title: Match 3D point cloud to CAD model
body: <p>I have a point cloud of an object, obtained with a laser scanner, and a CAD surface model of that object.</p>
  
  <p>How can I match the point cloud to the surface, to obtain the translation and rotation between cloud and model?</p>
  
  <p>I suppose I could sample the surface and try the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iterative_closest_point" rel="noreferrer">Iterative Closest Point</a> (ICP) algorithm to match the resulting sampled point cloud to the scanner point cloud.</p>
  
  <p>Would that actually work?</p>
  
  <p>And are there better algorithms for this task?</p>