Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF³) is an emerging cross-cutting technology for producing structural metal parts. The EBF³ process operates in a vacuum environment and uses a focused electron beam to create a molten pool on a metallic substrate. The beam is translated with respect to the surface of the substrate and metal wire is fed into the pool in a layer-additive fashion. The goal of the process development effort is to produce high quality parts with mechanical and physical properties in the as-built condition equivalent to those of a conventionally manufactured part. A fundamental understanding of the process is necessary to generate an accurate model linking the processing to resultant microstructures. We have begun to develop the essential process monitoring and control tools to accomplish this objective. At the heart of the problem is the heat transfer condition and the cooling rates experienced by processed alloys. The temperatures in and around the molten pool can be monitored in real time by high-speed thermal imaging. This talk will address the issues involved with thermal imaging and modeling of the process, and present some preliminary data from the EBF³ process.