FastRBF Extensions for FastSCAN

With new FastRBF™ extensions, FastSCAN now represents a complete rapid prototyping solution in a single package.

The automatic hole-filling and smooth extrapolation of incomplete surface data that the FastRBF™ extensions provide saves many hours otherwise spent laboriously repairing holes and defects in scans. All this is done without compromising the high detail of the original scan. FastRBF, however, also offers advanced smoothing and noise rejection techniques along with sophisticated mesh simplification that exploits the unique mathematical function that FastRBF uses to model the scan data. Consequently, surfaces simplified with FastRBF are more faithful to the raw scan data than other traditional methods. The FastRBF plug-in also guarantees that a water tight, manifold surface is exported from the scanner - an essential consideration for rapid prototyping and a unique capability in a laser scanner. With the FastRBF extensions, all this capability is now available to the user at the time of acquisition.



Raw FastSCAN data

FastRBF™ automatic water tight model. Fine mesh (105,000 faces)

Mesh after FastRBF simplification (29,000 faces)

This example demonstrates FastRBF™ hole filling, surface extrapolation and mesh simplification in order to create a water tight model suitable for manufacture by rapid prototyping. The complete task is solved within the scanner software at the time of acquisition. FastRBF is used to create a smooth water tight surface from the raw laser scan data of the bust scanned above. Holes are automatically filled and the surface smoothly extrapolated to a user-defined bounding box (middle). The very fine mesh derived from the Radial Basis Function (middle) was then simplified prior to exporting, while still maintaining the high detail of the original scan.

The FastRBF extensions offer key scanning improvements:

Mesh simplification

A functional representation of a surface, such as FastRBF's Radial Basis Function, allows the error between a surface and a point on a mesh approximating the surface to be determined analytically. This facilitates the positioning of faces and vertices when simplifying a mesh.



Fine mesh (detail)

Mesh after FastRBF simplification (detail)

Automatic hole filling example

Small holes in raw scan data (below left) are easily repaired while large gaps between the two embracing figures are smoothly interpolated. This is achieved while preserving the complex topology of the statue (i.e. the spaces between the arms, head and torso are preserved).



Raw FastSCAN mesh (approximately 600mm tall)

Scan after processing with FastRBF.
Small holes are repaired and occluded regions smoothly interpolated automatically.