent sampling rate of
around 500 samples per second, which allows a fast
scanning rate.
2. Pair of orthogonal linear actuators: Two linear
actuators that are placed perpendicular to each other
are used. They rely on the use of stepper motors
driving lead-screws. The stepper motor has a
resolution of 200 pulses per revolution, or 1.8 degrees. Figure 1: General overview of laser based 3 DOF CMM.
The lead screw has a pitch of 0.5 mm/revolution.
This results in a linear resolution of 2.5 μm. The linear 5. DEGREES OF FREEDOM
actuators carry the laser transducer and thus allow a When comparing the 3D laser scanner used here with
full face scan of the object. conventional contact type manipulator coordinate measuring
3. Precise turntable: A precise motorised turntable machines (CMM), it is very useful to define the number of
is used to turn the object. It has a resolution of 0.1 degrees of freedom that a scanner possesses. This is useful
degrees (3600 pulses per revolution). The controller when comparing different types of scanners and assessing their
rotates the turntable by a certain angle in order to scan relative performance.
the object from a different direction. The 3D scanner described here possesses 4 degrees of
4. Controller: The motion controller resides on a freedom. The use of a laser range transducer can be
laptop or desktop PC. It controls the motion of the misleading in that it is not directly thought of as a degree of
two linear actuators in order to allow the laser freedom. In fact its mechanical counterpart would be a
transducer to scan the object. Once a complete ‘face’ prismatic joint, and hence it contributes one degree of freedom
scan is completed, it controls the turntable in order to to the system. The other three degrees of freedom are: the
rotate the object by a certain number of degrees horizontal linear actuator; the vertical linear actuator; and the
(usually 120°). turntable.
5. Data processor: The data processor acquires the
data from the laser sensor and combines it with the 6. MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS USED IN THE
data from the controller regarding the position of the TRANSFORMATION
linear actuators and the turntable. This creates one This section examines the equations used in the
valid point that lies on the surface of the object to be transformation for the measured points into a mesh cloud.
scanned. The point coordinates are entered into a Figure 2 shows the general arrangement of the object, the
‘point cloud’ matrix (with its three coordinates). transducer and the precise turntable for the three degree of
Where the object has been rotated, a coordinate freedom scanner (3 DOF) [3]. Although it is acknowledged
transformation is applied to return the point back to that the transducer does not actually rotate and that it is in fact
the original reference. the object that rotates on the turntable, the diagram shows the
transducer rotating and the turntable stationary for convenience
and ease of calculation.
 y  R  sin    r  sin   (4)

It is worth noting that the angle can range from 0° to 360°

without the need to adjust the signs in the formulae above.
The z position of the point on the surface of the object
is obtained directly from the height of the transducer without
the need for any transformation.

zh (5)
…where h is the vertical height of the transducer.

A similar approach can be followed for the four degree of

freedom scanner [4]. The only difference is that the
transducer can move horizontally at a tangent to the locus of the
transducer around the centre of the turntable, as shown in
Figure 3. This movement has been denoted as p.
R is the distance between the transducer and the centre of
the turntable
Figure 2: Layout of the transducer relative to the r is the distance between the transducer and detected point
object and the point being measured (3 DOF system). on the surface of the object (i.e., the transducer
reading)
As shown in the diagram, it is assumed that the transducer θ is the angle between the x-axis and the line joining the
is at an angle of θ degrees to the principal axis (denoted as the transducer to the centre of the turntable
x-axis in the figure). p is the horizontal movement of the transducer at a tangent
R is the distance between the transducer and the centre of to the locus of the transducer lying at a constant
the turntable distance R from the centre of the turntable.
r is the distance between the transducer and detected point
on the surface of the object (i.e., the transducer
reading)
θ is the angle between the x-axis and the line joining the
transducer to the centre of the turntable

It is implicitly understood that the z-axis represents the height

of the ‘slice’ being scanned, and it is carried over without any
change between the polar and Cartesian coordinates.
Based on the angle of rotation of the turntable and the
measured distance between the transducer and the point on the
surface of the object, it is possible to derive the Cartesian
coordinates of the point on the surface of the object as follows
(note that the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system lies on
the periphery of the turntable.

For the 3 DOF system [3], the x position of the point on the
surface of the object can be found as follows:

x  R  cos   R  r  (1) Figure 3: Layout of the transducer relative to the

object and the point being measured (4 DOF system).
Rearranging gives:
The transformation equations for this mode of operation
x  R  R  cos   r  cos  (2) are shown below. The x position of the point on the surface of
the object can be found as follows:
The y position of the point on the surface of the object can be
calculated using the following formula: x  R  R  cos   r  cos   p  sin   (7)

y  sin    R  r  (3)
The y position of the point on the surface of the object can be
using the following formula: 7. RESULTS
A sample of the results from the system is shown in Figure
y  R  sin    r  sin    p  cos  (8) 5. The different colours show points obtained from the
different face scans. It is clear how the software combines the
As in the case of the 3 DOF case, the z position of the point on different face scans, by a method called fusion.
the surface of the object is obtained directly from the height of A comparison has also been shown between the 3
the transducer without the need for any transformation. DOF and the 4 DOF results for the same object in Figure 4 and
in Figure 5 respectively. It is clear that the extra degree of
zh (9) freedom has added more detail.
…where h is the vertical height of the transducer.

Figure 4: Scan of a vase with surface texture using 3 DOF Figure 5: Scan of same vase using 4 DOF laser based
laser based scanner. scanner (the different colours denote different scan using
different angles).

