How to Create an Image in PHP

[ravindar]

How to Create an Image in PHP


1.      Basic PHP Knowledge

      I will assume that you already have some basic knowledge of how to write PHP programs. If not, you may wish to check out my basic PHP tutorial, How to Program in PHP.

2.     Your PHP Must Have Been Compiled with the GD Library

      For any of the functions listed here to be available, your PHP interpreter must have been compiled with the GD library. If you are using the PHP provided by a commercial web host, this is probably already provided as a standard feature.

3.     FreeType Must Be Compiled for TrueType Font Support

      If you want TrueType font support, your PHP must have FreeType support compiled into it as well.

An Introduction to Creating an Image from Scratch Using PHP

The easiest way to understand how to create an image is by looking at some sample code.

Code Select Expand

<php
$my_img = imagecreate( 200, 80 );
$background = imagecolorallocate( $my_img, 0, 0, 255 );
$text_colour = imagecolorallocate( $my_img, 255, 255, 0 );
$line_colour = imagecolorallocate( $my_img, 128, 255, 0 );
imagestring( $my_img, 4, 30, 25, "thesitewizard.com",
  $text_colour );
imagesetthickness ( $my_img, 5 );
imageline( $my_img, 30, 45, 165, 45, $line_colour );

header( "Content-type: image/png" );
imagepng( $my_img );
imagecolordeallocate( $line_color );
imagecolordeallocate( $text_color );
imagecolordeallocate( $background );
imagedestroy( $my_img );
?>


The above code creates a 200x80 PNG image with a blue background and yellow text. It can be called from within your web page simply by referencing the php file. For example, if the PHP file that contains the above code is called myimage.php, then the HTML code to invoke it can simply be:
<img src="myimpage.php" alt="Image created by a PHP script" width="200" height="80">

Explanation of the Code

    *Creating the Image

      The first thing the code does is to call the imagecreate() function with the dimensions of the image, namely its width and height in that order. This function returns a resource identifier for the image which we save in $my_img. The identifier is needed for all our operations on the image.

      If the function fails for some reason, it will return FALSE. If you want your code to be robust, you should test for this.

    * Using Colours in PHP

      Before you can use any sort of colours in your image at all, you will need to allocate the colour. Colours are represented by three digits, known as the RGB value. The first digit denotes the red component, the second the green and the third blue, hence RGB, for Red-Green-Blue. These are the same colour values that you use for your web page as well as numerous other computer applications.

      Colours are allocated using the imagecolorallocate() function. This function will automatically fill the background of the image with the colour the first time you call it, as well as return an identifier for that particular colour. Subsequent calls to imagecolorallocate() will simply create a colour identifier for your colour, without affecting your image background.

      As you can see from the above code, my script allocates a blue identifier for the image, and in so doing, causes imagecolorallocate() to set the background to blue automatically. It also allocates a colour identifier for yellow and one for a shade of green. The latter two identifiers will be used later to write text and draw a line.

      imagecolorallocate() returns FALSE if the function fails for any reason.

    * Writing Text to the Image

      To write text to your image, you will need to use the imagestring() function. This function uses a set of built-in fonts to do the writing. The fonts have various sizes, ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 is the smallest font size and 5 the largest. The size of the font is specified in the second parameter to the function. In my example, I used font size 4.

      The third and fourth parameters to imagestring() specify the x,y coordinate for the top left hand corner of the text. In the case of the example above, my text will begin 25 pixels from the top edge of the image, and 30 pixels from the left.

      The fifth parameter is for the text to print, and the final parameter the colour of the text. This is the same colour that was allocated earlier using imagecolorallocate().

    *    Drawing a Line and Setting the Thickness of the Brush

      The imageline() function can be used to draw a line to the image. To set the thickness of the brush used to draw the line, you may want to call the imagesetthickness() function as I did in my example. The numeric parameter to imagesetthickness() is the thickness of the brush in pixels. In my code, I set it to 5 pixels. If you don't call imagesetthickness(), the line will be 1 pixel thick.

