Microscopic Structure from Motion (SfM) for Microscale 3D Surface Reconstruction

Abstract

In microscale photogrammetry, the confocal microscopic imaging technique has been the dominant trend. Unlike the confocal imaging mostly for transparent objects, we propose a novel method to construct a 3D shape in microscale for various micro-sized solid objects in a broad spectrµm of applications. Recently, the structure from motion (SfM) demonstrated reliable 3D reconstruction capability for macroscale objects. In this paper, we discuss the results of a novel micro-surface reconstruction method using the Structure from Motion in microscale. The proposed micro SfM technique utilizes the photometric stereovision via microscopic photogrammetry. The main challenges lie in the scanning methodology, ambient light control, and light conditioning for microscale object photography. Experimental results of the microscale SfM, as well as the modeling accuracy analysis of a reconstructed micro-object, are shared in the paper.