Non-rigid registration of 3D point clouds under isometric deformation

Abstract

An algorithm for pairwise non-rigid registration of 3D point clouds is presented in the specific context of isometric deformations. The critical step is registration of point clouds at different epochs captured from an isometric deformation surface within overlapping regions. Based on characteristics invariant under isometric deformation, a variant of the four-point congruent sets algorithm is applied to generate correspondences between two deformed point clouds, and subsequently a RANSAC framework is used to complete cluster extraction in preparation for global optimal alignment. Examples are presented and the results compared with existing approaches to demonstrate the two main contributions of the technique: a success rate for generating true correspondences of 90% and a root mean square error after final registration of 2–3mm.