Pattern projection apparatuses are placed on each other in a stack manner in a stripe pattern direction for projecting the same patterns. An image pickup apparatus (camera 1) is placed between the pattern projection apparatuses. The optical axes of the pattern projection apparatuses and the image pickup apparatus are aligned on the same plane parallel with the stripe pattern direction. On the plane, the principal points also become the same. An image of a stripe pattern is picked up directly by the image pickup apparatus without the intervention of a half mirror, etc., and is recoded. An image of the recoded stripe pattern is picked up by an image pickup apparatus (camera 2) and is decoded and the range of an object is measured by triangulation based on image correspondence points.

A method for measuring the physical characteristics of livestock animals such as cattle and hogs. The apparatus of the invention includes a plurality of strategically positioned cameras that are used to obtain data concerning volumetric, curvilinear (surface) and linear measurements of livestock animals such as cattle and hogs and the full carcasses thereof. In accordance with the method of the invention, the data is analyzed to provide information that substantially assists the commercial producer of livestock animals in producing a high-quality end product for the consumer while adding profitability to the enterprise.

A projector for an arrangement for three-dimensional optical measurement of objects (6) with the aid of a topometric measuring method in which images of projection patterns (2) projected onto an object (6) are acquired and evaluated, the projector having an illumination unit (4) and a carrier (1), provided with projection patterns (2), for projecting the light structures. The object is achieved by virtue of the fact that projection patterns (2) are arranged on the carrier (1) in the form of repeating geometrical individual structures, and the carrier (1) with the projection patterns (2) is movably arranged in such a way that during the movement and illumination selected regions of the projection pattern (2) are displaced into the beam path (7) between the illumination unit (4) and object (6), and a stripe-shaped pattern is imaged on the object (6) by means of the movement unsharpness.

It is an object of the present invention to make it possible to use the same inspection apparatus regardless of the difference of the model of the glass sheets. The present invention comprises a step of irradiating a surface of a glass sheet G with light from a patterned light source 2a having a specific pattern, a step of picking up an image of the glass sheet G, a step of analyzing the image to extract a reflected image of the light source 2a, and a step of performing a good/defective judgment of the shape of the glass sheet G based on the result of comparing data regarding to the extracted reflected image with data regarding to the reflected image by a good product which is registered in advance.

In the automatic photogrammetric 3D digitization of a body or body part marked e.g. by an envelope provided with photogrammetric target markers, the camera employed for image recording has additional light pattern projectors added thereon which are fastened to the camera body and project geometrically simple structures such as points or lines onto the body. These structures, which are visible optically without the viewing image, facilitate the manual alignment of the camera and the positioning of the camera at the correct distance from the body in obtaining the numerous overlapping individual images required for photogrammetric evaluation. This manually predefined alignment facilitates the automatic association of the photogrammetric markers in the individual image pairs with the aid of image processing methods and allows it to be carried out more reliably on an automated basis. According to a preferred embodiment, the projectors are turned off in the actual image recording process.