J.-A. Beraldin1, F. Blais, L. Cownoyer, J. Domey, G. Godinand, M. Rioux
1 IIT, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Canada

Active three-dimensional vision is concerned with extracting information from the geometry and the texture of the visible surfaces in a scene, reasoning about the data and finally, communicating the results. With the recent technological advances made in electronics, photonics, computer vision and computer graphics, it is now possible to construct reliable, high resolution and accurate three-dimensional active range cameras. In order to take full advantage of these vision systems, one must understand not only their advantages but also their limitations. This paper covers some important issues that must be addressed before embarking in a 3-D modelling task or project. In particular, resolution, uncertainty and accuracy of 3-D information measurement in the context of close-range active 3-D systems are covered here. Theory about 3-D sensing is presented and is accompanied by selected results that should give the reader some pointers in order to become more critical when picking a 3-D vision system. A number of applications illustrating the technology are shown in the context of heritage. We show that museum objects, paintings, archaeological site features, architectural elements and sculpture can be digitised at high resolution. Finally, a number of web-based resources in active 3D vision are listed.
Key words: 3D Vision, Active Vision, Accuracy, Uncertainty, Resolution