Development of an automatic 3D human head scanning-printing system

In anthropological studies, researchers have been investigating the relationship between facial shape variations and neurological and psychiatric disorders. For example, Hennesy et al. used 3D head models acquired from laser scanners to identify schizophrenia from facial dysmorphic features [3]. A fast algorithm for 3D face reconstruction with uncalibrated photometric stereo technology was also proposed by Qi et al. [4]. Human avatar animation has also become popular with the development of 3D graphics and gaming. Lee and Magnenat-Thalman introduced a method to reconstruct 3D facial models for animation from two orthogonal images (frontal and profile view) or from range data [5]. Additionally, Kan and Ferko adopted this same principle to build an automatic system where they use the facial feature matching of two images and a parametrized head model to create 3D head models as avatars in 3D games [6]. An important part of 3D human model is head model, which can be used to establish standards for the design of products that fit onto the face or head, such as respiratory masks, glasses, helmets or other head-mounted devices [7]. An interesting initiative was the Size-China project [8,9]. To find the proper fit for Asians, who have different head shapes compared with Westerners in facialhead products such as helmets, face masks, and caps, and to derive standards with anthropometric database, Ball et al. created an Asian anthropometric database built from 3D scans of 2000 Asian people using a stationary head and face color 3D scanner by Cyberware