System and methods for fast error detection and rendering for additive manufacturing using structured light

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• operating an additive manufacturing machine to deposit a layer of build material onto a build layer or build surface;
• projecting, with a structured light projector, a fringe pattern onto the deposited layer;
• capturing, with a camera optically aligned with the projector, a set of fringe images of the deposited layer;
• computing, by a processor accessing the set of fringe images, a two-dimensional absolute phase map that encodes surface height information of the deposited layer;
• generating, by the processor, from build instructions executed by the additive manufacturing machine, a threshold phase map corresponding to an intended geometry of the deposited layer;
• comparing, by the processor, the absolute phase map to the threshold phase map on a pixel-by-pixel basis to detect one or more error regions in the deposited layer, wherein the comparison is performed in the two-dimensional phase domain without reconstructing a complete three-dimensional point cloud;
• and
• selectively reconstructing, by the processor, three-dimensional data only for pixels corresponding to the detected one or more error regions, thereby reducing computational resources required for in-situ process monitoring.