Feature Template-Based Sweeping Shape Reverse Engineering Algorithm using a 3D Point Cloud

This study develops an algorithm that automatically performs reverse engineering on three-dimensional (3D) sweeping shapes using a user's pre-defined feature templates and 3D point cloud data (PCD) of sweeping shapes. Existing methods extract 3D sweeping shapes by extracting points on a PCD cross section together with the center point in order to perform curve fitting and connect the center points. However, a drawback of existing methods is the difficulty of creating a 3D sweeping shape in which the user's preferred feature center points and parameters are applied. This study extracts shape features from cross-sectional points extracted automatically from the PCD and compared with pre-defined feature templates for similarities, thereby acquiring the most similar template cross-section. Fitting the most similar template cross-section to sweeping shape modeling makes the reverse engineering process automatic.