 The study provides a comprehensive understanding of distortion in additive manufacturing by establishing a quantitative model that illustrates inconsistent shrinkage during the process and building a qualitative model to show the distortion caused by it. It concludes that inconsistent shrinkage is the main factor driving final part distortion and identifies the most influential factors for decreasing distortion in additive manufacturing, linking micro-melting solidification processes with macro-structural mechanics. This article was authored by Dechasseur, Faye LV, Huishin Liang, and others.