Patent ID: 9172829
Filing Date: 2015-10-27
Classification: B29C,B33Y

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: positioning an object within a scan volume, wherein the scan volume is an interior of a three-dimensional printer; illuminating a surface of the object with a laser line; capturing a plurality of images of the laser line on the surface while rotating the object about a first axis; analyzing the plurality of images to capture a measurement at each one of a number of z-axis positions along a second axis, thereby providing planar outline data including a plurality of measurements for each one of the z-axis positions; combining the plurality of measurements for each one of the z-axis positions to provide a cross section of the object perpendicular to the second axis at that one of the z-axis positions, thereby providing a digital representation of the object including a plurality of cross sections at a plurality of z-axis positions; and creating tool instructions for the three-dimensional printer to fabricate a copy of at least a portion of the object using at least a portion of the plurality of cross sections to control a tool head of the three-dimensional printer to reproduce the surface of the object directly from the plurality of cross sections without use of interim computer models, wherein the three-dimensional printer fabricates objects using at least one of fused deposition modeling, stereolithography, Digital Light Processor (DLP) three-dimensional printing, and selective laser sintering.