Patent ID: 8226394

Claim:
An optical molding apparatus that molds a three-dimensional model by stacking cured layers, each cured layer being formed by emitting light according to cross-sectional-shape data of the three-dimensional model onto a surface of photo-curable resin, the optical molding apparatus comprising: a container that contains the photo-curable resin; a glass window at a bottom of the container, the glass window restraining a liquid surface of the photo-curable resin within the container; a movable stage that is movable in a first direction orthogonal to a major surface of the photo-curable resin, and second and third directions parallel to the surface of the photo-curable resin; an optical system that emits the light onto one or more selected portions of the surface of the photo-curable resin contained in the container through an objective lens disposed below the glass window so as to form each cured layer on the movable stage; a discharging mechanism that performs a discharging operation for discharging new photo-curable resin onto a surface of each cured layer formed on the movable stage before stacking a subsequent cured layer; a vibrating mechanism that ultrasonically vibrates the movable stage for a predetermined time period during the discharging operation performed by the discharging mechanism; a shutter to control the light emitted from the optical system by transmitting or blocking the light; a polarizing plate that polarizes the light into polarized light; a beam integrator that makes uniform the polarized light into uniformized light; and a spatial light modulator that modulates a portion of the uniformized light into spatially modulated light for projection onto the one or more selected portions.