man > GD

GD(3pm)                          User Contributed Perl Documentation                         GD(3pm)

NAME
       GD.pm - Interface to Gd Graphics Library

SYNOPSIS
           use GD;

           # create a new image
           $im = GD::Image->new(100,100);

           # allocate some colors
           $white = $im->colorAllocate(255,255,255);
           $black = $im->colorAllocate(0,0,0);
           $red = $im->colorAllocate(255,0,0);
           $blue = $im->colorAllocate(0,0,255);

           # make the background transparent and interlaced
           $im->transparent($white);
           $im->interlaced('true');

           # Put a black frame around the picture
           $im->rectangle(0,0,99,99,$black);

           # Draw a blue oval
           $im->arc(50,50,95,75,0,360,$blue);

           # And fill it with red
           $im->fill(50,50,$red);

           # make sure we are writing to a binary stream
           binmode STDOUT;

           # Convert the image to PNG and print it on standard output
           print $im->png;

DESCRIPTION
       GD.pm is a Perl interface to Thomas Boutell's gd graphics library (version 2.01 or higher;
       see below). GD allows you to create color drawings using a large number of graphics
       primitives, and emit the drawings as PNG files.

       GD defines the following four classes:

       "GD::Image"
            An image class, which holds the image data and accepts graphic primitive method calls.

       "GD::Font"
            A font class, which holds static font information and used for text rendering.

       "GD::Polygon"
            A simple polygon object, used for storing lists of vertices prior to rendering a polygon
            into an image.

       "GD::Simple"
            A  "simple"  class  that  simplifies  the  GD::Image  API and then adds a set of object-
            oriented drawing methods using turtle graphics, simplified  font  handling,  ability  to
            work  in  polar  coordinates,  HSV  color  spaces,  and  human-readable color names like
            "lightblue". Please see GD::Simple for a description of these methods.

       A Simple Example:

               #!/usr/bin/perl

               use GD;

               # create a new image
               $im = GD::Image->new(100,100);

               # allocate some colors
               $white = $im->colorAllocate(255,255,255);
               $black = $im->colorAllocate(0,0,0);
               $red = $im->colorAllocate(255,0,0);
               $blue = $im->colorAllocate(0,0,255);

               # make the background transparent and interlaced
               $im->transparent($white);
               $im->interlaced('true');

               # Put a black frame around the picture
               $im->rectangle(0,0,99,99,$black);

               # Draw a blue oval
               $im->arc(50,50,95,75,0,360,$blue);

               # And fill it with red
               $im->fill(50,50,$red);

               # make sure we are writing to a binary stream
               binmode STDOUT;

               # Convert the image to PNG and print it on standard output
               print $im->png;

       Notes:

       1. To create a new, empty image, send a new() message to GD::Image, passing it the width and
       height of the image you want to create.  An image object will be returned.  Other class
       methods allow you to initialize an image from a preexisting JPG, PNG, GD, GD2, XBM or other
       supported image files.
       2. Next you will ordinarily add colors to the image's color table. colors are added using a
       colorAllocate() method call.  The three parameters in each call are the red, green and blue
       (rgb) triples for the desired color.  The method returns the index of that color in the
       image's color table.  You should store these indexes for later use.
       3. Now you can do some drawing!  The various graphics primitives are described below.  In
       this example, we do some text drawing, create an oval, and create and draw a polygon.
       4. Polygons are created with a new() message to GD::Polygon.  You can add points to the
       returned polygon one at a time using the addPt() method. The polygon can then be passed to an
       image for rendering.
       5. When you're done drawing, you can convert the image into PNG format by sending it a png()
       message (or any other supported image format).  It will return a (potentially large) scalar
       value containing the binary data for the image.  Ordinarily you will print it out at this
       point or write it to a file.  To ensure portability to platforms that differentiate between
       text and binary files, be sure to call binmode() on the file you are writing the image to.

Object Constructors: Creating Images
       See GD::Image for the current list of supported Image formats.

       The following class methods allow you to create new GD::Image objects.

       $image = GD::Image->new([$width,$height],[$truecolor])
       $image = GD::Image->new(*FILEHANDLE)
       $image = GD::Image->new($filename)
       $image = GD::Image->new($data)
           The new() method is the main constructor  for  the  GD::Image  class.   Called  with  two
           integer  arguments,  it  creates a new blank image of the specified width and height. For
           example:

                   $myImage = GD::Image->new(100,100) || die;

           This will create an image that is 100 x 100  pixels  wide.   If  you  don't  specify  the
           dimensions, a default of 64 x 64 will be chosen.

           The  optional  third  argument,  $truecolor,  tells new() to create a truecolor GD::Image
           object.  Truecolor images have 24 bits of color data (eight bits each in the  red,  green
           and blue channels respectively), allowing for precise photograph-quality color usage.  If
           not  specified, the image will use an 8-bit palette for compatibility with older versions
           of libgd.

           Alternatively, you may create a GD::Image object based on an existing image by  providing
           an   open  filehandle,  a  filename,  or  the  image  data  itself.   The  image  formats
           automatically recognized and accepted are: GIF, PNG, JPEG,  XBM,  XPM,  BMP,  GD2,  TIFF,
           WEBP, HEIF or AVIF. Other formats, including WBMP, and GD version 1, cannot be recognized
           automatically at this time.

           If something goes wrong (e.g. insufficient memory), this call will return undef.

       $image = GD::Image->trueColor([0,1])
           For backwards compatibility with scripts previous versions of GD, new images created from
           scratch  (width,  height) are palette based by default.  To change this default to create
           true color images use:

                   GD::Image->trueColor(1);

           before creating new images.  To switch back to palette based by default, use:

                   GD::Image->trueColor(0);

       $image = GD::Image->newPalette([$width,$height])
       $image = GD::Image->newTrueColor([$width,$height])
           The newPalette() and newTrueColor() methods can be used to explicitly create  an  palette
           based or true color image regardless of the current setting of trueColor().

       $image = GD::Image->newFromPng($file, [$truecolor])
       $image = GD::Image->newFromPngData($data, [$truecolor])
           The newFromPng() method will create an image from a PNG file read in through the provided
           filehandle  or file path.  The filehandle must previously have been opened on a valid PNG
           file or pipe.  If successful, this call will return an initialized image  which  you  can
           then  manipulate  as  you please.  If it fails, which usually happens if the thing at the
           other end of the filehandle is not a valid PNG file, the call returns undef.  Notice that
           the call  doesn't  automatically  close  the  filehandle  for  you.   But  it  does  call
           binmode(FILEHANDLE) for you, on platforms where this matters.

           You may use any of the following as the argument:

             1) a simple filehandle, such as STDIN
             2) a filehandle glob, such as *PNG
             3) a reference to a glob, such as \*PNG
             4) an IO::Handle object
             5) the pathname of a file

           In  the  latter case, newFromPng() will attempt to open the file for you and read the PNG
           information from it.

             Example1:

             open (PNG,"barnswallow.png") || die;
             $myImage = GD::Image->newFromPng(\*PNG) || die;
             close PNG;

             Example2:
             $myImage = GD::Image->newFromPng('barnswallow.png');

           To get information about the size and color usage of the information, you  can  call  the
           image  query  methods  described  below.  Images  created  by  reading PNG images will be
           truecolor if the image file itself is truecolor. To force the image to be  palette-based,
           pass a value of 0 in the optional $truecolor argument.

           The  newFromPngData()  method will create a new GD::Image initialized with the PNG format
           data contained in $data.

       $image = GD::Image->newFromJpeg($file, [$truecolor])
       $image = GD::Image->newFromJpegData($data, [$truecolor])
           These methods will create an image from a JPEG file.  They work  just  like  newFromPng()
           and newFromPngData(), and will accept the same filehandle and pathname arguments.

           Images created by reading JPEG images will always be truecolor.  To force the image to be
           palette-based, pass a value of 0 in the optional $truecolor argument.

       $image = GD::Image->newFromGif($file, [$truecolor])
       $image = GD::Image->newFromGifData($data)
           These methods will create an image from a GIF file.  They work just like newFromPng() and
           newFromPngData(), and will accept the same filehandle and pathname arguments.

           Images  created  from  GIFs are always 8-bit palette images. To convert to truecolor, you
           must create a truecolor image and then perform a copy.

       $image = GD::Image->newFromXbm($file, [$truecolor])
           This works in exactly the same way as "newFromPng", but reads the contents of an X Bitmap
           (black & white) file:

                   open (XBM,"coredump.xbm") || die;
                   $myImage = GD::Image->newFromXbm(\*XBM) || die;
                   close XBM;

           There is no newFromXbmData() function, because there is no corresponding function in  the
           gd library.

       $image = GD::Image->newFromWBMP($file)
           This  works in exactly the same way as "newFromPng", but reads the contents of a Wireless
           Application Protocol Bitmap (WBMP) file:

                   open (WBMP,"coredump.wbmp") || die;
                   $myImage = GD::Image->newFromWBMP(\*WBMP) || die;
                   close WBMP;

           There is no newFromWBMPData() function, because there is no corresponding function in the
           gd library.

