JP2008149560A - Method for producing three-dimensional print image - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To propose a three-dimensional print image production device that forms a three-dimensional print image on the surface of a print medium by using an ink-jet head. <P>SOLUTION: A heating lamp unit 40 is mounted to a head carriage 10 of a three-dimensional print image production device 1 so as to move together with an ink-jet head 11. When resin-ink liquid-droplets discharged from the ink-jet head 11 land onto a print medium 30, the corresponding parts on the print medium are scanned by spot-like irradiation heat generated by the heating lamp unit 40. The ink liquid-droplets deposited on the corresponding parts are thermally cured while the corresponding parts are being hot-melted. Heat absorption factors are different according to ink shading and ink colors. Therefore, a hot-melt amount on the surface of the print medium changes depending on the heat absorption factor. Consequently, it is possible to form a three-dimensional print image, in which a depth is changed according to printing density or printing colors, on the surface of the print medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a three-dimensional printed image that can produce a three-dimensional printed image with unevenness using an inkjet head.

A method for producing a three-dimensional printed image with unevenness using an ink jet printer is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the method disclosed herein, a print image is formed on the surface of the substrate using an ink jet printer, a base material is attached to the surface of the print image to form a three-dimensional print surface, and the three-dimensional print surface is again formed. A print image is formed by an ink jet printer.
WO2003 / 080344 pamphlet

  Here, in an ink jet printer, ink droplets ejected from an ink jet head land on the surface of a recording medium, are absorbed therein, are cured, and are fixed on the surface. In order to fix the ink droplets that have landed efficiently, the surface of the recording medium may be heated. In particular, heating is effective when printing on a recording medium made of a material to which water-based ink or solvent ink is difficult to fix. In addition, when printing is performed using a thermosetting ink such as a resin ink, it is necessary to heat and cure the ink droplets that have landed on the recording medium, so heating is essential.

  A general heating method is to heat a platen that defines the printing position of an ink jet head and heat a portion of a recording medium on which ink droplets have landed. However, this heating method is effective for a thin recording medium such as paper, but in the case of a thick recording medium, it takes a long time to heat the recording medium to a temperature suitable for ink curing. It is not an effective method.

  The ink jet head is disposed in a state facing the platen with a slight gap, and performs printing while moving along the platen. Therefore, in the method of heating the platen, the ink jet head facing the platen is also heated, and the ink in the ink nozzle is thickened and solidified to cause clogging of the ink. In some cases, the ink jet head may be thermally destroyed.

  Furthermore, it is difficult to uniformly heat the portion of the recording medium that passes through the platen. For this reason, the print quality varies, and the print quality may be deteriorated.

  In addition to this, nichrome wire or the like is conventionally used as the heating means, but the conventional heating means needs to be energized at all times, and there is a problem that the power consumption is high and the running cost is high.

  In view of these points, the applicant of the present application fixed in a recording medium made of various materials such as a glass plate, a metal plate, a resin plate, and a wood board in Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-162377 (filed on June 12, 2006). An ink jet printer that can perform printing with good quality has been proposed.

  This ink jet printer is equipped with an ink jet head, a platen that defines a printing position by the ink jet head, a head carriage that carries the ink jet head, and the head carriage, and is ejected from the ink jet head. A heater that heats the ink droplets that have landed on the recording medium on the platen, and a cooling mechanism that cools the outer peripheral surface portion of the heater other than the heat dissipation opening. It is characterized by comprising a heat pipe arranged in contact with the components of the heater outside and / or inside the heater.

  In the ink jet printer having this configuration, a heater is mounted on the head carriage and moves together with the ink jet head. The heater is positioned in the immediate vicinity of the ink droplet discharged from the inkjet head and landing on the recording medium, and the ink droplet can be directly heated and cured. Therefore, the ink droplets can be efficiently fixed on the recording medium.

  In addition, when a heater is disposed in the immediate vicinity of the inkjet head, there is a possibility that nozzles of the inkjet head are clogged due to heat radiation from the heater, and thermal damage of the inkjet head itself occurs. However, in the present invention, since the heater is cooled by the cooling mechanism, heating of the inkjet head can be suppressed or prevented. In particular, in the present invention, since a heat pipe having a good heat conduction efficiency is used as the cooling mechanism, the heat radiation from the heater can be efficiently released to the outside.

