Automatic moire contouring.

A method of automatically reconstructing the 3-D surface of an object from a 2-D moire pattern has been extended to interpret ambiguous fringe patterns by displacing the object. Potential applications of the surface reconstruction technique include inspection, cad/cam, microscopy, and robot vision. The digitized binary image was segmented into labeled fringes, the contours were detected, and the surface was reconstructed. A coin was used as an example to illustrate the procedure. The feasibility of using automatic moire contouring to inspect surfaces is discussed.