       $image = GD::Image->newFromBmp($file)
           This works in exactly the same way as "newFromPng", but reads the contents of  a  Windows
           Bitmap (BMP) file:

                   open (BMP,"coredump.bmp") || die;
                   $myImage = GD::Image->newFromBmp(\*BMP) || die;
                   close BMP;

           There  is no newFromBmpData() function, because there is no corresponding function in the
           gd library.

       $image = GD::Image->newFromGd($file)
       $image = GD::Image->newFromGdData($data)
           NOTE: GD and GD2 support was dropped witn libgd 2.3.2.

           These methods initialize a GD::Image from a Gd file, filehandle,  or  data.   Gd  is  Tom
           Boutell's disk-based storage format, intended for the rare case when you need to read and
           write  the image to disk quickly.  It's not intended for regular use, because, unlike PNG
           or JPEG, no image compression is performed and these files can become BIG.

                   $myImage = GD::Image->newFromGd("godzilla.gd") || die;
                   close GDF;

       $image = GD::Image->newFromGd2($file)
       $image = GD::Image->newFromGd2Data($data)
           NOTE: GD and GD2 support was dropped witn libgd 2.3.2.

           This works in exactly the same way as newFromGd() and  newFromGdData,  but  use  the  new
           compressed GD2 image format.

       $image = GD::Image->newFromGd2Part($file,srcX,srcY,width,height)
           This  class method allows you to read in just a portion of a GD2 image file.  In addition
           to a filehandle, it accepts the top-left corner  and  dimensions  (width,height)  of  the
           region of the image to read.  For example:

                   open (GDF,"godzilla.gd2") || die;
                   $myImage = GD::Image->newFromGd2Part(\*GDF,10,20,100,100) || die;
                   close GDF;

           This reads a 100x100 square portion of the image starting from position (10,20).

       $image = GD::Image->newFromXpm($filename)
           This  creates  a new GD::Image object starting from a filename.  This is unlike the other
           newFrom() functions because it does not take a filehandle.  This difference comes from an
           inconsistency in the underlying gd library.

                   $myImage = GD::Image->newFromXpm('earth.xpm') || die;

           This function is only available if libgd was compiled with XPM support.

           NOTE: The libgd library is unable to read certain XPM files, returning an all-black image
           instead.

       $bool = GD::supportsFileType($filename, $is_writing)
           This returns a TRUE or FALSE value, if libgd supports reading or when the 2nd argument is
           1, if libgd supports writing the given filetype, depending  on  the  filename  extension.
           Only with libgd versions >= gd-2.1.1.

           Assuming  LibGD  is compiled with support for these image types, the following extensions
           are supported:

               .gif
               .gd, .gd2
               .wbmp
               .bmp
               .xbm
               .tga
               .png
               .jpg, .jpeg
               .tiff, .tif
               .webp
               .heic, .heix
               .avif
               .xpm

           Filenames are parsed  case-insensitively.   .avifs  is  not  yet  suppurted  upstream  in
           libavif.

GD::Image Methods
       Once  a  GD::Image  object  is  created, you can draw with it, copy it, and merge two images.
       When you are finished manipulating the object, you can convert it into a standard image  file
       format to output or save to a file.

   Image Data Output Methods
       The following methods convert the internal drawing format into standard output file formats.

       $pngdata = $image->png([$compression_level])
           This  returns  the image data in PNG format.  You can then print it, pipe it to a display
           program, or write it to a file.  Example:

                   $png_data = $myImage->png;
                   open (DISPLAY,"| display -") || die;
                   binmode DISPLAY;
                   print DISPLAY $png_data;
                   close DISPLAY;

           Note the use of binmode().  This is crucial for portability to DOSish platforms.

           The optional $compression_level argument controls the amount of compression to  apply  to
           the  output  PNG  image.   Values  range  from 0-9, where 0 means no compression (largest
           files, highest quality) and 9 means maximum compression (smallest files, worst  quality).
           A  compression  level  of  -1  uses  the default compression level selected when zlib was
           compiled on your system, and is the same as calling png() with no argument.   Be  careful
           not  to  confuse  this argument with the jpeg() quality argument, which ranges from 0-100
           and has the opposite meaning from compression (higher numbers give higher quality).

       $gifdata = $image->gifanimbegin([$GlobalCM [, $Loops]])
           For libgd version 2.0.33 and higher, this call begins an animated GIF  by  returning  the
           data  that  comprises  animated  gif image file header.  After you call this method, call
           gifanimadd() one or more times to add the frames of the image.  Then  call  gifanimend().
           Each frame must be the same width and height.

           A typical sequence will look like this:

             my $gifdata = $image->gifanimbegin;
             $gifdata   .= $image->gifanimadd;    # first frame
             for (1..100) {
                # make a frame of right size
                my $frame  = GD::Image->new($image->getBounds);
                add_frame_data($frame);              # add the data for this frame
                $gifdata   .= $frame->gifanimadd;     # add frame
             }
             $gifdata   .= $image->gifanimend;   # finish the animated GIF
             print $gifdata;                     # write animated gif to STDOUT

           If you do not wish to store the data in memory, you can print it to stdout or a file.

           The  image  that you call gifanimbegin on is used to set the image size, color resolution
           and color map.  If argument $GlobalCM is 1, the image color map becomes the GIF89a global
           color map.  If $Loops is given  and  >=  0,  the  NETSCAPE2.0  application  extension  is
           created, with looping count.  Looping count 0 means forever.

       $gifdata = $image->gifanimadd([$LocalCM [, $LeftOfs [, $TopOfs [, $Delay [, $Disposal [,
       $previm]]]]]])
           Returns  the  data  that  comprises one animated gif image frame.  You can then print it,
           pipe it to a display program, or write it to a file.  With $LeftOfs and $TopOfs  you  can
           place  this  frame in different offset than (0,0) inside the image screen.  Delay between
           the previous frame and this frame is in 1/100s units.  Disposal is usually and by default
           1.  Compression is activated by giving the previous image as a parameter.  This  function
           then  compares  the  images  and  only  writes  the  changed  pixels  to the new frame in
           animation.  The Disposal parameter for optimized animations must be set to  1,  also  for
           the first frame.  $LeftOfs and $TopOfs parameters are ignored for optimized frames.

       $gifdata = $image->gifanimend()
           Returns  the  data  for  end segment of animated gif file.  It always returns string ';'.
           This string must be printed to an animated gif file after all image  frames  to  properly
           terminate  it  according  to  GIF  file  syntax.  Image object is not used at all in this
           method.

       $jpegdata = $image->jpeg([$quality])
           This returns the image data in JPEG format.  You can then print it, pipe it to a  display
           program,  or  write  it  to  a file.  You may pass an optional quality score to jpeg() in
           order to control the JPEG quality.  This should be an integer between 0 and 100.   Higher
           quality  scores  give  larger  files  and better image quality.  If you don't specify the
           quality, jpeg() will choose a good default.

       $gifdata = $image->gif().
           This returns the image data in GIF format.  You can then print it, pipe it to  a  display
           program, or write it to a file.

       $gddata = $image->gd
           This  returns  the  image data in GD format.  You can then print it, pipe it to a display
           program, or write it to a file.  Example:

                   binmode MYOUTFILE;
                   print MYOUTFILE $myImage->gd;

       $gd2data = $image->gd2
           Same as gd(), except that it returns the data in compressed GD2 format.

       $bmpdata = $image->bmp([$compression])
           This returns the image data in BMP format, which is a Windows Bitmap.  If compression  is
           set  to 1, it will use RLE compression on the pixel data; otherwise, setting it to 0 (the
           default) will leave the BMP pixel data uncompressed.

       $wbmpdata = $image->wbmp([$foreground])
           This returns the image data in WBMP format, which  is  a  black-and-white  image  format.
           Provide  the index of the color to become the foreground color.  All other pixels will be
           considered background.

       $tiffdata = $image->tiff()
           This returns the image data in TIFF format.

       $webpdata = $image->webp([$quality])
           This returns the image data in WEBP format, with  the  optional  quality  argument.   The
           default  is  80,  also  chosen  by the value -1.  A quality value of >= 101 is considered
           Lossless.

       $webpdata = $image->heif([$quality])
           This returns the truecolor image data in HEIF format, with the optional quality and speed
           arguments.  If truecolor is not set, this fails.  The default quality is 80, also  chosen
           by the value -1.  A quality value of 200 is considered Lossless.

       $webpdata = $image->avif([$quality,$speed])
           This  returns  the  truecolor  image  data  in AVIF format, with the AVif encoder and 444
           chroma, and the optional quality argument.  If truecolor is not  set,  this  fails.   The
           default compression quality 1-100 is -1, the default speed 0-10 is 6.

       $success = $image->_file($filename)
           Writes an image to a file in the format indicated by the filename, with libgd versions >=
           gd-2.1.1.

           File type is determined by the extension of the file name.  See "supportsFiletype" for an
           overview of the parsing.

           For file types that require extra arguments, "_file" attempts to use sane defaults:

             C<gdImageGd2> chunk size = 0, compression is enabled.
             C<gdImageJpeg>        quality = -1 (i.e. the reasonable default)
             C<gdImageWBMP>        foreground is the darkest available color
             C<gdImageWEBP>        quality default
             C<gdImageHEIF>        quality default, codes = HEVC, chroma = 444
             C<gdImageAVIF>        quality default, speed = 6

           Everything  else  is  called  with  the two-argument function and so will use the default
           values.

