System and method of measuring distances related to an object utilizing ancillary objects

A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions for estimating target object dimensions within digital images comprising executable code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

• obtain a digital image containing a target object and a first reference object having a first fiducial pattern having a highly saturated color, wherein the first reference object further has at least one of:
• an optical transmittance between about 2 percent and about 80 percent,
• a reflectance between about 15 percent and about 85 percent,
• a diffuse transmittance between about 5 percent and about 65 percent, or
• a direct transmittance less than about 10 percent and another diffuse transmittance greater than the direct transmittance;
• locate the first reference object in a digital image;
• calculate a pixel scale factor for the digital image based on both measured and known dimensions of the first reference object;
• locate the target object in the digital image;
• and
• calculate a dimension of the target object based on the pixel scale factor.

A method implemented by a computing device and comprising:

• obtaining a digital image captured by an imaging capture device, the digital image comprising a target object, a reference object, and one or more pane ancillary objects, wherein each of the one or more pane ancillary objects is a colored object having a saturation level;
• calculating a pixel scale factor based on measured and known dimensions of the reference object, wherein the reference object has at least one of:
• an optical transmittance between about 2 percent and about 80 percent,
• a reflectance between about 15 percent and about 85 percent,
• a diffuse transmittance between about 5 percent and about 65 percent, or
• a direct transmittance less than about 10 percent and another diffuse transmittance greater than the direct transmittance;
• identifying the one or more pane ancillary objects and a corner or edge thereof in the digital image;
• locating the target object in the digital image based on the identified corner or edge of the one or more pane ancillary objects;
• and
• calculating at least one dimension of the target object in accordance with the pixel scale factor.