In an imaging recipe creating apparatus that uses a scanning electron microscope to create an imaging recipe for SEM observation of a semiconductor pattern, in order that the imaging recipe for measuring the wiring width and other various dimension values of the pattern from an observation image and thus evaluating the shape of the pattern is automatically generated within a minimum time by the analysis using the CAD image obtained by conversion from CAD data, an CAD image creation unit that creates the CAD image by converting the CAD data into an image format includes an image-quantizing width determining section, a brightness information providing section, and a pattern shape deformation processing section; the imaging recipe being created using the CAD image created by the CAD image creation unit.