Laser path planning is an important step in solid freeform fabrication processes such as
Stereolithography (SLA). An important consideration in the laser path planning is to compensate
the shape of laser beam. Currently the compensation is divided into two steps, Z-compensation
and X-Y compensation, and the shape of laser beam is assumed to be uniform for the whole
platform. In this research, we present a sampling based non-uniform offsetting method which
accounts for the different shapes of laser beam at various locations. We discuss the related steps
and algorithms. We demonstrate its effectiveness by using various test cases. Besides
improving the accuracy of SLA machine, non-uniform offsetting can also be applied to address
other accuracy issues caused by thermal and structural variationsMechanical Engineerin