           "_file" and the underlying libgd "gdImageFile" has some rudimentary error  detection  and
           will  return FALSE (0) if a detectable error occurred.  However, the image loaders do not
           normally return their error status so a result of TRUE (1) does **not** mean the file was
           saved successfully.

   Color Control
       These methods allow you to control and manipulate the GD::Image color table for palette, non-
       truecolor images.

       $index = $image->colorAllocate(red,green,blue)
           This allocates a color with the specified red, green and blue components and returns  its
           index  in  the  color table, if specified.  The first color allocated in this way becomes
           the image's background color.  (255,255,255) is white (all pixels on).  (0,0,0) is  black
           (all pixels off).  (255,0,0) is fully saturated red.  (127,127,127) is 50% gray.  You can
           find plenty of examples in /usr/X11/lib/X11/rgb.txt.

           If no colors are allocated, then this function returns -1.

           Example:

                   $black = $myImage->colorAllocate(0,0,0); #background color
                   $white = $myImage->colorAllocate(255,255,255);
                   $peachpuff = $myImage->colorAllocate(255,218,185);

       $index = $image->colorAllocateAlpha(reg,green,blue,alpha)
           This  allocates  a  color  with  the  specified red, green, and blue components, plus the
           specified alpha channel.  The alpha value may range from 0 (opaque) to 127 (transparent).
           The "alphaBlending" function changes the way this alpha  channel  affects  the  resulting
           image.

       $image->colorDeallocate(colorIndex)
           This  marks  the  color  at the specified index as being ripe for reallocation.  The next
           time colorAllocate is used, this entry will  be  replaced.   You  can  call  this  method
           several times to deallocate multiple colors.  There's no function result from this call.

           Example:

                   $myImage->colorDeallocate($peachpuff);
                   $peachy = $myImage->colorAllocate(255,210,185);

       $index = $image->colorClosest(red,green,blue)
           This  returns the index of the color closest in the color table to the red green and blue
           components specified.  If no colors have yet been allocated, then this call returns -1.

           Example:

                   $apricot = $myImage->colorClosest(255,200,180);

       $index = $image->colorClosestAlpha(red,green,blue,alpha)
           This returns the index of the color closest in the color table to the red green blue  and
           alpha components specified.  If no colors have yet been allocated, then this call returns
           -1.

           Example:

                   $apricot = $myImage->colorClosestAlpha(255,200,180,0);

       $index = $image->colorClosestHWB(red,green,blue)
           This  also  attempts  to return the color closest in the color table to the red green and
           blue components specified. It uses a Hue/White/Black color  representation  to  make  the
           selected color more likely to match human perceptions of similar colors.

           If no colors have yet been allocated, then this call returns -1.

           Example:

                   $mostred = $myImage->colorClosestHWB(255,0,0);

       $index = $image->colorExact(red,green,blue)
           This  returns  the index of a color that exactly matches the specified red green and blue
           components.  If such a color is not in the color table, this call returns -1.

                   $rosey = $myImage->colorExact(255,100,80);
                   warn "Everything's coming up roses.\n" if $rosey >= 0;

       $index = $image->colorExactAlpha(red,green,blue,alpha)
           This returns the index of a color that exactly matches the specified red green  blue  and
           alpha components.  If such a color is not in the color table, this call returns -1.

                   $rosey = $myImage->colorExactAlpha(255,100,80,0);
                   warn "Everything's coming up roses.\n" if $rosey >= 0;

       $index = $image->colorResolve(red,green,blue)
           This  returns  the index of a color that exactly matches the specified red green and blue
           components.  If such a color is not in the color table  and  there  is  room,  then  this
           method allocates the color in the color table and returns its index.

                   $rosey = $myImage->colorResolve(255,100,80);
                   warn "Everything's coming up roses.\n" if $rosey >= 0;

       $index = $image->colorResolveAlpha(red,green,blue,alpha)
           This  returns  the index of a color that exactly matches the specified red green blue and
           alpha components.  If such a color is not in the color table and there is room, then this
           method allocates the color in the color table and returns its index.

                   $rosey = $myImage->colorResolveAlpha(255,100,80,0);
                   warn "Everything's coming up roses.\n" if $rosey >= 0;

       $colorsTotal = $image->colorsTotal object method
           This returns the total number of colors allocated in the object.

                   $maxColors = $myImage->colorsTotal;

           In the case of a TrueColor image, this call will return undef.

       $index = $image->getPixel(x,y) object method
           This returns the color table index underneath the specified point.  It  can  be  combined
           with rgb() to obtain the rgb color underneath the pixel.

           Example:

                   $index = $myImage->getPixel(20,100);
                   ($r,$g,$b) = $myImage->rgb($index);

       ($red,$green,$blue) = $image->rgb($index)
           This  returns a list containing the red, green and blue components of the specified color
           index.

           Example:

                   @RGB = $myImage->rgb($peachy);

       ($alpha) = $image->alpha($index)
           This returns an item containing the alpha component of the specified color index.

           Example:

                   @RGB = $myImage->rgb($peachy);

       $image->transparent($colorIndex)
           This marks the color at the specified index as being transparent.  Portions of the  image
           drawn  in  this color will be invisible.  This is useful for creating paintbrushes of odd
           shapes, as well as for making PNG backgrounds transparent  for  displaying  on  the  Web.
           Only  one  color  can be transparent at any time. To disable transparency, specify -1 for
           the index.

           If you call this method without any parameters, it will return the current index  of  the
           transparent color, or -1 if none.

           Example:

                   open(PNG,"test.png");
                   $im = GD::Image->newFromPng(PNG);
                   $white = $im->colorClosest(255,255,255); # find white
                   $im->transparent($white);
                   binmode STDOUT;
                   print $im->png;

   Special Colors
       GD  implements  a number of special colors that can be used to achieve special effects.  They
       are constants defined in the GD:: namespace, but automatically exported into  your  namespace
       when the GD module is loaded.

       $image->setBrush($image)
           You  can  draw  lines  and  shapes  using a brush pattern.  Brushes are just palette, not
           TrueColor, images that you can create and manipulate in the usual way. When you draw with
           them, their contents are used for the color and shape of the lines.

           To make a brushed line, you must create or load the brush first, then assign  it  to  the
           image  using  setBrush().   You can then draw in that with that brush using the gdBrushed
           special color.  It's often useful to set the background of the brush  to  transparent  so
           that the non-colored parts don't overwrite other parts of your image.

           Example:

                   # Create a brush at an angle
                   $diagonal_brush = GD::Image->new(5,5);
                   $white = $diagonal_brush->colorAllocate(255,255,255);
                   $black = $diagonal_brush->colorAllocate(0,0,0);
                   $diagonal_brush->transparent($white);
                   $diagonal_brush->line(0,4,4,0,$black); # NE diagonal

                   # Set the brush
                   $myImage->setBrush($diagonal_brush);

                   # Draw a circle using the brush
                   $myImage->arc(50,50,25,25,0,360,gdBrushed);

       $image->setThickness($thickness)
           Lines  drawn  with line(), rectangle(), arc(), and so forth are 1 pixel thick by default.
           Call setThickness() to change the line drawing width.

       $image->setStyle(@colors)
           Styled lines consist of an arbitrary  series  of  repeated  colors  and  are  useful  for
           generating dotted and dashed lines.  To create a styled line, use setStyle() to specify a
           repeating series of colors.  It accepts an array consisting of one or more color indexes.
           Then  draw using the gdStyled special color.  Another special color, gdTransparent can be
           used to introduce holes in the line, as the example shows.

           Example:

                   # Set a style consisting of 4 pixels of yellow,
                   # 4 pixels of blue, and a 2 pixel gap
                   $myImage->setStyle($yellow,$yellow,$yellow,$yellow,
                                      $blue,$blue,$blue,$blue,
                                      gdTransparent,gdTransparent);
                   $myImage->arc(50,50,25,25,0,360,gdStyled);

           To combine the "gdStyled" and "gdBrushed" behaviors, you can  specify  "gdStyledBrushed".
           In  this  case,  a  pixel  from  the current brush pattern is rendered wherever the color
           specified in setStyle() is neither gdTransparent nor 0.

       gdTiled
           Draw filled shapes and flood fills using a pattern.  The pattern is just  another  image.
           The  image  will  be  tiled  multiple times in order to fill the required space, creating
           wallpaper effects.  You must call "setTile"  in  order  to  define  the  particular  tile
           pattern you'll use for drawing when you specify the gdTiled color.  details.

       gdStyled
           The  gdStyled  color  is  used  for  creating dashed and dotted lines.  A styled line can
           contain any series of colors and is created using the setStyled() command.

       gdAntiAliased
           The "gdAntiAliased" color  is  used  for  drawing  lines  with  antialiasing  turned  on.
           Antialiasing  will  blend  the  jagged  edges  of  lines  with the background, creating a
           smoother look.  The actual color drawn is set with setAntiAliased().

