Volumetric three-dimensional printing methods

Abstract

A method for printing a three-dimensional object in a volume of a photopolymerizable liquid by photopolymerization, the method comprising: (a) providing a digital representation of a three-dimensional object that has been sliced into a plurality of sequential two-dimensional image slices along the z-direction; (b) processing each of the two-dimensional slices of the three-dimensional object into a sequence of subsampled images, each subsampled image comprising an arrangement of pixels wherein each pixel has defined x and y dimensions; (c) sequentially exposing each of the sequence of subsampled images of a slice at a selected location along the z-direction in the volume using excitation light until the volume at the selected location along the z-direction has been exposed to all of the subsampled images of the slice, and (d) sequentially repeating step (c) for a previously unexposed sequential slice of the three-dimensional object, each at different selected location along the z-direction, until the three-dimensional object is formed. A pixel can comprise a single pixel or a grouping of pixels. Preferably the pixels in a grouping of pixels are adjacent pixels. Preferably, the pixels of a subsampled image are separated from each other by a distance. Other methods are further disclosed.