Simulation of Photogrammetry-Based 3D Data Acquisition

The paper presents a simulation approach to photogrammetry-based three-dimensional (3D) data acquisition. Photogrammetry requires capturing of series of overlapping photos with certain properties from which 3D reconstruction is later obtained. Scanning a building or a human or jewellery requires different numbers of cameras, setup parameters, spatial orientations, etc. Without precise information on how to effectively take photos, obtaining them can be tedious work without any guarantees that it will provide sufficient 3D reconstruction quality. The proposed simulation approach aims to ease the aforementioned burdens and contributes by improving the process of photogrammetry-based 3D data acquisition. The presented simulator is tested in the context of the development of a 3D scanning system for human body scanning and avatar creation. The experiments confirm that the proposed method leads to an improved quality of 3D object reconstruction in comparison to previous practice in the field of 3D human scanning. Further, it lowers the cost and shortens the time required for the industrial process of construction of 3D scanning systems, thus confirming the value and validity of the presented approach.