       $image->setAntiAliased($color)
           "Antialiasing" is a process by which jagged edges associated with  line  drawing  can  be
           reduced  by  blending  the  foreground  color  with  an  appropriate  percentage  of  the
           background, depending on how much of  the  pixel  in  question  is  actually  within  the
           boundaries of the line being drawn. All line-drawing methods, such as line() and polygon,
           will  draw  antialiased  lines  if the special "color" gdAntiAliased is used when calling
           them.

           setAntiAliased() is used to specify the actual foreground color to be used  when  drawing
           antialiased  lines.  You  may  set  any  color  to be the foreground, however as of libgd
           version 2.0.12 an alpha channel component is not supported.

           Antialiased lines can be drawn on  both  truecolor  and  palette-based  images.  However,
           attempts  to  draw  antialiased lines on highly complex palette-based backgrounds may not
           give satisfactory results, due to the limited number of colors available in the  palette.
           Antialiased  line-drawing  on  simple  backgrounds  should  work  well with palette-based
           images; otherwise create or fetch a truecolor image  instead.  When  using  palette-based
           images, be sure to allocate a broad spectrum of colors in order to have sufficient colors
           for the antialiasing to use.

       $image->setAntiAliasedDontBlend($color,[$flag])
           Normally,  when  drawing  lines with the special gdAntiAliased "color," blending with the
           background to reduce jagged edges is the desired behavior. However, when  it  is  desired
           that  lines  not  be  blended  with  one  particular  color when it is encountered in the
           background, the setAntiAliasedDontBlend() method can be  used  to  indicate  the  special
           color that the foreground should stand out more clearly against.

           Once turned on, you can turn this feature off by calling setAntiAliasedDontBlend() with a
           second argument of 0:

             $image->setAntiAliasedDontBlend($color,0);

   Drawing Commands
       These  methods  allow  you  to  draw  lines,  rectangles, and ellipses, as well as to perform
       various special operations like flood-fill.

       $image->setPixel($x,$y,$color)
           This sets the pixel at (x,y) to the specified color index.  No  value  is  returned  from
           this  method.  The coordinate system starts at the upper left at (0,0) and gets larger as
           you go down and to the right.  You can use a real color, or one  of  the  special  colors
           gdBrushed, gdStyled and gdStyledBrushed can be specified.

           Example:

                   # This assumes $peach already allocated
                   $myImage->setPixel(50,50,$peach);

       $image->line($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2,$color)
           This  draws  a  line  from (x1,y1) to (x2,y2) of the specified color.  You can use a real
           color, or one of the special colors gdBrushed, gdStyled and gdStyledBrushed.

           Example:

                   # Draw a diagonal line using the currently defined
                   # paintbrush pattern.
                   $myImage->line(0,0,150,150,gdBrushed);

       $image->dashedLine($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2,$color)
           DEPRECATED: The libgd library provides this method solely for backward compatibility with
           libgd version 1.0, and there have been reports that  it  no  longer  works  as  expected.
           Please use the setStyle() and gdStyled methods as described below.

           This draws a dashed line from (x1,y1) to (x2,y2) in the specified color.  A more powerful
           way  to  generate  arbitrary  dashed  and  dotted  lines  is to use the setStyle() method
           described below and to draw with the special color gdStyled.

           Example:

                   $myImage->dashedLine(0,0,150,150,$blue);

       $image->rectangle($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2,$color)
           This draws a rectangle with the specified color.  (x1,y1) and (x2,y2) are the upper  left
           and  lower  right  corners  respectively.  Both real color indexes and the special colors
           gdBrushed, gdStyled and gdStyledBrushed are accepted.

           Example:

                   $myImage->rectangle(10,10,100,100,$rose);

       $image->filledRectangle($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2,$color) =item $image->setTile($otherimage)
           This draws a rectangle filled with the specified color.  You can use a real color, or the
           special fill color gdTiled to fill the polygon with a pattern.

           Example:

                   # read in a fill pattern and set it
                   $tile = GD::Image->newFromPng('happyface.png');
                   $myImage->setTile($tile);

                   # draw the rectangle, filling it with the pattern
                   $myImage->filledRectangle(10,10,150,200,gdTiled);

       $image->openPolygon($polygon,$color)
           This draws a polygon with the specified color.  The polygon must be  created  first  (see
           below).  The polygon must have at least three vertices.  If the last vertex doesn't close
           the  polygon,  the method will close it for you.  Both real color indexes and the special
           colors gdBrushed, gdStyled and gdStyledBrushed can be specified.

           Example:

                   $poly = GD::Polygon->new;
                   $poly->addPt(50,0);
                   $poly->addPt(99,99);
                   $poly->addPt(0,99);
                   $myImage->openPolygon($poly,$blue);

       $image->unclosedPolygon($polygon,$color)
           This draws a sequence of connected lines with the specified color, without connecting the
           first and last point to a closed polygon.  The polygon must be created first (see below).
           The polygon must have at least three vertices.  Both real color indexes and  the  special
           colors gdBrushed, gdStyled and gdStyledBrushed can be specified.

           You need libgd 2.0.33 or higher to use this feature.

           Example:

                   $poly = GD::Polygon->new;
                   $poly->addPt(50,0);
                   $poly->addPt(99,99);
                   $poly->addPt(0,99);
                   $myImage->unclosedPolygon($poly,$blue);

       $image->filledPolygon($poly,$color)
           This  draws  a polygon filled with the specified color.  You can use a real color, or the
           special fill color gdTiled to fill the polygon with a pattern.

           Example:

                   # make a polygon
                   $poly = GD::Polygon->new;
                   $poly->addPt(50,0);
                   $poly->addPt(99,99);
                   $poly->addPt(0,99);

                   # draw the polygon, filling it with a color
                   $myImage->filledPolygon($poly,$peachpuff);

       $image->ellipse($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$color)
       $image->filledEllipse($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$color)
           These methods() draw ellipses. ($cx,$cy) is the center of the arc,  and  ($width,$height)
           specify  the  ellipse  width and height, respectively.  filledEllipse() is like Ellipse()
           except that the former produces filled versions of the ellipse.

       $image->arc($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$start,$end,$color)
           This draws arcs and ellipses.  (cx,cy) are the center  of  the  arc,  and  (width,height)
           specify  the  width  and height, respectively.  The portion of the ellipse covered by the
           arc are controlled by start and end, both of which are given in degrees from  0  to  360.
           Zero  is  at  the  right end of the ellipse, and angles increase clockwise.  To specify a
           complete ellipse, use 0 and 360 as the starting and ending angles.  To draw a circle, use
           the same value for width and height.

           You can specify a normal color or one of  the  special  colors  gdBrushed,  gdStyled,  or
           gdStyledBrushed.

           Example:

                   # draw a semicircle centered at 100,100
                   $myImage->arc(100,100,50,50,0,180,$blue);

       $image->filledArc($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$start,$end,$color [,$arc_style])
           This method is like arc() except that it colors in the pie wedge with the selected color.
           $arc_style is optional.  If present it is a bitwise OR of the following constants:

             gdArc           connect start & end points of arc with a rounded edge
             gdChord         connect start & end points of arc with a straight line
             gdPie           synonym for gdChord
             gdNoFill        outline the arc or chord
             gdEdged         connect beginning and ending of the arc to the center

           gdArc  and gdChord are mutually exclusive.  gdChord just connects the starting and ending
           angles with a straight line, while gdArc produces a rounded edge. gdPie is a synonym  for
           gdArc.  gdNoFill indicates that the arc or chord should be outlined, not filled. gdEdged,
           used together with gdNoFill, indicates that the beginning and  ending  angles  should  be
           connected to the center; this is a good way to outline (rather than fill) a "pie slice."

           Example:

             $image->filledArc(100,100,50,50,0,90,$blue,gdEdged|gdNoFill);

       $image->fill($x,$y,$color)
           This  method flood-fills regions with the specified color.  The color will spread through
           the image, starting at point (x,y), until it is stopped by a pixel of a  different  color
           from  the  starting  pixel  (this is similar to the "paintbucket" in many popular drawing
           toys).  You can specify a normal color, or the special color gdTiled, to flood-fill  with
           patterns.

           Example:

                   # Draw a rectangle, and then make its interior blue
                   $myImage->rectangle(10,10,100,100,$black);
                   $myImage->fill(50,50,$blue);

       $image->fillToBorder($x,$y,$bordercolor,$color)
           Like  "fill",  this  method  flood-fills  regions  with  the specified color, starting at
           position (x,y).  However, instead of stopping when it hits a pixel of a  different  color
           than  the  starting  pixel,  flooding  will only stop when it hits the color specified by
           bordercolor.  You must specify a normal indexed color for the bordercolor.  However,  you
           are free to use the gdTiled color for the fill.

           Example:

                   # This has the same effect as the previous example
                   $myImage->rectangle(10,10,100,100,$black);
                   $myImage->fillToBorder(50,50,$black,$blue);

   Image Copying Commands
       Two  methods  are  provided  for copying a rectangular region from one image to another.  One
       method copies a region without resizing it.  The other  allows  you  to  stretch  the  region
       during the copy operation.

       With  either of these methods it is important to know that the routines will attempt to flesh
       out the destination image's color table to match the colors that are being  copied  from  the
       source.   If the destination's color table is already full, then the routines will attempt to
       find the best match, with varying results.