  The present invention has been conceived in the process of trying to print on various materials using an ink jet printer having such a configuration, and an object of the present invention is to produce a three-dimensional print image using an ink jet head. The purpose is to propose a method of producing a three-dimensional printed image that can be easily produced.

The method for producing a three-dimensional printed image according to the present invention includes:
The inkjet head is relatively scanned along the surface of the print medium made of a heat-meltable material, and the print medium is moved relative to the direction perpendicular to the scan direction of the inkjet head while moving on the surface of the print medium. , Forming a print image with ink droplets ejected from the inkjet head,
The spot-like irradiation heat is scanned along the surface portion of the print medium on which the print image is formed, and the surface portion is sequentially heated,
By this heating, the ink droplets are heated and dried to fix the print image on the surface portion of the print medium, and the surface portion is heated and melted to meet the heat absorption rate of the ink forming the print image. It is characterized by forming a depression of depth.

  When spot-like irradiation heat is scanned along the print image, the heating state of each portion of the print image changes according to the difference in the heat absorption rate of the ink constituting the print image. If the amount of heat of irradiation is set appropriately, the part where black ink with high heat absorption rate is used is heated to a temperature sufficient for the print medium to melt by heat, and the black ink is used. The surface portion is melted and becomes a depressed state. On the other hand, the surface portion where the surface color of the printing medium, for example white, remains without ink, has a low heat absorption rate, and is not heated to a temperature at which the portion melts. Therefore, the portion remains in its original state, for example, a flat surface state. As a result, a three-dimensional print image with different depths can be formed on the surface of the print medium, depending on the constituent color or shading of the print image.

  Here, it is desirable to follow the ink jet head and scan the spot-like irradiation heat along the surface of the print medium. When the ink adhered to the surface portion of the print medium is heated and dried and the surface portion is melted, it is possible to prevent or suppress the ink droplets from spreading and the resolution of the print image to be reduced, thereby deteriorating the print quality.

  In the method for producing a three-dimensional printed image of the present invention, an image having a light and shade as the print image is formed on the surface of the print medium, and the surface portion of the print medium is set to a different depth according to the light and shade of the print image. A heat-melted print image can be formed on the surface portion, the depth of which varies with light and shade.

  Similarly, when a color print image is formed using an inkjet head having a plurality of nozzles that eject different color inks, the surface portion of the print medium is absorbed by the heat of each color ink attached to the surface portion. By heating and melting to different depths depending on the rate, a color printed image having a depth varying according to the adhesion color can be formed on the surface portion.

  Here, prior to the scanning of the inkjet head, the surface portion immediately before the print image is formed by scanning the surface of the printing medium with spot-like preliminary irradiation heat along the scanning line of the inkjet head. It is desirable to preheat each part. By preheating the surface of the print medium, it is possible to quickly fix the print image on the surface of the print medium, and it is possible to surely melt the surface portion of the print medium for providing irregularities.

  In the three-dimensional printed image production method of the present invention, the depth of the depression formed in the surface portion of the print medium can be increased or decreased by adjusting the amount of irradiation heat. By reducing the amount of irradiation heat, it is possible to simply fix the print image on the print medium surface without melting the print medium surface.

  Next, in the three-dimensional printed image production method of the present invention, it is desirable to perform printing using a thermosetting ink such as a resin ink.

  Moreover, what consists of porous materials, such as a foam made from a thermoplastic resin, can be used as a printing medium. The foam is suitable for the production of a three-dimensional printed image because the heat-melted portion is greatly depressed.

  In the method for producing a three-dimensional printed image according to the present invention, a spot-like irradiation heat is scanned along the surface of the print medium along the scanning line of the inkjet head to form a printed image formed on the surface of the print medium. By utilizing the difference in heat absorption rate of each ink, the surface portion of the print medium on which the print image is selectively formed is thermally melted to form a depression having a predetermined depth. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily produce a three-dimensional print image with unevenness according to the surface color of the print medium, the density configuration of the print image, the configuration color of the print image, and the like.

  Hereinafter, a three-dimensional printed image production apparatus for producing a three-dimensional printed image by the method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Configuration of production equipment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a three-dimensional printed image production apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing its control system. The three-dimensional printed image production apparatus 1 includes a vertically long rectangular frame-shaped gantry 2, a gate-shaped support unit 3 mounted on the gantry 2, and a horizontal rectangular medium placement installed inside the gantry 2. And a table 5 (platen) having a surface 4.

