1. A method of monitoring operation of a fabrication system for fabricating a three dimensional model by successive deposition of at least one material comprising at least one of a model material for forming the model and at least one subsequently removed sacrificial material for supporting the model material during fabrication of the model, the system including: a camera, a workpiece platform for supporting the composite model during fabrication, a tool platform for supporting at least one material deposition device for depositing the at least one material on layers of the model, the at least one material deposition device and the camera having a known orientation and planar relationship with a tool platform reference plane, the workpiece platform and the tool platform being movable with respect to each other along an X axis, a Y axis and a Z axis, and a test surface, separate from the workpiece platform, comprising a surface of a test tape stored on a test tape supply spool and configured to be advanced by a test tape take-up mechanism through a test region in which test patterns may be created on the surface of the test tape, the method comprising: depositing at least one test pattern comprising the at least one material on at least one imaging surface related to one of a layer of the composite model, the workpiece platform, the test surface, or a currently topmost layer of the model, capturing, via the camera, an image of the at least one test pattern, examining, via an imaging monitoring system, the image of the at least one test pattern to determine at least one characteristic of the test pattern representing operation of the fabrication system, and capturing, via the camera, an image of the test tape stored on the test tape supply spool to determine a remaining supply of test tape for the imaging monitoring system.