Generating text as an image with PerlMagick

ralphch has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi,

I'm trying to generate an image based on a text string with PerlMagick, but can't seem to get it working. This is to be used as a verification code for securing a web form. Here's the code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Image::Magick;

$image = Image::Magick->new;
$image->Set(size=>'150x50');
$image->ReadImage('xc:white');

$text = "This is a test";
$image->Annotate(pointsize=>40, fill=>'red', text=>$text);

print "Content-type: image/gif\n\n";
print $image->Write('gif:-');
[download]

Whenever I run the script through the browser, all I see are a couple of thin red lines (no text).

I've searched all over the Internet but can't seem to find any clear explanation on how to use this Annotate method.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ralph

Comment on Generating text as an image with PerlMagick Download Code

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Re: Generating text as an image with PerlMagick by themage (Friar) on Nov 30, 2006 at 14:53 UTC
Hi , What you are looking at is the last line of the letters you are trying to put in the image. Try this: `$image->Annotate(pointsize=>40, fill=>'red', text=>$text, y=>40);` [download] TheMage Talking Web	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Generating text as an image with PerlMagick by Fengor (Pilgrim) on Nov 30, 2006 at 15:03 UTC
You have got to set the x=> and y=> parameters of annotate accordingly so that the text is visible in the pic. as it is you only see the lower end (the red lines). See the official example scripts for full parameters of annotate -- "WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR IF NOT THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN" -- Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"	[reply]
Re: Generating text as an image with PerlMagick by derby (Abbot) on Nov 30, 2006 at 14:52 UTC
Not too helpful, but have you looked at GD::SecurityImage. It allows for ImageMagick as a back end and has some notes about bugs with some versions of ImageMagick not rendering fonts correctly. -derby	[reply]
Re: Generating text as an image with PerlMagick by GrandFather (Saint) on Nov 30, 2006 at 20:45 UTC
Having been down this path before may I offer the following which may be of some interest: Image Magick branding module crash Image Magick convert as Perl Overlay semi-transparent text on image using Image::Magick Generate thumbnail and small overstruck images for web publication Generate small .jpeg file thumbnails using Image Magick If you detect a theme and progression here, that is no coincidence. I too had a great deal of trouble finding lucid documentation for Image::Magick. DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel	[reply]
Re^2: Generating text as an image with PerlMagick by Fengor (Pilgrim) on Nov 30, 2006 at 22:40 UTC
i think Rename some jpegs, make thumbnails would fit quite nicely in that list to. Helped me writing a little gallery app for some friends of mine a few years back on a lan party. -- "WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR IF NOT THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN" -- Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"	[reply]
Re: Generating text as an image with PerlMagick by ralphch (Sexton) on Nov 30, 2006 at 23:10 UTC
Hi, thanks for all of your replies! The issue was with the positioning of the text, so now it's showing correctly :-) Thanks again and I'll keep all of these resources in my bookmarks since they're very useful. Regards, Ralph	[reply]

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