  The support unit 3 includes left and right vertical frames 6 and 7 and a horizontal frame 8 bridged between them. The horizontal frame 8 includes a carriage guide 9 extending horizontally between the left and right vertical frames 6 and 7, and the head carriage 10 can reciprocate in the printer width direction along the carriage guide 9. An ink jet head 11 is carried downward on the head carriage 10. The head carriage 10 reciprocates in the printer width direction X by a carriage driving mechanism including a carriage motor 14.

  A heating lamp unit 40 (heater) including a halogen lamp 41 is attached to one side surface of the head carriage 10 in the moving direction. Irradiation light from the heating lamp unit 40 is irradiated downward from the heat radiation opening 42. A heating lamp other than a halogen lamp can also be used. A heating means other than the heating lamp can also be used. Further, as will be described later, heating lamp units may be attached to both sides of the head carriage 10.

  Resin ink is supplied from an ink tank (not shown) to the inkjet head 11, and printing is performed on the printing surface 30 a of the printing medium 30 placed on the medium mounting surface 4 using the resin ink. Thermosetting inks other than resin inks can also be used.

  Here, the printing medium 30 is a rectangular plate made of a heat-meltable porous material such as foamed polystyrene or foamed polyurethane, and the printing surface 30a is, for example, a white flat surface. The printing medium 30 may be any material that has a portion of the printing surface 30a that has a heat-melting property, and the melted portion is reduced in volume to form a depression.

  Next, the support unit 3 on which the head carriage 10 and the like are mounted is supported so as to be movable in the front-rear direction Y of the printer along the left and right guide frames 15 and 16 of the gantry 2. The support unit 3 is moved in the longitudinal direction Y of the printer by a feed mechanism including a feed motor 17.

  The table 5 is provided with a heating mechanism 18 for heating the medium placing surface 4. The recording medium 30 placed on the medium placement surface 4 is heated from the back side by the heating mechanism 18. Further, the portion where the ink droplets have landed from above is spot-heated by the heating lamp unit 40 that moves together with the head carriage 10. In this example, a temperature control function is incorporated in the heating mechanism 18, and a driving current is supplied to the heating lamp unit 40 via a voltage control circuit 19 such as a transformer so that the heating temperature can be controlled. .

  The table 5 is, for example, a hydraulic lift table, and the height can be adjusted by the hydraulic drive mechanism 21. The control of each unit is performed by a printer control panel 22 mainly composed of a microcomputer.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a heating lamp unit 40 mounted on the head carriage 10 and a schematic sectional view thereof. The heating lamp unit 40 includes a halogen lamp 41, a reflecting mirror 43 to which the halogen lamp 41 is attached, and a rectangular cross-section barrel 44 that is attached coaxially to the exit opening side of the reflecting mirror 43. The lower end opening of the lens barrel 44 is a heat radiation opening 42. The lens barrel 44 may have a shape other than a rectangular cross section, for example, a cylindrical shape. Light emitted from the light emitting portion of the halogen lamp 41 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 43 to form a light spot 45 having a predetermined diameter on the print surface 30a of the recording medium 30 on the medium placement surface 4, and the print surface 30a. Heat the part.

  A cooling mechanism 50 composed of a heat pipe is attached to the heating lamp unit 40 having this structure. The cooling mechanism 50 of this example includes four built-in heat pipes 51 extending in the vertical direction at the four corners of the inner peripheral surface of the lens barrel 44. The upper ends of these built-in heat pipes 51 protrude upward from the upper end surface of the lens barrel 44. These upper ends are connected to four external heat pipes 52 arranged along the back surface of the reflecting mirror 43, respectively. The number of heat pipes is not limited to four, and may be one or plural other than four. The heat pipe may be linear, curved, or spirally wound.

  These external heat pipes 52 are bundled together and extend upward, and are attached to the lower surface of a heat radiating plate 53 extending horizontally at their upper ends. The heat radiating plate 53 is supported so as to be movable in the printer width direction along a guide (not shown) formed inside the support unit 3. A plurality of heat radiating fins 53 a extending in the moving direction are formed on the surface of the heat radiating plate 53. When the heating lamp unit 40 does not generate a large amount of heat, that is, when the heating lamp unit 40 can be sufficiently cooled only by the heat radiation action of the heat pipes 51 and 52 and no adverse effects due to heating occur in the inkjet head 11, heat dissipation. It is also possible to omit the plate.

