Radiation amount determination for an intended surface property level

A method comprising:

• identifying an intended color of a surface of a three-dimensional (3D) object to be or being formed by an additive manufacturing apparatus;
• determining, from the intended color of the surface of the 3D object, an intensity level, a duration, or both, at which radiation is to be applied as a flash of radiation onto the surface to cause the surface to have the intended color, wherein the duration, if determined, is determined based on a source for the radiation to be between about 200 microseconds (μs) and about 2 seconds (s), and wherein the determined intensity level, duration, or both is based on data identifying correlations between colors of the 3D object, intensity levels of radiation flashes, and durations of radiation flashes;
• and
• outputting the determined intensity level, duration, or both by the radiation source as a flash onto the surface to obtain the intended color on the surface of the 3D object.

A non-transitory computer readable medium on which is stored machine readable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

• identify an intended color of a surface of a three-dimensional (3D) object to be or being fabricated by an additive manufacturing apparatus;
• identify a defined surface property level for the surface;
• determine, from the intended color and the defined surface property level, an amount of radiation to be applied as a pulse of radiation onto the surface to cause the surface to obtain the intended color and the defined surface property level, wherein the amount of radiation is defined by an intensity level and a duration of the radiation, and wherein the determined amount of radiation is based on data identifying correlations between surface property levels of the 3D object, colors, intensity levels of radiation pulses, and durations of radiation pulses;
• and
• output the determined amount of radiation to a radiation source of the apparatus.