APPEARANCE INSPECTING METHOD

An appearance inspecting method includes the steps of dividing a recognized image of an object into regions based on two attributes of image points within the image calculating the minimum distance of each point within a target region to a periphery of the target region, and measuring a size of the target region from the maximum of the calculated minimum distances of the points in the target region. A distance measuring method for measuring a distance of each point within a region to a periphery of the region includes the steps of dividing each region to be measured by lines made of picture elements arranged in one direction, sequentially integrating the distance of each point from the periphery of the region from its outer side to a middle point in each line from one end line to the other end line of the region to thereby obtain the minimum distance of each point, and the distance of each point from the periphery of the region is sequentially integrated from its outer side to the middle point in each line from the other end line to the one end line of the region to thereby obtain the minimum distance of each point.