Methods for determining optical characteristics using light receivers of first and second numerical apertures and first and second critical heights

A method comprising the steps of:

• providing light to an object from one or more light sources and receiving light from the object through a plurality of light receivers, wherein the plurality of light receivers comprise one or more first light receivers and one or more second light receivers, wherein the one or more first light receivers have a first numerical aperture and the one or more second light receivers have a second numerical aperture different from the first numerical aperture, wherein the one or more light sources and the plurality of light receivers have numerical apertures and positioning relative to each other to define first and second heights below which light reflected from a surface of the object is not received and transmitted by the one or more light first and second light receivers, respectively;
• determining the intensity of light received and transmitted by more than one of the light receivers, wherein a first measurement is taken based on the first critical height and a second measurement is taken based on the second critical height;
• and
• measuring the optical characteristics of the object, wherein the measurement produces data indicative of the optical characteristics of the object.

A method for determining optical characteristics of a translucent object and for producing a second translucent object comprising the steps of:

• measuring color and translucence characteristics of the translucent object with a probe, wherein the probe provides light to the translucent object with one or more light sources and receives light from the translucent object through a plurality of light receivers, wherein the plurality of light receivers comprise one or more first light receivers and one or more second light receivers, wherein the one or more first light receivers have a first numerical aperture and the one or more second light receivers have a second numerical aperture different from the first numerical aperture, wherein the one or more light sources and the plurality of light receivers have numerical apertures and positioning relative to each other to define first and second heights below which light reflected from a surface of the translucent object is not received and transmitted by the one or more first and second light receivers, respectively;
• wherein the color and translucence characteristics are measured based on at least a first measurement taken based on the first critical height and a second measurement taken based on the second critical height;
• measuring optical characteristics of a set of materials for producing translucent objects;
• storing data based on the measured optical characteristics of the set of materials;
• after measurement of the color and translucent characteristics of the translucent object, outputting data for preparing the second translucent object, wherein the output data is based on the stored data.