METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE SURFACE PROFILE OF AN OBJECT

The present invention relates to a method, apparatus, computer code and algorithm for determining the surface profile of an object. The invention involves capturing three or four images of the object at different planes of which some of the images can be taken outside the depth of field of the optical system and some inside the depth of the field of the optical system. The invention may have particular application in instances of surface analysis and security applications under ambient lighting conditions.