Powder bed fusion (PBF) makes a layer when a powder bed is formed. This layer is of constant thickness because the layer is made by spreading on a planar platform that is positioned parallel to the direction of the spreading. The thickness of the layer will increase when the platform goes down, increasing the separation between the build plane and the platform. Thus, the thickness is changed by changing the separation. But this changing of the layer thickness does not change the fact there will always be a fixed thickness. Though there will be a number of thicknesses that can be obtained when a part is made—this is how a part property is optimized by combining a number of thicknesses. But for a given layer when the process is happening, the thickness does not change. This limitation of PBF to not being able to change the thickness unless the processing of a layer is completed giving a uniform thickness of a powder layer.