Three-dimensional body scanning: methods and applications for anthropometry

In this thesis we describe the developed computer method and experiments performed in order to apply whole body 3D scanner technology in support to anthropometry. The output of whole body scanners is a cloud of points, usually transformed in a triangulated mesh through the use of specific algorithms in order to support the 3D visualization of the surface and the extraction of meaningful anthropometric landmarks and measurements. Digital anthropometry has been already used in various studies to assess important health-related parameters. Digital anthropometric analysis is usually performed using device-specific and closed software solutions provided by scanner manufacturers, and requires often a careful acquisition, with strong constraints on subject pose. This may create problems in comparing data acquired in different places and performing large-scale multi-centric studies as well as in applying advanced shape analysis tools on the captured models. The aim of our work is to overcome these problems by selecting and customizing geometrical processing tools able to create an open and device-independent method for the analysis of body scanner data. We also developed and validated methods to extract automatically feature points, body segments and relevant measurements that can be used in anthropometric and metabolic research. In particular we present three experiments. In the first, using specific digital anthropometry software, we evaluated the Breuckmann BodySCAN for performance in anthropometric measurement. Subjects of the experiment were 12 young adults underwent both manual and 3D digital anthropometry (25 measurements) wearing close-fitting underwear. Duplicated manual measurement taken by one experienced anthropometrist showed correlation r 0.975-0.999; their means were significantly different in four out of 25 measurements by Student’s t test. Duplicate digital measurements taken by one experienced anthropometrist and two naïve anthropometrists showed individual correlation coefficients r ranging 0.975-0.999 and means were significantly different in one out of 25 measurements. Most measurements taken by the experienced anthropometrist in the manual and digital mode showed significant correlation (intraclass correlation coefficient ranging 0.855-0.995, p<0.0001). We conclude that the Breuckmann BodyScan is reliable and effective tool for digital anthropometry. In a second experiment, we compare easily detectable geometrical features obtained from 3D scans of female obese (BMI > 30) subjects with body composition (measured with a DXA device) of the same subjects, in order to investigate which measurements on shape descriptors better correlate with torso and body fat. The results obtained show that some of the tested geometrical parameters have a relevant correlation, while other ones do not strongly correlate with body fat. These results support the role of digital anthropometry in investigating health-related physical characteristics and encourage the realization of further studies analyzing the relationships between shape descriptors and body composition. Finally, we present a novel method to characterize 3D surfaces through the computation of a function called Area Projection Transform, measuring the likelihood of points in the 3D space to be center of radial symmetry at selected scales (radii). The transform can be used to detect and characterize robustly salient regions (approximately spherical and cylindrical parts) and it is, therefore, suitable for applications like anatomical features detection. In particular, we show that it is possible to build graphs joining these points following maximal values of the MAPT (Radial Symmetry Graphs) and that these graphs can be used to extract relevant shape properties or to establish point correspondences on models robustly against holes, topological noise and articulated deformations. It is concluded that whole body scanning technology application to anthropometry are potentially countless, limited only by the ability of science to connect the biological phenomenon with the appropriate mathematical/geometrical descriptions.