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We have succeeded in capturing porcine 3D surface anatomy in vivo by developing a high‐resolution stereo imaging system. The system achieved accurate 3D shape recovery by matching stereo pair images containing only natural surface textures at high (image) resolution. The 3D imaging system presented for pig shape capture is based on photogrammetry and comprises: stereo pair image acquisition, stereo camera calibration and stereo matching and surface and texture integration. Practical issues have been addressed, and in particular the integration of multiple range images into a single 3D surface. Robust image segmentation successfully isolated the pigs within the stereo images and was employed in conjunction with depth discontinuity detection to facilitate the integration process. The capture and processing chain is detailed here and the resulting 3D pig anatomy obtained using the system presented.

A novel method for integrating multiple range images in a multi-view stereo imaging system is presented here. Due to self-occlusion an individual range image provides only a partial model of an object surface. Therefore multiple range images from differing viewpoints must be captured and merged to extend the surface area that can be captured. In our approach range images are decomposed into subset patches and then evaluated in a "confidence competition". Redundant patches are removed whilst winning patches are merged to complete a single plausible mesh that represents the acquired object surface.

A stereo imaging system with six high-resolution cameras (3032 × 2028 pixels) and three flash units was developed to capture the 3D shapes of live pigs. The cameras were arranged in three stereo pods, which captured the side, top and rear views of each pig. The image resolution was 0.4 mm per pixel on the surface of the pig. The system was used to capture images of 32 pigs over 14 weeks as they grew from approximately 30–80 kg. They were divided into two groups on different diets, in order to induce shape differences. Each stereo view was processed to produce a range image of the surface, and for each pig the three views were integrated to produce a complete 3D mesh. The pigs were introduced singly into a standard 3 m × 4 m pen, which was large enough to provide an unobstructed view of the pigs. Each pig was initially manoeuvred by hand into a pig-sized area in one corner where the image capture took place. The majority of pigs learned to do this with little or no human intervention. The 3D imaging system reconstructed a flat test object with an rms deviation from flatness of ±0.1 mm, and an residual curvature of no more than −3.5 × 10−5 mm−1. Depth discontinuities of 1.2 and 2.3 mm were reconstructed with an accuracy of ±0.1 mm, and a measured 451.5 mm distance parallel to the image plane was reconstructed with an accuracy of ±0.6 mm. The stereo imaging system worked successfully on the pigs by triangulating on the natural skin texture, and did not require any additional, artificial, texture to be projected. The 3D models of the pigs were qualitatively good in appearance, and locally smooth, with an rms deviation of ±0.6 mm.

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A mesh conformation approach that makes use of deformable generic meshes has been applied to establishing correspondences between 3D shapes with missing data. Given a group of shapes with correspondences, we can build up a statistical shape model by applying principal component analysis (PCA). The conformation at first globally maps the generic mesh to the 3D shape based on manually located corresponding landmarks, and then locally deforms the generic mesh to clone the 3D shape. The local deformation is constrained by minimizing the energy of an elastic model. An algorithm was also embedded in the conformation process to fill missing surface data of the shapes. Using synthetic data, we demonstrate that the conformation preserves the configuration of the generic mesh and hence it helps to establish good correspondences for shape analysis. Case studies of the principal component analysis of shapes were presented to illustrate the successes and advantages of our approach.

Rapid Application Development with Mozilla, part of the Bruce Perens Open Source Series, is a concise guide for any programmer who wants to learn the versatility and compatibility of Mozilla, an open source toolset with over a thousand objects and components. An additional feature of Rapid Application Development with Mozilla is the NoteTaker Web browser add-on-a sample Mozilla application that is developed throughout the book. Written by Web and XML expert Nigel McFarlane, this book is the perfect addition to the library of any user-interface software engineer, cross-platform developer, or any programmer looking to discover the benefits of rapid application development.

Monitoring the growth of farmed fish is an important task which is currently difficult to carry out. An underwater stereo image analysis technique offers the potential for estimating key dimensions of free-swimming fish, from which the fish mass can be estimated. This paper describes the development of a three-dimensional point distribution model to capture the typical shape and variability of salmon viewed from the side. The model was fitted to stereo images of test fish by minimizing an energy function, which was based on probability distributions. The minimization was an iterated two-step method in which edges were selected for magnitude, direction, and proximity to the model, and the model was then fitted to the edges. A search strategy for locating the edges in 3D was devised. The model is tested on two image sets. In the first set 19 of the 26 fish are located in spite of their variable appearance and the presence of neighboring fish. In the second set the measurements made on 11 images of fish are compared with manual measurements of the fish dimensions and show an average error in length estimation of 5%.

From the Publisher:This book is for programmers looking to bring their JavaScript skills to the cutting edge, and for any programmer looking for a comprehensive compendium of tips and an up-to-date JavaScript reference. It will also be of use to experienced programmers looking to learn JavaScript or leverage its power for a specific purpose.

From the Publisher:JavaScript is one of the most powerful tools in the Web developer's kit. Used well, it can add hugely to the functionality and interactivity of Web pages, and is almost universally supported by browsers. Unlike Dynamic HTML, JavaScript is a language in its own right but, until recently, there was no fully agreed standard. Instant Javascript is the first book to deal with this emergent standard: ECMAScript, it also goes into detail on the various compatibility problems with existing browser implementations of JavaScript, as well as looking at stand alone JavaScriptAll Web programmers need Javascript. Instant Javascript is the book to teach them. Intended for HTML authors looking to add functionality to inter- or intra-nets, or for programmers who want a reference and guide to one of the most flexible scripting languages around, the book presumes some knowledge of HTML, and a familiarity with basic programming concepts|

Describes a robots workstation used as a test bed for evaluating tools and techniques for automating the technique of micropropagation. A number of novel plant manipulation tools have been developed. These tools are mounted on a Cartesian geometry robot driven by stepper motors to perform the required harvesting, cutting and planting movements. Overall robot direction is provided by a program which is updated according to the shape, position and orientation of a particular microplant. Information from a video camera can either be displayed on a monitor and assessed by an operator, or can be analysed by a vision processing system. This paper describes the robot workstation and discusses the various vision analysis tasks necessary for automatic robot guidance.<>