Patent ID: 9393770
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: B29C,B29K,B32B,B33Y,G05B,Y02P

Claim Text:
1. A method of fabricating a new color 3D object, which new color 3D object comprises a plurality of substrate layers that are infiltrated by and bound together by a hardened material, the method comprising the following steps, in combination: (1a) positioning powder on all or part of at least one of the layers; (1b) repeating step (1a) for remaining layers in the plurality of substrate layers; (1c) transforming at least some of the powder into a substance that flows and subsequently hardens into the hardened material, which hardened material is disposed in a spatial pattern that infiltrates at least one positive region in a set of the substrate layers and does not infiltrate at least one negative region in the set; wherein the powder is transformed in step (1c) after being positioned in either step (1a) or step (1b), and wherein the substrate layers have a least one material property that is different than any material property of the hardened material; further comprising steps to create the photographic likeness of a target object such that the 3D object is a photosculpture of the target object, including prior to step (1a): (1d) making a scan of an object, the scan including a texture map; (1e) slicing the object from the 3D file which is produced from the scan; (1f) turning the slice into a bit map; (1g) obtaining a texture map of the object from the scan; (1h) coloring the edge of the bit map with the color information from the texture map; and further including the steps of: selectively applying liquid to a substrate; flooding the printed slice with polymer powder; removing the excess powder; repeating the steps for each slice; aligning the slices and fusing them together; removing the uncoated material.