ImageMagick - what do i need to be aware of? - php

Even on max quality GD just wasn't good enough quality, so i'm pretty sure i'm going to have to go down the ImageMagick route... I've heard stories....!
What kind of things no i need to be careful about/aware of when using/installing ImageMagick?

Nothing. Just download and run.
Also, I hope you have tried imagecopyresampled of GD, not the other resize function.

Related

PHP GD imagescale quality

I have a script scaling down high resolution photos. I use GD with the imagescale function with IMG_BICUBIC_LINEAR algorithm. After downscaling, I sharpen the images with a convolution matrix.
But I am not happy with the quality. Images look worse than resized with other tools. Is it impossible to get good quality with GD functions or do I do something wrong. Should I just use imagick?
The easiest solution was to start using Imagick. PHP GD functions cannot be customized enough to produce better quality.

Imagemagick exec and convert

I recently started using imagemagick with php and
I'm relatively new with both of these, IM and PHP.
So, I'm here to ask for some help/suggestion(s).
First
If lets say a user uploads a gif or a png image on
my site and I want it converted to jpg, is there any
command like for example.$image->convert($file,'.jpg)
or the convert command is accesible only thru exec() ?
like for example exec(convert picture.png to picture.jpg)
Second
What if for again, the user uploads gif/png on the site
and I resize the image to a specified width/height and
write the image, with the writeImage function of IM like this:
$image->writeImage(basename.$ext) where $ext = jpg.
Will this work properly,is this a good practice? I assume this will
only rename it but still, I don't see a problem in this... o.O
Oh sorry one more question, I'm not very familiar with exec,
is it better using imagemagick using exec(), does it improve
speed, load etc?
I can't answer your questions directly but thought I point you to a few resources:
Regarding which is better, exec or the PHP extension, I asked this same question a few months ago:
Should I use a PHP extension for ImageMagick or just use PHP's Exec() function to run the terminal commands?
For all Image Magick PHP functions you should look up the official guide:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/book.imagick.php
I switched from Image Magick to Graphics Magick as I heard it has better performance. It is a fork of Image Magick with an emphasis on performance. Large sites like Flickr and Etsy use it:
http://www.graphicsmagick.org/
This guide got me started:
http://devzone.zend.com/1559/manipulating-images-with-php-and-graphicsmagick/
And they have their own manual on php.net:
http://php.net/manual/en/book.gmagick.php (most of the commands are identical to Image Magick's)
I prefer using exec() as it is supported a lot better than Imagick ( the example code you posted ), easier to use and supports all the operators ( depending on your version ) which again Imagick does not.
Some of the Imagick code works differntly in the different versions; there are a lot more Imagick examples around than there were a couple of years ago when I first started looking at it.
Saying that Imagick can be faster and is/can be? built into php although some people have trouble installing it.
I belive that this site http://valokuva.org/?cat=1 belongs to a Imagick developer and has lots of examples.
My site www.rubblewebs.co.uk/imagemagick has lots of examples of php with exec( )
As to your other two questions yes you can change the file type with Imagick and I am not sure about basename.$ext - why not try it? As long as basename does not have an extension it may work but you might need to include basename.$ext in quotes.
As to speed it dpends sometimes GD is faster other times Imagick or Imagemagick. You can always do some tests. I did some a year or so ago and you can try the code on your server. http://www.rubblewebs.co.uk/imagemagick/speed/Speed_tests_1.pdf

Where can I find comprehensive image manipulation library information?

I've spent a lot of time Googling and searching SO for information on image manipulation libraries with little success. Please direct me if this has been answered before and I just can't find it.
Basically I'm trying to resize an arbitrarily sized image to a couple of smaller thumbnail images, say 400px wide and 200px wide while maintaining the original aspect ratio. The original image is being uploaded via php (linux) and I've found that I can use Cairo, GD, GMagick, or ImageMagick but I've been unable to find comprehensive data on which is better suited for image manipulation. I have found comparisons for image creation, but that's functionality I won't be using.
I also have the option of uploading via php then performing the image manipulation via another method (perl/python/etc, for example) if that proves better suited.
Any pointers in the right direction are appreciated. Quality is my primary motivation followed by output image file size then library performance.
GD and ImageMagick are your best bets, so get some representative images and run some tests using:
imagecopyresampled() for GD
Imagick::thumbnailImage() for ImageMagick
Imagick::resizeImage() if you want more control and to try a few filter constants.
Resizing images in PHP with GD and Imagick has some code samples to get you going.
Compare them visually and by filesize. If there's no obvious winner, then run some benchmarks based on your expected needs. How to benchmark efficiency of PHP script is a good reference point.
Also take a look at:
Choosing between Imagemagick & GD for thumbnail creation
Should I use ImageMagick or GD2 with ImageAPI in Drupal?

what is alternative to ffmpeg for generating thumbnails

Currently I am using ffmpeg to generate thumbnails from the uploaded video. Its working fine. But, i guess there should be better option to this. So, i am looking for the alternative to generate thumbnail from ffmpeg.
Currently i am using PHP. So, any solution in php will be great. I was thinking about imagemagick but i am not sure about it.
Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. Any suggestions are welcome.
Hope this question is clear.
Maybe you can grab the frame at 100% using ffmpeg and then downsize / edit it with either GD or ImageMagick
Ive never tried it befoe, but I think MEncoder is generally regarded as the alternative to FFMPEG. Niggles' statement about resizing is probably your best for resizing the thumbnails

PHP Thumbnails

I was looking at a way to dynamically create thumbnails using PHP and GD but everytime i select a large image maybe 10MegaPixels about 4-5MB it gives the error
**images/Surabhi_Cow.jpgimages/tn/Surabhi_Cow.jpg
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 31457280 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 10368 bytes) in C:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\MySite\Staff\test.php on line 51**
Changing the memory_limit in php.ini to 60 does the trick but my host only allows the memory_limit to 32M. What other options do I have to generate thumbnails on the fly?
I checked phpThumb() but don't really get it. So any other options are welcome!
You want to use ImageMagick. It is much more efficient in handling large images than GD.
If all you want to do is generate thumbnails. I recommend this nice little script called imagethumb.php. You can download it here:http://www.olivo.net/software/imagethumb/
This script produces excellent thumbnails with absolutely no pixelation. It accepts a height or width argument that you append to the URL that calls the script. It's really really easy to use and comes with documentation (which you'll read for all of 2 minutes).
I tried other thumbnailing scripts such as "ThumbsUp" (for example) before landing on this one. BTW, it also renders .png images and also .gif (if I recall correctly). The cache feature will make it easier on your server if you have large files. Also, I assume that your server has the GD library or ImageMagick installed. Good Luck ;)
As the others have said, if the images are that big it's time to drop GD and switch to ImageMagick. One word of warning though: do it all on the command-line - the class wrappers out there are wheels in need of damn good re-inventing, every last one.
Consider using a command-line based approach. For example, you can invoke ImageMagick from the command-line to resize images.
Other than that, in pure PHP, it's hard to see how you can edit images that are larger (in RGB format) than your RAM...
I was doing some research on the topic and I found Imagick much more efficient for manipulating bigger images. You`ll either pass the allowed memory or the maximum execution time. A better approach would be to use Imagick library. Check the onfo on how to generate thumbnails with php on the fly using Imagick.

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