The effect of patterns on image-based modelling of texture-less objects

The task of generating fast and accurate three-dimensional (3D) models of objects or scenes through a sequence of non-calibrated images is an active field of research. The recent development in algorithm optimization has resulted in many automatic solutions that can provide an accurate 3D model from texture-full objects. Structure-from-motion (SfM) is an image-based method that uses discriminative point-based feature identifier, such as SIFT, to locate feature points in the images. This method faces difficulties when presented with the objects made of homogenous or texture-less surfaces. To reconstruct such surfaces a well-known technique is to apply an artificial variety by covering the surface with a random texture pattern prior to the image capturing process. In this work, we designed three series of image patterns which are tested based on the contrast and density ratio which increases from the first to the last pattern within the same series. The performance of the patterns is evaluated by reconstructing the surface of a texture-less object and comparing it with the true data. Using the best-found patterns from the experiments, a 3D model of a Moai statue is reconstructed. The experimental results demonstrate that the density and structure of a pattern highly affects the quality of the reconstruction.