Abstract: The disclosed method relates to manufacture of a near net-shaped products such as ceramic containing products such as ceramic-metal composites. The method entails forming a mixture of a build material and a binder and depositing that mixture onto a surface to produce a layer of the mixture. An activator fluid then is applied to at least one selected region of the layer to bond the binder to the build material to yield a shaped pattern. These steps may be repeated to produce a porous whitebody that is heat treated to yield a porous greenbody preform having a porosity of about 30% to about 70%. The greenbody then is impregnated with a molten material such as molten metal. Where the build material is SiC, the molten metal employed is Si to generate a SiC—Si composite.