With the rapid spread of 3D printers, it is more important than ever to make models of real world objects in a faster, easier and more accurate way. This is the job of the 3D scanners.
There are many different types of scanners. During my work on this thesis I took part in the development of a laser triangulation type. My task was the implementation and analysis of a core part of the scanner: the line tracker function. There are several algorithms in literature; I implemented some of the more prevailing ones.
I have created a Matlab framework where I can test the chosen algorithms on real and synthetic pictures regarding speed, accuracy and robustness.
I analyzed the results, and created a C++ implementation using this information. This implementation is now running on the scanner, and it is connected to the other modules.
At the end of this paper I show some of the results from the scanner, I write about my experiences and observations during my work and I give some pointers for future work based on those.