Method and apparatus for the computer-controlled manufacture of three-dimensional objects from computer data

A method of producing an object from a computer data base, wherein said object is represented in said data base as a plurality of solid voxels surrounded by a plurality of support voxels within a volume, said method comprising the steps of:

• converting said data base representation of said object as a plurality of solid voxels to a data base representation of said object as a shell of solid voxels surrounding a plurality of filler support voxels;
• and
• constructing said object from said converted data base representation, in a layerwise fashion, by a method comprising the steps of:
• dispensing a first material in liquid form at selected locations of a target surface, said selected locations corresponding to the shell locations of a cross-section of an object, wherein the first material solidifies after being dispensed;
• applying a second material at locations of said target surface other than the shell locations at which said first material is dispensed, to form another target surface;
• repeating said dispensing and applying steps to form an object comprising a shell of said first material surrounding said second material, and surrounded by said second material;
• selectively removing the portion of said second material surrounding said shell, relative to said first material, to leave an object formed of a shell of said first material surrounding a portion of said second material.