       $image->copy($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY,$srcX,$srcY,$width,$height)
           This is the simplest of the several copy operations, copying the  specified  region  from
           the  source  image  to  the  destination  image  (the  one  performing  the method call).
           (srcX,srcY) specify the upper left corner  of  a  rectangle  in  the  source  image,  and
           (width,height)  give  the  width  and  height of the region to copy.  (dstX,dstY) control
           where in the destination image to stamp the copy.  You can use the same  image  for  both
           the  source  and the destination, but the source and destination regions must not overlap
           or strange things will happen.

           Example:

                   $myImage = GD::Image->new(100,100);
                   ... various drawing stuff ...
                   $srcImage = GD::Image->new(50,50);
                   ... more drawing stuff ...
                   # copy a 25x25 pixel region from $srcImage to
                   # the rectangle starting at (10,10) in $myImage
                   $myImage->copy($srcImage,10,10,0,0,25,25);

       $image->clone()
           Make a copy of the image and return it  as  a  new  object.   The  new  image  will  look
           identical.   However,  it  may  differ  in  the  size  of  the  color  palette  and other
           nonessential details.

           Example:

                   $myImage = GD::Image->new(100,100);
                   ... various drawing stuff ...
                   $copy = $myImage->clone;

       $image->copyMerge($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY,
                               $srcX,$srcY,$width,$height,$percent)

           This copies the indicated rectangle from the  source  image  to  the  destination  image,
           merging  the  colors  to  the extent specified by percent (an integer between 0 and 100).
           Specifying 100% has the same effect as copy() -- replacing the  destination  pixels  with
           the  source  image.   This  is most useful for highlighting an area by merging in a solid
           rectangle.

           Example:

                   $myImage = GD::Image->new(100,100);
                   ... various drawing stuff ...
                   $redImage = GD::Image->new(50,50);
                   ... more drawing stuff ...
                   # copy a 25x25 pixel region from $srcImage to
                   # the rectangle starting at (10,10) in $myImage, merging 50%
                   $myImage->copyMerge($srcImage,10,10,0,0,25,25,50);

       $image->copyMergeGray($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY,
                               $srcX,$srcY,$width,$height,$percent)

           This is identical to copyMerge() except that it  preserves  the  hue  of  the  source  by
           converting all the pixels of the destination rectangle to grayscale before merging.

       $image->copyResized($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY,
                               $srcX,$srcY,$destW,$destH,$srcW,$srcH)

           This  method is similar to copy() but allows you to choose different sizes for the source
           and destination  rectangles.   The  source  and  destination  rectangle's  are  specified
           independently  by (srcW,srcH) and (destW,destH) respectively.  copyResized() will stretch
           or shrink the image to accommodate the size requirements.

           Example:

                   $myImage = GD::Image->new(100,100);
                   ... various drawing stuff ...
                   $srcImage = GD::Image->new(50,50);
                   ... more drawing stuff ...
                   # copy a 25x25 pixel region from $srcImage to
                   # a larger rectangle starting at (10,10) in $myImage
                   $myImage->copyResized($srcImage,10,10,0,0,50,50,25,25);

       $image->copyResampled($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY,
                               $srcX,$srcY,$destW,$destH,$srcW,$srcH)

           This method is similar to copyResized() but provides "smooth" copying from a large  image
           to  a  smaller one, using a weighted average of the pixels of the source area rather than
           selecting one representative pixel. This method is identical to  copyResized()  when  the
           destination image is a palette image.

       $image->copyRotated($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY,
                               $srcX,$srcY,$width,$height,$angle)

           Like  copyResized()  but  the $angle argument specifies an arbitrary amount to rotate the
           image counter clockwise (in degrees).  In addition, $dstX and $dstY species the center of
           the destination image, and not the top left corner.

       $image->trueColorToPalette([$dither], [$colors])
           This method converts a truecolor image to a palette image. The code for this function was
           originally drawn from the Independent JPEG Group library code, which  is  excellent.  The
           code  has  been modified to preserve as much alpha channel information as possible in the
           resulting palette, in addition to preserving colors as well as possible.  This  does  not
           work  as  well as might be hoped. It is usually best to simply produce a truecolor output
           image instead, which guarantees the highest output quality.   Both  the  dithering  (0/1,
           default=0)  and  maximum  number  of  colors  used  (<=256, default = gdMaxColors) can be
           specified.

       $image = $sourceImage->createPaletteFromTrueColor([$dither], [$colors])
           Creates a new palette image from a truecolor image. Same as  above,  but  returns  a  new
           image.

           Don't  use  these function -- write real truecolor PNGs and JPEGs. The disk space gain of
           conversion to palette is not great (for small images it can be negative) and the  quality
           loss is ugly.

       $error = $image->colorMatch($otherimage)
           Bring  the  palette  colors  in $otherimage to be closer to truecolor $image.  A negative
           return value is a failure.

             -1 image must be True Color
             -2 otherimage must be indexed
             -3 the images are meant to be the same dimensions
             -4 At least 1 color in otherimage must be allocated

           This method is only available with libgd >= 2.1.0

       $image = $sourceImage->neuQuant($maxcolor=256,$samplefactor=5)
           Creates a new palette image from a truecolor image.

           samplefactor   The quantization precision between 1 (highest quality) and 10 (fastest).
           maxcolor  The number of desired palette entries.

           This  is  the  same  as   createPaletteFromTrueColor   with   the   quantization   method
           GD_QUANT_NEUQUANT.  This  does not support dithering.  This method is only available with
           libgd >= 2.1.0

   Image Transformation Commands
       Gd provides these simple image transformations, non-interpolated.

       $image = $sourceImage->copyRotate90()
       $image = $sourceImage->copyRotate180()
       $image = $sourceImage->copyRotate270()
       $image = $sourceImage->copyFlipHorizontal()
       $image = $sourceImage->copyFlipVertical()
       $image = $sourceImage->copyTranspose()
       $image = $sourceImage->copyReverseTranspose()
           These methods can be used to rotate, flip, or transpose an  image.   The  result  of  the
           method is a copy of the image.

       $image->rotate180()
       $image->flipHorizontal()
       $image->flipVertical()
           These methods are similar to the copy* versions, but instead modify the image in place.

   Image Interpolation Methods
       Since libgd 2.1.0 there are better transformation methods, with these interpolation methods:

         GD_BELL                - Bell
         GD_BESSEL              - Bessel
         GD_BILINEAR_FIXED      - fixed point bilinear
         GD_BICUBIC             - Bicubic
         GD_BICUBIC_FIXED       - fixed point bicubic integer
         GD_BLACKMAN            - Blackman
         GD_BOX                 - Box
         GD_BSPLINE             - BSpline
         GD_CATMULLROM          - Catmullrom
         GD_GAUSSIAN            - Gaussian
         GD_GENERALIZED_CUBIC   - Generalized cubic
         GD_HERMITE             - Hermite
         GD_HAMMING             - Hamming
         GD_HANNING             - Hannig
         GD_MITCHELL            - Mitchell
         GD_NEAREST_NEIGHBOUR   - Nearest neighbour interpolation
         GD_POWER               - Power
         GD_QUADRATIC           - Quadratic
         GD_SINC                - Sinc
         GD_TRIANGLE            - Triangle
         GD_WEIGHTED4           - 4 pixels weighted bilinear interpolation
         GD_LINEAR              - bilinear interpolation

       $image->interpolationMethod( [$method] )
           Gets  or sets the interpolation methods for all subsequent interpolations.  See above for
           the valid values.  Only available since libgd 2.2.0

       $image->copyScaleInterpolated( width, height )
           Returns a copy, using interpolation.

       $image->copyRotateInterpolated( angle, bgcolor )
           Returns a copy, using interpolation.

   Image Filter Commands
       Gd also provides some common image filters, they modify the image in place and return TRUE if
       modified or FALSE if not.  Most of them need  libgd  >=  2.1.0,  with  older  versions  those
       functions are undefined.

       $ok = $image->scatter($sub, $plus)
           if $sub and $plus are 0, nothing is changed, TRUE is returned.  if $sub >= $plus, nothing
           is changed, FALSE is returned.  else random pixels are changed.

       $ok = $image->scatterColor($sub, $plus, @colors)
           Similar to scatter, but using the given array of colors, i.e. palette indices.

       $ok = $image->pixelate($blocksize, $mode)
           if  $blocksize  <= 0, nothing is changed, FALSE is returned.  if $blocksize == 1, nothing
           is changed, TRUE is returned.  else the following modes are observed:
             GD_PIXELATE_UPPERLEFT
             GD_PIXELATE_AVERAGE

       $ok = $image->negate()
       $ok = $image->grayscale()
       $ok = $image->brightness($add)
           $add: -255..255

       $ok = $image->contrast($contrast)
           $contrast: a double value. The  contrast  adjustment  value.  Negative  values  increase,
           positive  values  decrease  the contrast. The larger the absolute value, the stronger the
           effect.

       $ok = $image->color($red,$green,$blue,$alpha)
           Change channel values of an image.

             $red   - The value to add to the red channel of all pixels.
             $green - The value to add to the green channel of all pixels.
             $blue  - The value to add to the blue channel of all pixels.
             $alpha - The value to add to the alpha channel of all pixels.

