Scorpion contains a complete set of 3D vision tools including measurement, 3D camera calibration and stereo vision with two or more cameras. In addition Scorpion supports 3D Images in the form of point clouds.

The Scorpion 3D model - the basics

The Scorpion 3D model is intimately based on the existing 2D camera/lens calibration. To build a 3D system, you must perform a lens calibration for each camera. This is then followed by a 3D calibration, where a 3D coordinate system is established. The strength with this model is the fact that you can get very accurate 3D measurements with as little as 6 known points from your 3D calibration object.

To the right a cube is drawn in a 2D image after 3D Camera Calibration - more

3D point clouds

With instruments generating proper 3D point clouds (sets of 3D point positions), the 2D/3D calibration duo is not needed. Visualization of such point clouds is done in OpenGL-based windows, giving true 3D displays. Many of the Scorpion 3D tools (and all the geometry tools) can display results in both 2D and 3D images as needed. You can also extract 3D point clouds with e.g. the CreatePointCloud3D tool and move between 2D and 3D views of the same data.
3D image formats are described here

Scorpion 3D tools

The following 3D tools are currently available (note that some of these tools are still in the alpha or beta stage):

• ExternalReference3D - 95 - Accurate and easy to use 3D camera calibration. The basis for all 3D measurements.
• Calibrator3D - 155 - A complete 3D calibrator. Can replace ExternalReference3D.
• ExternalCoordinates3D - 157 - Optional component in 3D calibration. Can be used to e.g. calibrate a robot system, automatically compensating for any inaccuracies.
• ChangeReference3D - 96 -  Moves a 2D plane using the 3D camera calibration. In robot vision this removes the need for multiple plane calibrations.
• Locate3D - 97 - Fast and accurate location of objects in space - x,y,z - using one, two, three or four cameras. Clever business logic to remove "bad" points increasing robustness and accuracy. Three and four cameras can be used to extend the volume where the object is located.
• ObjectPosition3D - 105 - Easy location of unknown 3D objects by combining information from multiple cameras. The third dimension of an object measured  by a pattern matching algorithm.
• LineFromPoints3D - 98 - Creates 3D lines from points in space
• ReferenceFromPoints3D - 99 - Creates a 2D reference plane from 3D points
• Angle3D - 100 - Angle between 3D lines
• NearestPointOnLine3D - 101 - Point-line distance
• ExternalPoint3D - 103 - a 3D point
• ExternalLine3D - 104 - a 3D line
• Point2DFrom3D - 106 - Transforms a 3D point to a 2D coordinate system
• Point3DFrom2D - 115 - Transforms a 2D point to a 3D coordinate system by specifying the unknown coordinate
• PointFromLines3D - 116 - Finds nearest point to both lines
• ReferenceFromLines3D - 117 - Finds nearest point to both lines and align reference with lines
• NearestPointOnPlane3D - 118 - Projects a point onto a plane
• ChangePointReference3D - 119 - Represents a point in another reference system
• ChangeLineReference3D - 120 - Represents a line in another reference system
• ReferenceDiff3D - 126 - Calculates difference (translation, rotation) between two reference systems
• MoveReference3D - 107 - Moves a 3D reference in space. Can be used to create multiple 3D reference from one camera calibration.
• GlobalPosition3D - 108 - Use to define a common global 3D reference system
• CreatePointCloud3D - 109 - Creates a 3D Point Cloud using dynamic cross-correlation and polar geometry typically from a set of dots generated by a lasergrid.
• GCPS - 110 - Creates 3D images using structured light
• TemplateFinder3D - 114 - Locates 3D objects in 2D images
• CylinderFit3D - 112 - Finds cylinders in 3D data sets - eg Point Cloud - Scorpion 3D image
• PlaneFit3D - 121 - Finds planes in 3D data sets
• HeightMap3D - 111 - Creates 2D intensity image from 3D point cloud
• ExtractMap3D - 122 - Creates 2D intensity image from 3D point cloud within an ROI box using infinite perspective
• MapTo3D - 125 - Converts from a height map created by ExtractMap3D to real 3D coordinates
• PointOnLine3D - 130 - Extracts a point from a line
• MoveLine3D - 138 - Moves a line in 3D
• MovePoint3D - 137 - Moves a point in 3D
• PlanePlaneIntersect3D - 139 - Intersection line between two planes
• PlaneLineIntersect3D - 142 - Intersection point between a plane and a line
• PCA3D - 140 - Principal Component Analysis - general shape/extent of an object
• SphereFit3D - 141 - Finds spheres in 3D data sets
• ReferenceOnPlane3D - 143 - Creates a reference on a plane by different means
• ImagePicker3D - 145 - Extracts a 3D point cloud subset to another image
• ConnectedComponents3D - 146 - Extracts objects by proximity filtering
• CameraPose3D - 148 - calculated the position of a camera based on minimum 4 known 3D points
• MonoPose3D - 149 - locates an object in 3D with one camera
• NormalizedPinHoleReference - 150
• Difference3D - 151 - Measure the difference between an located object and its model
• MaMa3D - 152 - Locates multiple objects in a Point Cloud