Representation and Processing of Surface Data

Abstract

In recent years optical 3D sensors have become powerful tools for reverse engineering. The shape of a three-dimensional object is sampled for that purpose and turned into a description for computer aided design (CAD). The method enables processing of physical design models on a computer (see Section 8.1). Using computer aided manufacturing (CAM) techniques like numerical controlled (NC) milling or stereolithography, three-dimensional replicas of the digitized objects can be made. In dentistry such methods are used to scan teeth or plaster casts and to automatically produce crowns and inlays from the data.