Image processing apparatus, method and printer for generating three-dimensional painterly image

A printer comprising:

• a data acquiring unit that acquires data in which a painterly image and thickness information are associated with each other;
• a first controller that performs control to apply a three-dimensional layer to a printing medium based on the thickness information acquired by the data acquiring unit;
• and
• a second controller that performs control to apply the painterly image acquired by the data acquiring unit, to the three-dimensional layer applied to the printing medium by the first controller;
• wherein:
• the painterly image includes an object image;
• a contour of the object image included in the painterly image is transformed into a line having a style corresponding to a distance for the object image;
• and
• the thickness information corresponding to the distance for the object image is added for the corresponding line having the style corresponding to the distance.

An image processing method using an image processing apparatus which comprises a CPU, the method comprising:

• acquiring an image with the CPU;
• acquiring, with the CPU, a distance to an object for an object image included in the acquired image;
• extracting, with the CPU, a contour of the object image;
• transforming, with the CPU, the object image included in the acquired image into a painterly image, wherein transforming the object image into the painterly image comprises transforming the extracted contour of the object image into a line having a style corresponding to the acquired distance;
• acquiring, with the CPU, thickness information corresponding to the acquired distance for the corresponding line having the style corresponding to the acquired distance;
• and
• generating, with the CPU, data in which the line and the thickness information are associated with each other.