When designing or improving systems for automated optical inspection (AOI), systematic evaluation is an important but costly necessity to achieve and ensure high quality. Computer graphics methods can be used to quickly create large virtual sets of samples of test objects and to simulate image acquisition setups. We use procedural modeling techniques to generate virtual objects with varying appearance and properties, mimicking real objects and sample sets. Physical simulation of rigid bodies is deployed to simulate the placement of virtual objects, and using physically-based rendering techniques we create synthetic images. These are used as input to an AOI system instead of physically acquired images. This enables the development, optimization, and evaluation of the image processing and classification steps of an AOI system independently of a physical realization. We demonstrate this approach for shards of glass, as sorting glass is one challenging practical application for AOI

Abstract. Physically based image synthesis methods, a research direction in computer graphics (CG), are capable of simulating optical measuring systems in their entirety and thus constitute an interesting approach for the development, simulation, optimization, and validation of such systems. In addition, other CG methods, so-called procedural modeling techniques, can be used to quickly generate large sets of virtual samples and scenes thereof that comprise the same variety as physical testing objects and real scenes (e.g., if digitized sample data are not available or difficult to acquire). Appropriate image synthesis (rendering) techniques result in a realistic image formation for the virtual scenes, considering light sources, material, complex lens systems, and sensor properties, and can be used to evaluate and improve complex measuring systems and automated optical inspection (AOI) systems independent of a physical realization. In this paper, we provide an overview of suitable image synthesis methods and their characteristics, we discuss the challenges for the design and specification of a given measuring situation in order to allow for a reliable simulation and validation, and we describe an image generation pipeline suitable for the evaluation and optimization of measuring and AOI systems.

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