1. A triangulation system comprising an area camera, a communication interface, a first image processing module, a second image processing module; wherein the area camera is arranged to obtain, at an acquisition rate, a stream of images of illuminated regions of an object; wherein the area camera is prevented from performing height calculations; wherein the communication interface is arranged to convey, in real time thereby in correspondence to the acquisition rate, the stream of images from the area camera to the first image processing module; wherein the first image processing module is arranged to process, in real time, the stream of images to provide first compressed information, by: (a) calculating first estimates of heights of the illuminated regions that are responsive to locations of peaks of pixel intensity distributions that are associated with radiation from the illuminated regions; (b) calculating at least one attribute out of shape attributes and size attributes of the pixel intensity distributions, the shape and size attributes differ from the locations of the peaks; wherein the first compressed information comprises the first estimates and the at least one attribute; wherein the second image processing module is arranged to process, at a non-real time image processing rate, the first compressed information to provide height information indicative of heights of at least the illuminated regions of the object.