(Production device operation)
The operation of the three-dimensional printed image production apparatus 1 having this configuration will be described. The print medium 30 is placed on the medium placement surface 4 of the table 5, and the gap between the print surface 30 a of the print medium 30 and the inkjet head 11 is adjusted by the hydraulic drive mechanism 21. Prior to this or after the gap adjustment, the heating mechanism 18 is driven to heat the medium placing surface 4.

  Thereafter, the carriage motor 14 and the feed motor 17 are driven to move the support unit 3 from the illustrated home position in the printer longitudinal direction Y, and to move the head carriage 10 mounted thereon in the printer width direction X. . In synchronization with this, the inkjet head 11 is driven via the head driver 23 to perform desired printing while discharging resin ink droplets onto the printing surface 30 a of the printing medium 30.

  Here, the heating lamp unit 40 is lit prior to the printing operation of the inkjet head 11. Therefore, the resin ink droplets 31 ejected from the inkjet head 11 onto the printing surface 30a of the printing medium 30 and attached thereto are immediately scanned and heated by the spot-like irradiation heat, and thermosetting is started. In this example, since the medium mounting surface 4 is also heated, the printing surface 30a of the printing medium 30 can be held in an optimal heating state suitable for the resin ink to be thermally cured. Accordingly, the resin ink droplets are fixed on the printing surface 30a simultaneously with the printing operation. In this way, a print image is formed on the print surface 30a of the print medium 30 while printing and thermosetting are performed simultaneously.

  Further, in the portion of the print image on the printing surface 30a that has been irradiated with the spot-like irradiation heat, the heating state differs depending on the constituent ink of the print image. The portion where the black ink is attached has the highest heat absorption rate, and the portion where the printing surface 30a remains on the white background has the lowest heat absorption rate. For example, when the spot-shaped irradiation heat hits the black ink adhering portion, the amount of irradiation heat is set so that the portion instantaneously becomes higher than the thermal melting temperature of the print medium 30. In this way, at the black ink adhering portion, the black ink is thermally cured, and at the same time, the adhering portion is thermally melted to form a depression of a predetermined depth, and the black ink is thermally cured on the surface of the formed depression. Is fixed and a black depression is obtained.

  The portion of the printed image to which color ink other than black ink is attached has a lower heating temperature than the portion to which black ink is attached, so the amount of heat melting is small, and therefore there is a shallow dent compared to the portion to which black ink is attached. It is formed. On the other hand, the portion where the printing surface 30a remains on a white background remains flat.

  In this way, unevenness having a depth corresponding to the density of the print image or the heat absorption rate of the color ink constituting the print image is formed on the portion of the print surface 30a of the print medium 30 on which the print image is formed. Is done. Therefore, by using the production apparatus 1 of this example, it is possible to easily form a three-dimensional print image having a depth changed according to the density of printing or the printing color on the surface of the printing medium. In addition, by adjusting the intensity of the spot-like irradiation heat, the depth of the unevenness of the three-dimensional printed image can be changed, and by setting the minimum intensity required for the thermal curing of the resin ink, the unevenness of the unevenness can be changed. You can also get a print screen without. Furthermore, it is also possible to produce a three-dimensional printed image having a partially deep depression by changing the intensity of irradiation heat during printing.

  Here, the heating lamp unit 40 of this example is cooled by the cooling mechanism 50 arranged there. That is, the heat generated by the heating lamp unit 40 is released to the heat radiating plate 53 through the four built-in heat pipes 51 and the external heat pipes 52. Since the heat radiating plate 53 moves in the printer width direction X together with the head carriage 10, the heat collected here is efficiently released to the outside from the heat radiating fins 53 a of the heat radiating plate 53. When the printing operation is completed, the support unit 3 returns to the illustrated home position again.

  As described above, in the three-dimensional printed image production apparatus 1 of this example, printing is performed on the printing surface 30a of the printing medium 30 using resin ink. Therefore, it is possible to perform printing without previously performing a ground treatment for forming an ink image receiving surface on a printing medium of various materials.

  Simultaneously with the printing operation, the resin ink is scanned by the spot-like irradiation heat from the heating lamp unit 40. Accordingly, the resin ink lands on the printing surface 30a, and at the same time, the resin ink is thermally cured. At the same time, the scanning portion of the irradiation heat is melted and a depression is formed. Therefore, the resin ink is thermally cured and fixed on the surface of the depression. On the printing surface 30a, a three-dimensional printed image having a depression of a depth corresponding to the density of the printed image or the constituent ink is formed.

