Processing Technique of Raw 3D Point Cloud Data for Accurate Reverse Engineering Exercise

Use of point cloud data for prototyping in Reverse Engineering (RE) is increasingly becoming popular among manufacturing communities round the globe specially, in automobile, aerospace and heavy engineering sectors where, speedy and accurate shape reproduction is the key success factor for survival in the competitive global market. This paper proposes some strategy of refining raw & noisy point cloud data, obtained from mock-up or clay-models to be used for solid or surface modeling in CAD. Discussion is limited to data acquisition methods, data viewing and validation, gap filling and homogenizing and cloud offsetting. Sample test results are presented in support of the discussed technique.