7. The three faces are then fused. This produces a

7. SCANNING PROCESS point cloud of all the points on the surface of the
The following procedure can be followed in scanning an object.
object: 8. A surface meshing software then is applied to the
1. The object is placed on the turntable. point cloud using a set of triangles. This
2. The control software does a very quick low provides a surface description of the object.
resolution scan using the two linear actuators. 9. The resultant surface is then rendered to give it a
This allows it to detect the effective width and the realistic visual appearance.
effective height of the object. 10. The complete process lasts around 3.5 hours for
3. Based on the detected extremities of the object, a an average size object. A fast scan can be
one face detailed scan of the object is carried out. carried out but using a lower resolution if desired.
This is done using a very low resolution (2.5 μm 11. If there are many hidden features in the object,
in both vertical and horizontal direction). For an then the software can be used to detect the number
average size object this lasts around 1 hour. of vertices in the object and then apply a number
4. The object is then rotated by 120°. The single of face scans equal to the number of vertices and
face scan is then repeated. aligned to each of them. An example of such a
5. The object is then rotated by another 120° and the scan is shown in Figure 6 below.
last face scan is repeated.
6. The data gathered from each face scan is
transformed back to the original position using a
coordinate transformation matrix.
 Figure 6: Scanning objects with multiple vertices.

intent. The system is fully automated and does not require

8. ADVANATAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE any human intervention. It also has a number of intelligent
SYSTEM features whereby the extremities of the object are automatically
As with all 3D scanners, the system has many strengths and detected in order to minimise the scan time.
weaknesses. This 3D scanner is ideal for applications where However, the system does take excessive amounts of
high resolution is required in the scanning of objects that have a time in scanning average size objects. The cost of the system
surface with a high level of detail especially artistic objects. It is also excessive, mainly due to the cost of the laser
is also very powerful in scanning objects that have surfaces triangulation transducer.
with complicated contours and details, where the software can Future improvements to the system would involve the use
be used to find the ‘design intent’ (e.g., finding the radius and of line laser sources or even structured light sources (as from an
centre of an arc). The system however cannot detect hidden LCD projector) that would allow immediate capture of a scan
or hollow features. Another advantage of the system is that it and processing in order to save the time taken in point by point
does not require human intervention and is fully automated. scans in the current system.
A major disadvantage of the system that arises from its
high resolution is the time taken for a complete scan. The cost
is also a disadvantage especially of the laser transducer. 10. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Using a camera and a line laser source is a viable This paper is based on a series of final year mechatronic
alternative to this method of scanning. This method uses a engineering graduation projects that were supervised by the
camera that takes a snapshot of the object with the line laser author at the University of Jordan. The four stages represent
falling on the object. Another snapshot is then taken again an evolution of the design to the current design presented in this
from a different angle. Combining the two snapshots provides paper, as follows:
a slice scan of the object. The laser line is then slightly moved
upwards or downwards and the process of the two snapshots is  A simple ultrasonic range transducer with three
repeated, until the whole object has been scanned. Free degrees of freedom. Students: Amr Imran, Omar
software packages (such as DAVID laser scanner) can be used Jaber, Nasser Dmaer, 2007.
to combine the snapshots and produce a mesh of the object.  A laser based 3 degree of freedom scanner. Students:
This process provides a faster method of 3D scanning, but Mohammad Saeed Ali Abo Al Hayaya, Anas Bakez,
offers much lower resolution. Murad ahmed Abaza , Mohammed Al Deisee, 2008
 A laser based 3 degree of freedom scanner with
9. CONCLUSIONS automated precise turntable. N. B. Nafaa', M. W.
A laser based triangulation 3D scanner has been Issa, ,S. Z. Faza', Y. F. Magableh, 2008 [3].
overviewed. It uses two linear actuators and a precision  A laser based 4 degree of freedom scanner with
turntable to move the laser transducer and the object automated precise turntable. Students: Amal M.
respectively. Thanks to the high resolution of the transducer Reyahy, Lara N. Qasem, Muayyad A. Abu Hindi,
and the actuators, objects with fine surface details can be Omar I. Hindawi, Sara N. Ali, Sukina Y. Bader,
scanned. January 2010.
The results from the 4 DOF system have been compared to
the results from the 3 DOF system clearly demonstrating the The author also acknowledges the financial support from the
improvement from the extra degree of freedom. King Abdullah II Fund for Development for funding the last
The system is ideal for artistic objects that have high two of the four projects. The author also acknowledges the
levels of detail on the surface, and is able to capture the design
financial support from the Deanship of Academic Research for
the second project.

11. REFERENCES
[1] A. John. Bosch, “Coordinate Measuring Machines and
Systems”, Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1995.
[2] Salil Desai and Bopaya Bidanda, “Rapid Prototyping:
Theory and Practice” Reverse Engineering: A Review &
Evaluation of Contact Based Systems”, 2nd edition.
[3] N. B. Nafaa', M. W. Issa, ,S. Z. Faza', Y. F. Magableh,
"Two Dimensional Coordinate Measuring Machine
(CMM) using laser distance sensor", final year graduation
project, Mechatronics Engineering Department, University
of Jordan, 2009.
[4] Amal M. Reyahy, Lara N. Qasem, Muayyad A. Abu Hindi,
Omar I. Hindawi, Sara N. Ali, Sukina Y. Bader, “A laser
based 4 degree of freedom scanner with automated precise
turntable”, final year graduation project, Mechatronics
Engineering Department, University of Jordan, January
2010.
[5] D.W. Manthey, K.N. Knapp, D. Lee, “Calibration of a
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[8] I.A. Vykhristyuk, “Coordinate Measuring Machine with
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