Patent ID: 8451323

Claim:
A method comprising: a system iterating from an initial state through a plurality of imaging states, wherein: the system comprises a processor and data storage containing instructions executable by the processor for carrying out the method, the system comprises a set of device pairs, each device pair comprising a lighting-source device and an image-capture device, the initial state involves (1) an object being situated in a controlled-lighting space and (2) the set of device pairs being positioned within the controlled-lighting space and substantially around the object, and each imaging state involves (1) the activation of an imaging-state-specific subset of the lighting-source devices in an imaging-state-specific manner and (2) the activation of an imaging-state-specific subset of the image-capture devices; the system receiving image data that is indicative of a respective appearance and composition of the object during the iteration through the respective imaging states; determining, based on the image data, information indicative of a plurality of separate regions in the object that are of a substantially similar appearance and composition; and the system storing the image data as data structures of a 3D-data model of the object, wherein the data stored is indicative of one or more properties of the appearance and composition of the object and the information indicative of the plurality of separate regions in the object that are of the substantially similar appearance and composition.