Influence of Material on the Density of a Point Cloud Created Using a Structured-Light 3D Scanner

Abstract

Global digitization affects all sectors, including construction. Indeed, 3D scanning and digital photogrammetry methods are increasingly being used to obtain 3D data of buildings. The data obtained by these methods are a cloud of points, and our research is focused on this cloud’s density. From the literature and our own previous research, it is known that different materials have different properties that are manifested in the structured-light 3D scanning of the surface of the measured object. We have selected materials with the assumption that their properties would negatively affect the density of the point cloud. The article describes the methodology of how the measurement of selected materials was performed and suggests material surface treatment possibilities to improve the properties of the materials for structured-light 3D data acquisition. The influence of suggested surface treatments on objects and/or materials was not investigated. Each intended case of using the suggested surface treatments needs to be considered individually to avoid object deterioration and/or material deterioration. Thanks to this research, it is possible to estimate the problem areas in terms of the materials during the reconnaissance of the measured object. The results of our experiments show that the treatments used can improve the accuracy of the measured object model and reduce the need to manually complete the model or scan the measured object several times.

Keywords

• building information modeling
• structured-light scanning
• materials
• surface treatment
• point cloud density