Abstract: A method and system for biometric identification utilizes structured light (e.g., fine grid) that is projected to the target objects (fingers and palm). The image with structured light on the object contours can give 3D information of the objects with resolution to satisfy NIST fingerprint standard. In embodiments, the structured light can be of different color, to reduce the burden of the software processing. To enhance the capture speed, a model with 2D image on “smooth” 3D surface can be used. In this “2.5-D” case, the finest feature of the structured light can be as big as millimeter size. Although grid-structured light can satisfy current requirement of fingerprint and palm print capture standards, in other embodiments, a customized structure based on the initial scan result can give optimal result on the 3D data. This may be useful when higher resolution is desired.