       $ok = $image->selectiveBlur()
       $ok = $image->edgeDetectQuick()
       $ok = $image->gaussianBlur()
       $ok = $image->emboss()
       $ok = $image->meanRemoval()
       $ok = $image->smooth($weight)
       $image = $sourceImage->copyGaussianBlurred($radius, $sigma)
           $radius: int, the blur radius (*not* diameter--range is 2*radius + 1)  a  radius,  not  a
           diameter  so  a radius of 2 (for example) will blur across a region 5 pixels across (2 to
           the center, 1 for the center itself and another 2 to the other edge).

           $sigma: the sigma value or a value <= 0.0 to use the computed  default.   represents  the
           "fatness" of the curve (lower == fatter).

           The result is always truecolor.

   Character and String Drawing
       GD  allows  you  to  draw  characters and strings, either in normal horizontal orientation or
       rotated 90 degrees.  These routines use a GD::Font object, described in  more  detail  below.
       There  are  four  built-in  monospaced  fonts, available in the global variables gdGiantFont,
       gdLargeFont, gdMediumBoldFont, gdSmallFont and gdTinyFont.

       In addition, you can use the load() method to load GD-formatted bitmap font files at runtime.
       You can create these bitmap files from X11 BDF-format files using the bdf2gd.pl script, which
       should have been installed with GD (see the bdf_scripts directory if it wasn't).  The  format
       happens  to  be  identical  to the old-style MSDOS bitmap ".fnt" files, so you can use one of
       those directly if you happen to have one.

       For writing proportional scalable fonts, GD offers the stringFT() method, which allows you to
       load and render any TrueType font on your system.

       $image->string($font,$x,$y,$string,$color)
           This method draws a string starting at position (x,y) in the specified  font  and  color.
           Your  choices  of  fonts  are  gdSmallFont, gdMediumBoldFont, gdTinyFont, gdLargeFont and
           gdGiantFont.

           Example:

                   $myImage->string(gdSmallFont,2,10,"Peachy Keen",$peach);

       $image->stringUp($font,$x,$y,$string,$color)
           Just like the previous call, but draws the text rotated counterclockwise 90 degrees.

       $image->char($font,$x,$y,$char,$color)
       $image->charUp($font,$x,$y,$char,$color)
           These methods draw single characters at position (x,y) in the specified font  and  color.
           They're carry-overs from the C interface, where there is a distinction between characters
           and strings.  Perl is insensible to such subtle distinctions.

       $font = GD::Font->load($fontfilepath)
           This  method  dynamically  loads  a  font  file,  returning  a  font  that you can use in
           subsequent calls to drawing methods.  For example:

              my $courier = GD::Font->load('./courierR12.fnt') or die "Can't load font";
              $image->string($courier,2,10,"Peachy Keen",$peach);

           Font files must be in GD binary format, as described above.

       @bounds = $image->stringFT($fgcolor,$fontname,$ptsize,$angle,$x,$y,$string)
       @bounds = GD::Image->stringFT($fgcolor,$fontname,$ptsize,$angle,$x,$y,$string)
       @bounds = $image->stringFT($fgcolor,$fontname,$ptsize,$angle,$x,$y,$string,\%options)
           This method uses TrueType to draw a scaled, antialiased string using the TrueType  vector
           font of your choice.  It requires that libgd to have been compiled with TrueType support,
           and for the appropriate TrueType font to be installed on your system.

           The arguments are as follows:

             fgcolor    Color index to draw the string in
             fontname   A path to the TrueType (.ttf) font file or a font pattern.
             ptsize     The desired point size (may be fractional)
             angle      The rotation angle, in radians (positive values rotate counter clockwise)
             x,y        X and Y coordinates to start drawing the string
             string     The string itself

           If  successful,  the  method  returns  an eight-element list giving the boundaries of the
           rendered string:

            @bounds[0,1]  Lower left corner (x,y)
            @bounds[2,3]  Lower right corner (x,y)
            @bounds[4,5]  Upper right corner (x,y)
            @bounds[6,7]  Upper left corner (x,y)

           In case of an error (such as the font not  being  available,  or  FT  support  not  being
           available), the method returns an empty list and sets $@ to the error message.

           The  fontname  argument  is  the name of the font, which can be a full pathname to a .ttf
           file, or if not the paths in $ENV{GDFONTPATH} will be searched  or  if  empty  the  libgd
           compiled  DEFAULT_FONTPATH.   The  TrueType  extensions .ttf, .pfa, .pfb or .dfont can be
           omitted.

           The string may contain UTF-8 sequences like: "&#192;"

           You may also call this method from the GD::Image class name, in which case it doesn't  do
           any actual drawing, but returns the bounding box using an inexpensive operation.  You can
           use this to perform layout operations prior to drawing.

           Using  a negative color index will disable antialiasing, as described in the libgd manual
           page at <http://www.boutell.com/gd/manual2.0.9.html#gdImageStringFT>.

           An optional 8th argument allows you to pass a hashref of options to stringFT().   Several
           hashkeys are recognized: linespacing, charmap, resolution, and kerning.

           The value of linespacing is supposed to be a multiple of the character height, so setting
           linespacing  to  2.0  will  result  in  double-spaced lines of text.  However the current
           version of libgd (2.0.12) does not do this.  Instead the linespacing seems to  be  double
           what  is provided in this argument.  So use a spacing of 0.5 to get separation of exactly
           one line of text.  In practice, a spacing of 0.6 seems to  give  nice  results.   Another
           thing to watch out for is that successive lines of text should be separated by the "\r\n"
           characters, not just "\n".

           The  value  of  charmap  is  one  of  "Unicode", "Shift_JIS" and "Big5".  The interaction
           between Perl, Unicode and libgd is not clear to me, and you should experiment  a  bit  if
           you want to use this feature.

           The  value of resolution is the vertical and horizontal resolution, in DPI, in the format
           "hdpi,vdpi".  If present, the resolution will be passed to the Freetype rendering  engine
           as a hint to improve the appearance of the rendered font.

           The value of kerning is a flag.  Set it to false to turn off the default kerning of text.

           Example:

            $gd->stringFT($black,'/c/windows/Fonts/pala.ttf',40,0,20,90,
                         "hi there\r\nbye now",
                         {linespacing=>0.6,
                          charmap  => 'Unicode',
                         });

           If  GD  was  compiled with fontconfig support, and the fontconfig library is available on
           your system, then you can use a font name  pattern  instead  of  a  path.   Patterns  are
           described  in  fontconfig and will look something like this "Times:italic".  For backward
           compatibility, this feature is disabled by  default.   You  must  enable  it  by  calling
           useFontConfig(1) prior to the stringFT() call.

              $image->useFontConfig(1);

           For  backward  compatibility  with  older  versions  of  the  FreeType library, the alias
           stringTTF() is also recognized.

       $hasfontconfig = $image->useFontConfig($flag)
           Call useFontConfig() with a value of 1 in order to enable  support  for  fontconfig  font
           patterns  (see  stringFT).   Regardless  of the value of $flag, this method will return a
           true value if the fontconfig library is present, or false otherwise.

           This method can also be called as a class method of GD::Image;

       $result =
       $image->stringFTCircle($cx,$cy,$radius,$textRadius,$fillPortion,$font,$points,$top,$bottom,$fgcolor)
           This draws text in a circle. Currently (libgd 2.0.33) this function does not work for me,
           but the interface is provided for completeness.  The call signature is somewhat  complex.
           Here is an excerpt from the libgd manual page:

           Draws the text strings specified by top and bottom on the image, curved along the edge of
           a  circle  of radius radius, with its center at cx and cy. top is written clockwise along
           the top; bottom is written counterclockwise along the bottom. textRadius  determines  the
           "height"  of  each  character;  if textRadius is 1/2 of radius, characters extend halfway
           from the edge to the center. fillPortion varies from 0 to 1.0, with  useful  values  from
           about  0.4  to  0.9,  and  determines how much of the 180 degrees of arc assigned to each
           section of text is actually occupied by text; 0.9 looks better than 1.0 which  is  rather
           crowded.  font  is a freetype font; see gdImageStringFT. points is passed to the freetype
           engine and has an effect on hinting; although the size  of  the  text  is  determined  by
           radius,  textRadius,  and  fillPortion,  you  should  pass  a  point  size  that  "hints"
           appropriately -- if you know the text will be large, pass a large point size such as 24.0
           to get the best results. fgcolor can be any color, and may have an  alpha  component,  do
           blending, etc.

           Returns a true value on success.

   Alpha channels
       The  alpha  channel  methods allow you to control the way drawings are processed according to
       the alpha channel. When true color is turned on, colors are encoded as four bytes,  in  which
       the  last  three  bytes  are  the  RGB color values, and the first byte is the alpha channel.
       Therefore  the  hexadecimal  representation  of  a  non  transparent  RGB  color   will   be:
       C=0x00(rr)(bb)(bb)

       When  alpha  blending  is  turned  on, you can use the first byte of the color to control the
       transparency, meaning that a rectangle painted with color 0x00(rr)(bb)(bb)  will  be  opaque,
       and another one painted with 0x7f(rr)(gg)(bb) will be transparent. The Alpha value must be >=
       0 and <= 0x7f.

