A Fast Shape-from-Focus-Based Surface Topography Measurement Method

Shape from focus is an accurate, but relatively time-consuming, 3D profilometry technique (compared to e.g., laser triangulation or fringe projection). This is the case because a large amount of data that needs to be captured and processed to obtain 3D measurements. In this paper, we propose a two-step shape-from-focus measurement approach that can improve the speed with 40%. By using a faster profilometry technique to create a coarse measurement of an unknown target, this coarse measurement can be used to limit the data capture to only the required frames. This method can significantly improve the measurement and processing speed. The method was tested on a 40 mm by 40 mm custom target and resulted in an overall 46% reduction of measurement time. The accuracy of the proposed method was compared against the conventional shape from focus method by comparing both methods with a more accurate reference.