  Further, the cooling mechanism 50 is attached to the heating lamp unit 40, and the heat generated in the heating lamp unit 40 is efficiently released from the heat radiating plate 53 to the outside. Therefore, the inkjet head 11 arranged at the adjacent position is not heated by the heat from the heating lamp unit 40, and the nozzles are not clogged and the inkjet head itself is not thermally destroyed.

  In addition, in this example, the platen gap can be adjusted by moving the table 5 up and down, so that a three-dimensional print image can be formed on the surface of a print medium having various thicknesses.

(Other embodiments)
FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an arrangement example of the heat pipes in the cooling mechanism 50. In the example of FIG. 4A, one heat pipe 55 is attached spirally along the inner peripheral surface of the lens barrel 44 of the heating lamp unit 40. In the example of FIG. 4B, one heat pipe 56 is attached in a state of surrounding the outer peripheral surface of the lens barrel 44 in a spiral shape. In the example of FIG. 4C, one heat pipe 57 is attached in a truncated cone shape along the back surface of the reflecting mirror 43 (lamp cover) of the heating lamp unit 40.

  Next, the inkjet mechanism 11 can be prevented from being heated by combining the cooling mechanism 50 and the heat insulating material. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a cylindrical tube 44A of the heating lamp unit 40 is used, and for example, four heat pipes 58 are arranged on the inner peripheral surface at equal angular intervals in the direction of the lens barrel axis. . A cylindrical heat insulating material 59 is disposed inside these heat pipes 58 so as to cover the inner peripheral surface of the lens barrel and the heat pipes 58. If it does in this way, heating of ink jet head 11 can be prevented using heat dissipation and heat insulation.

  On the other hand, an air cooling mechanism can be used as the cooling mechanism 50 together with the heat pipe. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the heating lamp units 40 are attached to both sides of the head carriage 10, a plurality of heat pipes 60 arranged on these are pulled together and drawn upward, and the upper end portion is dissipated. Connect to plate 61. The heat radiating plate 61 has a large number of heat radiating fins 61a on its surface. The heat radiating plate 61 is supported so as to be movable in the printer width direction in a duct 62 formed in the support unit 3 in FIG. 1 and extending in the printer width direction. An air cooling blower 63 is attached to one end of the duct 62, and cooling air can be blown toward the heat radiating plate 61 in the width direction of the printer.

  According to this structure, since the heat sink 61 is air-cooled, the cooling effect can be enhanced. Moreover, since air is introduce | transduced from the exterior by the air blower 63, there also exists an advantage that a cooling effect increases by this.

  Next, the cooling mechanism 50 can be attached to the heating lamp unit 40, and the cooling mechanism can be attached to the inkjet head 11 or the head carriage 10 to cool them directly. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a heat pipe 71 is disposed so as to surround the outer periphery of the inkjet head 11 mounted on the head carriage 10, and this tip is drawn out of the head carriage 10 to be integrated with the head carriage 10. And connected to the heat radiating plate 72 moving in the printer width direction. According to this structure, it can prevent reliably that the inkjet head 11 falls into a heating state.

  Instead of this, or together with this, the head carriage 10 and / or the inkjet head 11 may be air-cooled.

(Control method of heater)
In addition, when the material of the print medium is different, the specific heat differs depending on the material of each print medium, and the irradiation temperature suitable for curing the ink droplets landed thereon or the ink droplets landed. The irradiation temperature suitable for thermally melting the surface portion of the print medium is also different. As a method of changing the irradiation temperature, the driving means, for example, the driving voltage and driving current of the heating lamp may be controlled. In addition, it is possible to change the irradiation temperature by increasing or decreasing the amount of irradiation light by inserting and removing a light shielding filter on the irradiation path of the irradiation light.

  The irradiation temperature switching control can be switched in multiple stages by, for example, arranging a manual selection switch and operating it. Further, a program for controlling the irradiation temperature may be installed in the printer driver, and the irradiation temperature may be automatically controlled according to the ambient temperature, the type of material of the selected recording medium, and the like.

  Further, it is desirable to control so that heating by the heater is performed only when necessary. That is, only when printing is actually performed by the inkjet head 11, if the heater is turned on and the surface of the recording medium is heated, the inkjet head 11 can be prevented from being heated, and power consumption by the heater can be reduced. Can also be reduced.

