It seems that the subject of 3-D optical surface measurement is all the rage these days. When I work trade shows, a majority of the people who wander into our booth want to know about surface measurement—and a large majority of those want to know about 3-D optical surface measurement. But of those many who are interested, very few are willing or able to actually measure their parts in 3-D, optically or otherwise. The simple fact is that while optical systems have made considerable strides in the past few years, there are still significant barriers to entry for most surface measurement applications.
Optical scanning methods change the way profiles are generated.