       $image->alphaBlending($integer)
           The alphaBlending() method allows for two different modes of drawing on truecolor images.
           In  blending  mode,  which  is  on  by default (libgd 2.0.2 and above), the alpha channel
           component of the color supplied to all drawing functions, such as "setPixel",  determines
           how  much  of  the  underlying  color should be allowed to shine through. As a result, GD
           automatically blends the existing color at that point with the drawing color, and  stores
           the result in the image. The resulting pixel is opaque. In non-blending mode, the drawing
           color  is  copied literally with its alpha channel information, replacing the destination
           pixel. Blending mode is not available when drawing on palette images.

           Pass a value of 1 for blending mode, and 0 for non-blending mode.

       $image->saveAlpha($saveAlpha)
           By default, GD (libgd 2.0.2 and above) does  not  attempt  to  save  full  alpha  channel
           information  (as  opposed  to  single-color transparency) when saving PNG images. (PNG is
           currently the only output format supported by gd  which  can  accommodate  alpha  channel
           information.)  This  saves  space in the output file. If you wish to create an image with
           alpha channel information for use with tools that support it, call saveAlpha(1)  to  turn
           on  saving  of  such  information,  and  call alphaBlending(0) to turn off alpha blending
           within the library so that alpha channel information is  actually  stored  in  the  image
           rather than being composited immediately at the time that drawing functions are invoked.

   Miscellaneous Image Methods
       These are various utility methods that are useful in some circumstances.

       $image->interlaced([$flag])
           This  method  sets  or queries the image's interlaced setting.  Interlace produces a cool
           venetian blinds effect on certain viewers.  Provide a true parameter to set the interlace
           attribute.  Provide undef to disable it.  Call the method without parameters to find  out
           the current setting.

       ($width,$height) = $image->getBounds()
           This  method  will return a two-member list containing the width and height of the image.
           You query but not change the size of the image once it's created.

       $width = $image->width
       $height = $image->height
           Return the width and height of the image, respectively.

       $is_truecolor = $image->isTrueColor()
           This method will return a Boolean representing whether the image is true color or not.

       $flag = $image1->compare($image2)
           Compare two images and return a bitmap describing the differences  found,  if  any.   The
           return  value  must  be logically AND'ed with one or more constants in order to determine
           the differences.  The following constants are available:

             GD_CMP_IMAGE             The two images look different
             GD_CMP_NUM_COLORS        The two images have different numbers of colors
             GD_CMP_COLOR             The two images' palettes differ
             GD_CMP_SIZE_X            The two images differ in the horizontal dimension
             GD_CMP_SIZE_Y            The two images differ in the vertical dimension
             GD_CMP_TRANSPARENT       The two images have different transparency
             GD_CMP_BACKGROUND        The two images have different background colors
             GD_CMP_INTERLACE         The two images differ in their interlace
             GD_CMP_TRUECOLOR         The two images are not both true color

           The most important of these is GD_CMP_IMAGE, which will tell you whether the  two  images
           will look different, ignoring differences in the order of colors in the color palette and
           other invisible changes.  The constants are not imported by default, but must be imported
           individually or by importing the :cmp tag.  Example:

             use GD qw(:DEFAULT :cmp);
             # get $image1 from somewhere
             # get $image2 from somewhere
             if ($image1->compare($image2) & GD_CMP_IMAGE) {
                warn "images differ!";
             }

       $image->clip($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2)
       ($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2) = $image->clip
           Set  or get the clipping rectangle.  When the clipping rectangle is set, all drawing will
           be clipped to occur within this rectangle.  The clipping rectangle is initially set to be
           equal to the boundaries of the  whole  image.  Change  it  by  calling  clip()  with  the
           coordinates  of  the  new  clipping rectangle.  Calling clip() without any arguments will
           return the current clipping rectangle.

       $flag = $image->boundsSafe($x,$y)
           The boundsSafe() method will return true if the point indicated by ($x,$y) is within  the
           clipping  rectangle,  or false if it is not.  If the clipping rectangle has not been set,
           then it will return true if the point lies within the image boundaries.

   Grouping Methods
       GD does not support grouping of objects, but GD::SVG does. In that  subclass,  the  following
       methods declare new groups of graphical objects:

       $image->startGroup([$id,\%style])
       $image->endGroup()
       $group = $image->newGroup
           See GD::SVG for information.

Polygons
       A  few primitive polygon creation and manipulation methods are provided.  They aren't part of
       the Gd library, but I thought they might be handy to have around (they're  borrowed  from  my
       qd.pl Quickdraw library).  Also see GD::Polyline.

       $poly = GD::Polygon->new
          Create an empty polygon with no vertices.

                  $poly = GD::Polygon->new;

       $poly->addPt($x,$y)
          Add point (x,y) to the polygon.

                  $poly->addPt(0,0);
                  $poly->addPt(0,50);
                  $poly->addPt(25,25);
                  $myImage->fillPoly($poly,$blue);

       ($x,$y) = $poly->getPt($index)
          Retrieve the point at the specified vertex.

                  ($x,$y) = $poly->getPt(2);

       $poly->setPt($index,$x,$y)
          Change the value of an already existing vertex.  It is an error to set a vertex that isn't
          already defined.

                  $poly->setPt(2,100,100);

       ($x,$y) = $poly->deletePt($index)
          Delete the specified vertex, returning its value.

                  ($x,$y) = $poly->deletePt(1);

       $poly->clear()
          Delete all vertices, restoring the polygon to its initial empty state.

       $poly->toPt($dx,$dy)
          Draw  from current vertex to a new vertex, using relative (dx,dy) coordinates.  If this is
          the first point, act like addPt().

                  $poly->addPt(0,0);
                  $poly->toPt(0,50);
                  $poly->toPt(25,-25);
                  $myImage->fillPoly($poly,$blue);

       $vertex_count = $poly->length
          Return the number of vertices in the polygon.

                  $points = $poly->length;

       @vertices = $poly->vertices
          Return a list of all the vertices in the polygon object.  Each member of  the  list  is  a
          reference to an (x,y) array.

                  @vertices = $poly->vertices;
                  foreach $v (@vertices)
                     print join(",",@$v),"\n";
                  }

       @rect = $poly->bounds
          Return  the  smallest rectangle that completely encloses the polygon.  The return value is
          an array containing the (left,top,right,bottom) of the rectangle.

                  ($left,$top,$right,$bottom) = $poly->bounds;

       $poly->offset($dx,$dy)
          Offset all the vertices of the polygon by the specified horizontal (dh) and vertical  (dy)
          amounts.  Positive numbers move the polygon down and to the right.

                  $poly->offset(10,30);

       $poly->map($srcL,$srcT,$srcR,$srcB,$destL,$dstT,$dstR,$dstB)
          Map  the  polygon  from  a  source  rectangle  to  an equivalent position in a destination
          rectangle, moving it and resizing it as necessary.  See polys.pl for  an  example  of  how
          this    works.     Both   the   source   and   destination   rectangles   are   given   in
          (left,top,right,bottom) coordinates.  For convenience,  you  can  use  the  polygon's  own
          bounding box as the source rectangle.

                  # Make the polygon really tall
                  $poly->map($poly->bounds,0,0,50,200);

       $poly->scale($sx,$sy, [$tx,$ty])
          Scale  each  vertex  of  the  polygon  by the X and Y factors indicated by sx and sy.  For
          example scale(2,2) will make the polygon twice as  large.   For  best  results,  move  the
          center  of  the  polygon  to  position  (0,0)  before  you scale, then move it back to its
          previous position.  Accepts an optional offset vector.

       $poly->transform($sx,$rx,$ry,$sy, $tx,$ty)
          Run each vertex of the polygon through a 2D affine transformation matrix, where sx and  sy
          are the X and Y scaling factors, rx and ry are the X and Y rotation factors, and tx and ty
          are X and Y offsets.  See the Adobe PostScript Reference, page 154 for a full explanation,
          or experiment.

          libgd:

              The transformation matrix is created using 6 numbers:
              matrix[0] == xx
              matrix[1] == yx
              matrix[2] == xy
              matrix[3] == xy (probably meaning yy here)
              matrix[4] == x0
              matrix[5] == y0
              where the transformation of a given point (x,y) is given by:

              x_new = xx * x + xy * y + x0;
              y_new = yx * x + yy * y + y0;

   GD::Polyline
       Please see GD::Polyline for information on creating open polygons and splines.

Font Utilities
       The  libgd  library (used by the Perl GD library) has built-in support for about half a dozen
       fonts, which were converted from public-domain X Windows  fonts.   For  more  fonts,  compile
       libgd with TrueType support and use the stringFT() call.

       If  you  wish  to add more built-in fonts, the directory bdf_scripts contains two contributed
       utilities that may help you convert X-Windows BDF-format fonts into  the  format  that  libgd
       uses  internally.   However  these  scripts  were  written  for  earlier versions of GD which
       included its own mini-gd library.  These scripts will have to be adapted for use with  libgd,
       and the libgd library itself will have to be recompiled and linked!  Please do not contact me
       for help with these scripts: they are unsupported.

