Using IDL to Visual Analyse the Point Clouds of the Surface of Crayfish

Abstract

The digital measurements of surfaces of the crayfish were carried out by using the LSV 50 laser scanner, a non-touch three-dimensional laser scanner, and point clouds were the scanning digital data of the surface of crayfish. The work described in this paper represents a method for visual analyse the point clouds of the surface of crayfish in IDL (Interactive Data Language), which integrates a powerful, array-oriented language with numerous mathematical analysis and graphical display techniques. IDL provides a high level of flexibility to access, analyse and visualize the data with different methods. Point clouds of the surface of crayfish were imported, reconstructed and feature analysed by using iTools, the IDL Intelligent Tools. Polynomial regression equation of the surface of crayfish in selected cross section was also derived by programming in IDL. Detailed information about the LSV 50 laser scanner were also inverse deduced in iTools.Methods and results presented in this paper prove to be potentially useful for visual analyzing the feature of biological prototype, optimizing the mathematical model and affording deformable physical model to bionic engineering, those works would have great implications to the research of biological coupling theory and technological creation in bionic engineering. Key words: Visualization; Analyse; Point clouds; Surface; Crayfish; IDL