Methods and apparatus for use in solid freeform fabrication

A method for producing a three-dimensional body consisting of individual, connected solidified layers comprising:

• (i) disposing a coating material on one of a carrier plate and an already-solidified layer of the body by slidably withdrawing a bottom plate of a storage container filled with the coating material, whereby coating material descends from the storage container onto the carrier plate or the already-solidified layer of the body in a first layer thickness,
• (ii) reducing the first layer thickness of the coating material to a lesser second layer thickness by re-inserting the bottom plate through the coating material disposed in step (i),
• (iii) solidifying the coating material remaining on the carrier plate or the already-solidified layer after step (ii) at one or more predetermined locations in order to generate a desired layer contour of one solidified layer of the three-dimensional body;
• and
• (iv) repeating steps (i) to (iii) until the three-dimensional body is formed into a predetermined three-dimensional shape.