  Here, when a discharge lamp such as a halogen lamp is used as the lamp of the heating lamp unit, it is desirable to drive and control the halogen lamp as follows. First, when the halogen lamp switch is turned on, the lamp is turned on instantaneously and raised to the target temperature. Further, in order to increase the temperature rising speed, a half-lighted state can be formed by controlling the driving voltage of the halogen lamp.

  Then, only when the ink jet head performs printing, it is switched to the fully lit state, and in other states, the light is turned off or kept in a semi-lit state. For example, when the inkjet head is waiting at its home position or when cleaning the inkjet head, such a state is maintained. Further, a thermistor and a thermocouple are used for the lamp drive control circuit so as not to cause an extreme temperature rise, and temperature management is performed. In an emergency, an emergency stop circuit is provided to forcibly switch the lamp off.

It is a schematic perspective view of the production apparatus of the three-dimensional printed image to which this invention is applied. It is a schematic block diagram of the production apparatus of the three-dimensional printed image of FIG. It is the schematic perspective view and schematic sectional drawing which show the heater and cooling mechanism of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of a heat pipe. It is explanatory drawing which shows the heater provided with the heat insulating material. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the cooling mechanism provided with the heat pipe and the air blower. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the cooling mechanism of an inkjet head.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 3D printing image production apparatus 2 Base 3 Support unit 4 Medium mounting surface 5 Tables 6 and 7 Vertical frame 8 Horizontal frame 9 Carriage guide 10 Head carriage 11 Inkjet head 14 Carriage motors 15 and 16 Guide frame 17 Feed motor 18 Heating mechanism DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 19 Voltage control circuit 21 Hydraulic drive mechanism 22 Printer control board 23 Head driver 25 Front frame 30 Print medium 30a Printing surface 40 Heating lamp unit 41 Halogen lamp 42 Radiation opening 43 Reflective mirrors 44 and 44A Lens tube 45 Light spot 50 Cooling mechanism 51 Built-in heat pipe 52 External heat pipes 53, 61, 72 Radiating plates 53a, 61a Radiating fins 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 71 Heat pipe 59 Heat insulating material 62 Duct 63 Blower

Claims (8)

The inkjet head is relatively scanned along the surface of the print medium made of a heat-meltable material, and the print medium is moved relative to the direction perpendicular to the scan direction of the inkjet head while moving on the surface of the print medium. , Forming a print image with ink droplets ejected from the inkjet head,
The spot-like irradiation heat is scanned along the surface portion of the print medium on which the print image is formed, and the surface portion is sequentially heated,
By this heating, the ink droplets are heated and dried to fix the print image on the surface portion of the print medium, and the surface portion is heated and melted to meet the heat absorption rate of the ink forming the print image. A method for producing a three-dimensional printed image, characterized by forming a depression of depth. In claim 1,
A method for producing a three-dimensional print image, characterized by scanning a spot-like irradiation heat along the surface of the print medium following an ink jet head. In claim 1,
Forming a shaded image as the print image on the surface of the print medium;
According to the density of the print image, the surface portion of the print medium is heated and melted to different depths to form a print image with the depth changing according to the density on the surface portion. Production method of 3D print image. In claim 1,
As the inkjet head, an inkjet head having a plurality of nozzles for discharging different color inks is used,
The surface portion of the print medium is heated and melted to a different depth according to the heat absorption rate of each color ink attached to the surface portion, and the depth changes according to the attached color on the surface portion. A method for producing a three-dimensional printed image, wherein a color printed image is formed. In claim 1,
Prior to scanning of the inkjet head, along the scanning line of the inkjet head, the surface of the print medium is scanned with spot-like preliminary irradiation heat, and each part of the surface portion immediately before the print image is formed is scanned. A method for producing a three-dimensional printed image, characterized by preheating. In any one of claims 1 to 5,
A method for producing a three-dimensional printed image, wherein the depth of a depression formed in the surface portion of the print medium is increased or decreased by adjusting the amount of irradiation heat. In any one of claims 1 to 6,
A method for producing a three-dimensional printed image, wherein printing is performed using a thermosetting ink such as a resin ink. In any one of claims 1 to 7,
A method for producing a three-dimensional print image, wherein a print medium made of a porous material such as a foam made of a thermoplastic resin is used as the print medium.

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