Image processing apparatus

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a first generation unit configured to generate a sample texture image holding a texture component of a transform target image;
• a second generation unit configured to generate a texture image by searching for a similar pixel area to a processed pixel area near a processing target pixel in the texture image larger than the sample texture image from a neighboring area at a position corresponding to the processing target pixel in the sample texture image and assigning the processing target pixel a pixel value near the similar pixel area in accordance with a positional relationship between the processed pixel area and the processing target pixel;
• and
• a combination unit configured to generate a combined image by combining the texture image with a base image which holds a non-texture component of the transform target image and has same size as that of the texture image,
• wherein the second generation unit searches for the similar pixel area based on a first similarity between a pixel value in a pixel area in the neighboring area and a pixel value in the processed pixel area and a determination result indicating whether each pixel in the neighboring area expresses a same object as that expressed by the processing target pixel.