       Each  of  these  fonts  is  available  both as an imported global (e.g. gdSmallFont) and as a
       package method (e.g. GD::Font->Small).

       gdSmallFont
       GD::Font->Small
            This is the basic small font, "borrowed" from a well known public domain 6x12 font.

       gdLargeFont
       GD::Font->Large
            This is the basic large font, "borrowed" from a well known public domain 8x16 font.

       gdMediumBoldFont
       GD::Font->MediumBold
            This is a bold font intermediate in size between the small  and  large  fonts,  borrowed
            from a public domain 7x13 font;

       gdTinyFont
       GD::Font->Tiny
            This is a tiny, almost unreadable font, 5x8 pixels wide.

       gdGiantFont
       GD::Font->Giant
            This is a 9x15 bold font converted by Jan Pazdziora from a sans serif X11 font.

       $font->nchars
            This returns the number of characters in the font.

                    print "The large font contains ",gdLargeFont->nchars," characters\n";

       $font->offset
            This returns the ASCII value of the first character in the font

       $width = $font->width
       $height = $font->height
       "height"
            These return the width and height of the font.

              ($w,$h) = (gdLargeFont->width,gdLargeFont->height);

Helper Functions
       GD::LIBGD_VERSION
           Returns a number of the libgd VERSION, like 2.0204, 2.0033 or 2.01.

       GD::VERSION_STRING
           Returns the string of the libgd VERSION, like "2.2.4".

       GD::constant

Obtaining the C-language version of gd
       libgd, the C-language version of gd, can be obtained at URL http://libgd.org/  Directions for
       installing  and  using  it can be found at that site.  Please do not contact me for help with
       libgd.

AUTHOR
       The GD.pm  interface  is  copyright  1995-2010,  Lincoln  D.  Stein.  This  package  and  its
       accompanying  libraries  is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
       terms of the GPL (either version 1, or at your option, any later  version)  or  the  Artistic
       License 2.0.  Refer to LICENSE for the full license text.  package for details.

       The latest versions of GD.pm are available at

         https://github.com/lstein/Perl-GD

SEE ALSO
       GD::Polyline, GD::SVG, GD::Simple, Image::Magick

perl v5.38.2                                 2026-06-16                                      GD(3pm)
GD □✕
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION Object Constructors: Creating Images
$image = GD::Image->new([$width,$height],[$truecolor]) $image = GD::Image->new($filename) $image = GD::Image->new($data) $image = GD::Image->trueColor([0,1]) $image = GD::Image->newPalette([$width,$height]) $image = GD::Image->newTrueColor([$width,$height]) $image = GD::Image->newFromPng($file, [$truecolor]) $image = GD::Image->newFromPngData($data, [$truecolor]) $image = GD::Image->newFromJpeg($file, [$truecolor]) $image = GD::Image->newFromJpegData($data, [$truecolor]) $image = GD::Image->newFromGif($file, [$truecolor]) $image = GD::Image->newFromGifData($data) $image = GD::Image->newFromXbm($file, [$truecolor]) $image = GD::Image->newFromWBMP($file) $image = GD::Image->newFromBmp($file) $image = GD::Image->newFromGd($file) $image = GD::Image->newFromGdData($data) $image = GD::Image->newFromGd2($file) $image = GD::Image->newFromGd2Data($data) $image = GD::Image->newFromGd2Part($file,srcX,srcY,width,height) $image = GD::Image->newFromXpm($filename) $bool = GD::supportsFileType($filename, $is_writing) Image Data Output Methods $pngdata = $image->png([$compression_level]) $gifdata = $image->gifanimbegin([$GlobalCM [, $Loops]]) $gifdata = $image->gifanimadd([$LocalCM [, $LeftOfs [, $TopOfs [, $Delay [, $Disposal [, $previm]]]]]]) $gifdata = $image->gifanimend() $jpegdata = $image->jpeg([$quality]) $gddata = $image->gd $gd2data = $image->gd2 $bmpdata = $image->bmp([$compression]) $wbmpdata = $image->wbmp([$foreground]) $tiffdata = $image->tiff() $webpdata = $image->webp([$quality]) $webpdata = $image->heif([$quality]) $webpdata = $image->avif([$quality,$speed]) $success = $image->_file($filename) Color Control $index = $image->colorAllocate(red,green,blue) $index = $image->colorAllocateAlpha(reg,green,blue,alpha) $image->colorDeallocate(colorIndex) $index = $image->colorClosest(red,green,blue) $index = $image->colorClosestAlpha(red,green,blue,alpha) $index = $image->colorClosestHWB(red,green,blue) $index = $image->colorExact(red,green,blue) $index = $image->colorExactAlpha(red,green,blue,alpha) $index = $image->colorResolve(red,green,blue) $index = $image->colorResolveAlpha(red,green,blue,alpha) ($red,$green,$blue) = $image->rgb($index) ($alpha) = $image->alpha($index) $image->transparent($colorIndex) Special Colors $image->setBrush($image) $image->setThickness($thickness) $image->setStyle(@colors) gdTiled gdStyled gdAntiAliased $image->setAntiAliased($color) $image->setAntiAliasedDontBlend($color,[$flag]) Drawing Commands $image->setPixel($x,$y,$color) $image->line($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2,$color) $image->dashedLine($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2,$color) $image->rectangle($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2,$color) $image->openPolygon($polygon,$color) $image->unclosedPolygon($polygon,$color) $image->filledPolygon($poly,$color) $image->ellipse($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$color) $image->filledEllipse($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$color) $image->arc($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$start,$end,$color) $image->filledArc($cx,$cy,$width,$height,$start,$end,$color [,$arc_style]) $image->fill($x,$y,$color) $image->fillToBorder($x,$y,$bordercolor,$color) Image Copying Commands $image->copy($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY,$srcX,$srcY,$width,$height) $image->clone() $image->copyMerge($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY, $image->copyMergeGray($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY, $image->copyResized($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY, $image->copyResampled($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY, $image->copyRotated($sourceImage,$dstX,$dstY, $image->trueColorToPalette([$dither], [$colors]) $image = $sourceImage->createPaletteFromTrueColor([$dither], [$colors]) $error = $image->colorMatch($otherimage) $image = $sourceImage->neuQuant($maxcolor=256,$samplefactor=5) Image Transformation Commands $image = $sourceImage->copyRotate90() $image = $sourceImage->copyRotate180() $image = $sourceImage->copyRotate270() $image = $sourceImage->copyFlipHorizontal() $image = $sourceImage->copyFlipVertical() $image = $sourceImage->copyTranspose() $image = $sourceImage->copyReverseTranspose() $image->rotate180() $image->flipHorizontal() $image->flipVertical() Image Interpolation Methods $image->interpolationMethod( [$method] ) $image->copyScaleInterpolated( width, height ) $image->copyRotateInterpolated( angle, bgcolor ) Image Filter Commands $ok = $image->scatter($sub, $plus) $ok = $image->scatterColor($sub, $plus, @colors) $ok = $image->pixelate($blocksize, $mode) $ok = $image->negate() $ok = $image->grayscale() $ok = $image->brightness($add) $ok = $image->contrast($contrast) $ok = $image->color($red,$green,$blue,$alpha) $ok = $image->selectiveBlur() $ok = $image->edgeDetectQuick() $ok = $image->gaussianBlur() $ok = $image->emboss() $ok = $image->meanRemoval() $ok = $image->smooth($weight) $image = $sourceImage->copyGaussianBlurred($radius, $sigma) Character and String Drawing $image->string($font,$x,$y,$string,$color) $image->stringUp($font,$x,$y,$string,$color) $image->char($font,$x,$y,$char,$color) $image->charUp($font,$x,$y,$char,$color) @bounds = $image->stringFT($fgcolor,$fontname,$ptsize,$angle,$x,$y,$string) @bounds = GD::Image->stringFT($fgcolor,$fontname,$ptsize,$angle,$x,$y,$string) @bounds = $image->stringFT($fgcolor,$fontname,$ptsize,$angle,$x,$y,$string,\%options) $hasfontconfig = $image->useFontConfig($flag) $result = $image->stringFTCircle($cx,$cy,$radius,$textRadius,$fillPortion,$font,$points,$top,$bottom,$fgcolor) Alpha channels $image->alphaBlending($integer) $image->saveAlpha($saveAlpha) Miscellaneous Image Methods $image->interlaced([$flag]) ($width,$height) = $image->getBounds() $width = $image->width $height = $image->height $is_truecolor = $image->isTrueColor() $flag = $image1->compare($image2) $image->clip($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2) ($x1,$y1,$x2,$y2) = $image->clip $flag = $image->boundsSafe($x,$y) Grouping Methods
Polygons
$poly = GD::Polygon->new $poly->addPt($x,$y) ($x,$y) = $poly->getPt($index) $poly->setPt($index,$x,$y) ($x,$y) = $poly->deletePt($index) $poly->clear() $poly->toPt($dx,$dy) $vertex_count = $poly->length @vertices = $poly->vertices @rect = $poly->bounds $poly->offset($dx,$dy) $poly->map($srcL,$srcT,$srcR,$srcB,$destL,$dstT,$dstR,$dstB) $poly->scale($sx,$sy, [$tx,$ty]) $poly->transform($sx,$rx,$ry,$sy, $tx,$ty)
Font Utilities
gdSmallFont gdLargeFont gdMediumBoldFont gdTinyFont gdGiantFont $font->nchars $font->offset $width = $font->width $height = $font->height
Helper Functions Obtaining the C-language version of gd AUTHOR SEE ALSO

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