1. A method of classifying the material type of an unknown material into a probability distribution of multiple predetermined material types by using a collection of plural predetermined material classifiers, wherein each material type of the multiple predetermined material types is associated with a corresponding best performing classifier from the collection of plural predetermined material classifiers by a predesignated stored association, the method comprising the steps of: applying the plural material classifiers to the unknown material to obtain a list of candidate material types; looking up a list of potential best performing classifiers using the list of candidate material types as a reference into the predesignated stored association; and assigning a respective probability that the unknown material belongs to a material type based on the list of potential best performing classifiers.