Apparatus for and method of printing on three-dimensional object

Abstract

A three-dimensional object printing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a shape recognition section for obtaining three-dimensional shape data about a surface shape of a three-dimensional object by measurement or the like; an ejection section for ejecting ink toward the three-dimensional object; a scanning section for causing the ejection section to scan relative to the three-dimensional object; and a control section for controlling an operation of the ejection section and/or the scanning section in accordance with information about inclination of the surface of the three-dimensional object, the information being indicated in the data obtained by the shape recognition section. The printing apparatus performs printing in accordance with the information obtained by measurement on the surface inclination of the object to achieve a high-quality printing process. More specifically, a mode of operation is determined for each of a main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction in accordance with an inclination angle of an inclined surface with respect to each of the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. The printing operation is performed based on the mode of operation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.