Three-dimensional (3D) shape measuring techniques, using a combination of grating projection and a most frequently used mathematical tool-Fourier fringe analysis, have been deeply researched and extensively appled. Such kind of techniques is based on the idea of projecting and superposing a carrier fringe pattern onto the surface of the tested object, and then reconstructing its corresponding 3D shape from the deformed fringe pattern modulated by the height of the tested object and captured by a camera from some other view direction. This paper mainly reviews the basic principles and typical applications of the combined technology based on grating projection and Fourier fringe analysis that we developed over past ten years. The fundamental concepts of time-average fringe method for vibration mode analysis and its experimental results are also presented. Lastly, the advantages and challenges of this technique and the current development of real-time measurement in this research field are described as a discussion and conclusion.