      The imageline() function is called with the start and end coordinates of the line, in x,y format. In my code, the line starts from 30,45 and ends on 165,45. That is, it will be a horizontal line 45 pixels from the top, starting 30 pixels from the left edge and ending 165 pixels from that same edge. Since $line_colour was set to a shade of green earlier, the line will be green.


    *   How to Output the Image

      Since the output of my example script is the image itself, I send an "image/png" content type header to the browser telling it that what follows are the bytes of a PNG image. The function imagepng() is then called to generate the necessary image from my $my_img image identifer. Since I called imagepng() without a second parameter, the function automatically sends its output to the browser. If you prefer to save your image, don't call the header() function to output the header, and call imagepng() with the filename of the image for its second parameter, like the following:
      imagepng( $my_img, "my_new_image.png" );

      Your image does not have to be a PNG image. You can use imagegif() or imagejpeg() to create GIF and JPG images respectively. You should of course send the correct content type header for the type of image you are creating. For example, a jpeg image should have a content type of "image/jpeg" while a gif image "image/gif". Note though that GIF support may or may not necessarily be compiled into the version of the GD library your web host is using, so if you're not sure, use one of the other file formats.
    *
      Freeing Resources

      On completion, the program releases the resources associated with the image by calling imagecolordeallocate() and imagedestroy(). I'm not sure if any of these calls are really necessary if your script is going to terminate immediately, since I don't know if PHP automatically cleans up all these resources on the termination of the script. I like to put those calls there for completeness.

Modifying an Existing Image

In most cases, creating an image from scratch is overkill. For most web purposes, you can usually design the basic background of your image using a normal image editor like Photoshop and only add any additional text or graphical elements that need to be dynamically drawn using PHP. This allows you to speed up your scripts and reduce the resource consumption on your web server. It also lets you create your picture using professional picture designing tools.

To use an existing GIF, JPEG or PNG image as a canvas on which you add additional elements, use one of the following functions instead of imagecreate().

Code Select Expand

imagecreatefromgif ( string $filename )
imagecreatefromjpeg ( string $filename )
imagecreatefrompng ( string $filename )

For example, if you created a GIF file called "mytemplate.gif", the function can be called as follows:
$myimage = imagecreatefromgif ( "mytemplate.gif" );

Like the basic imagecreate() function, these functions return FALSE if they fail to load the image for any reason.
Using TrueType Fonts

If you want to use a True Type font, you will need to use imagettftext() instead. For details on how to use this function, please consult the function's manual page on php.net.

You should note a few things, though, before using this function:

    *    Check that your web host has compiled FreeType support into PHP before you rely on this function.

    *    Find out whether your web host's PHP is using GD version 1 or 2. This affects a number of things, including the meaning of the font size parameter to the function (whether it means pixel size or point size).


    *    Note that the coordinates for the text has a different starting point from imagestring(). That is, a coordinate like (say) 10,20 has a different meaning in the two functions.

    *    Make sure the font you want exists on your web server. Remember that your web server is not the same as your computer. Just because a font like Arial exists on your computer does not mean that it exists on your server. If you have fonts that you created yourself, you may want to upload those to your web directory and use those instead. At least, that way, you have a guarantee that the font needed by your script exists.


    *      The path setting to the font file is tricky, and depends on the version of the GD library your web server is using. One way around it is to specify the full path to the file on your server.

Drawing to Your Image

Besides the line drawing function used above, PHP has other functions that you can use. A complete list of functions, along with their descriptions,  To whet your appetite, functions include those that allow you to draw ellipses, arcs and polygons, change the style of your lines (to say dashed lines), and so on.

However, unless you have special reasons why you might want to dynamically draw complex pictures onto an image, you should consider creating your base image using a normal picture editor, load that image using a function like imagecreatefrompng(), and then only modifying small details with your script. Generating everything from scratch is unnecessary for most purposes, and can drain your web server resources.