METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ABSOLUTE-COORDINATE THREE-DIMENSIONAL SURFACE IMAGING

A method and associated apparatus for capturing an image of a 3D object (100) which encodes the surface geometry of at least a portion of the object, comprising: 1. projecting (304) a plurality of fringe patterns (312A, 314A) onto the object; 2. capturing (306) phase alterations in reflections of the fringe patterns (312B, 314B) from the object; 3. projecting a uniform image (310A) onto the object; 4. capturing a reflection of the uniform image (310B) from the object; and 5. combining (310) captured phase alterations and captured uniform image reflection on a pixel-by-pixel basis, thereby forming a holoimage representation of the object.