During the first 18 months of my Ph.D., I worked on the topic of passive image-based surface 3D reconstruction (i.e., obtaining the 3D geometry and colour of an object/specimen/scene from regular pictures of it). At the time, the main focus of my research was the development of an easy-to-use solution that combined the necessary data acquisition and reconstruction steps into a single integrated framework. We called that system R2OBBIE-3D (in honour of Isaac Asimov’s short story). You can find a detailed description of our work here.
Since then, R2OBBIE-3D has been used for many applications, such as
- helping researchers at LANE track the temporal colour change of ocellated lizards’ scales;
- generating digital 3D reconstructions of fossil specimens for the Palaeontology Museum and Institute of the University of Zurich. These were later 3D-printed for the exhibition ‘Crocodile in a Tree‘ (pages 80-81); and
- reconstructing mock crime scenes and crime-related objects for the Unit of Forensic Medicine of the University of Lausanne (Prof. Silke Grabherr‘s group) with the objective of assessing if the technology can be useful in the field of forensics.
I also worked on a strategy to extend Prof. Diego Nehab‘s awesome algorithm to more general cases (more on that soon).
Lastly, an INNOGAP ‘Proof-of-Principle’ grant (Spring 2015) allowed me to develop Nano-R2OBBIE-3D, a system similar to R2OBBIE-3D but adapted to the reconstruction of much smaller geometric details (down to ~1-2µm). You can find more details about it in my Ph.D. thesis (available soon).
Want me to make a coloured 3D reconstruction of an object/scene for you? Contact me!
