How we can change the font opacity and shadowing in imagettftext function? - php

Question

I am creating a Text-Image on given template in which all parameter are dynamic,Its working fine! and creating image like,my php script is,
<?php
// To fetch template info from database
$template_query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM templates WHERE templateID = '".$fetch['templateID']."'");
$temp_data = mysql_fetch_assoc($template_query);
//create and save images
$temp = '../'. $temp_data['blank_templates'];
//check image type
$image_extension = strtolower(substr(strrchr($temp_data['blank_templates'], "."), 1));
$im = imagecreatefromjpeg($temp);
$black = hexdec($temp_data['font_color']);
// Replacing path by your own font path
$font = '..'.$temp_data['font_file_upload'];
// Break it up into pieces 125 characters long
$no_of_characters_line = $temp_data['no_of_characters_line'];
$lines = explode('|', wordwrap($message, $no_of_characters_line, '|'));
// Starting Y position and X position
$y = $temp_data['position_from_top'];
$x = $temp_data['position_from_left'];
$font_size = $temp_data['font_size'];
$rotation_angle = $temp_data['rotation'];
$line_height = $temp_data['line_height'];
foreach ($lines as $line)
{
imagettftext($im, $font_size,$rotation_angle, $x, $y, $black, $font, $line);
// Increment Y so the next line is below the previous line
$y += $line_height;
}
$id = uniqid();
$save = '../messagesimage/'.$id. '.'.$image_extension;
$path_save = substr($save, 3);
// Using imagepng() results in clearer text compared with imagejpeg()
imagejpeg($im,$save);
imagedestroy($im);
Which is creating image like..!
Now I want to add the ability to change font opacity and shadowing dynamically,Is it possible ? If yes then please help me to do this ..
Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

Wow, you've been waiting a while.
To give your text some transparency, you'll need to define your text color with an alpha channel.
$black = imageallocatecoloralpha(0,0,0,16);
To give your text some shadow
$shadow = imageallocatecoloralpha(0,0,0,64); // more transparent
imagettftext($im, $font_size,$rotation_angle, $x+1, $y+1, $shadow, $font, $line);
imagettftext($im, $font_size,$rotation_angle, $x, $y, $black, $font, $line);

Answer 2

Even later, but it seems the current answer is incorrect.
To define a color with transparency, you use the function imagecolorallocatealpha():
$black = imagecolorallocatealpha($image, 0, 0, 0, 50);
Shadows, like Michael pointed out, are quite simple(Just use the correct function name, and make sure you add the image object). However, if you want a more shadowy looking shadow, blur it a bit:
$shadow = imagecolorallocatealpha($im, 0, 0, 0, 50);
//Draw shadow text
imagettftext($im, $font_size, 0, $x, $y, $shadow, $fontn, $text);
//Blur
imagefilter($im, IMG_FILTER_GAUSSIAN_BLUR);
//Draw text
imagettftext($im, $font_size, 0, $x, $y, $white, $fontn, $text);
After applying the above shadow method to an image, it renders similar to this: