Disclosed is a three-dimensional object shaping apparatus for forming an object with a desired shape in a three-dimensional space represented by a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system of XYZ. The three-dimensional object shaping apparatus includes a light source; a drive mechanism to move the shaping surface parallel to an XY plane in a Z axis direction; an optical scanning unit to scan light emitted from the light source along a Y axis direction perpendicular to the Z axis; and a rotation mechanism to rotate one of the optical scanning unit and the shaping surface relative to each other with respect to the Z axis as a rotation axis, where a pattern of the light to be applied to the shaping surface is controlled by a combination of a rotation of the shaping surface performed by the rotation mechanism and the scanning of the light performed by the optical scanning unit.