Simulated Laser Triangulation with Focus on Subsurface Scattering

Abstract: Practical laser triangulation sessions were performed for each measurement object to obtain ground truth data. Three methods for laser line simulations were implemented: reshaping the built-in light sources of Blender, creating a texture projector and approximating a Gaussian beam as a light emitting volume. The camera simulation was based on the default camera of Blender together with settings from the physical camera. Three approaches for creating wood material were tested: procedural texturing, using microscopic image textures to create 3D-material and UV-mapping high resolution photograph onto the geometry. The blister package was simulated with one material for the pills and another for the semi-transparent plastic packaging. A stand-alone Python script was implemented to simulate anisotropic/directed subsurface scattering of a point laser in wood. This algorithm included an approach for creating vector fields that represented subsurface scattering directions. Three post-processing scripts were produced to simulate sensor noise, blurring/blooming of the laser line and lastly to apply simulated speckle patterns to the laser lines. Sensor images were simulated by rendering a laser line projected onto a measurement object. The sensor images were post-processed with the three mentioned scripts. Thousands of sensor images were simulated, with a small displacement of the measurement object between each image. After post-processing, these images were combined to a single scattering image. SICK IVP AB provided the algorithms needed for laser centre extraction as well as for scattering image creation.