How can the imagecopymerge function in PHP be used effectively to overlay PNG images with transparency on JPG images?

To overlay PNG images with transparency on JPG images in PHP, you can use the imagecopymerge function. This function allows you to merge two images together while preserving the transparency of the PNG image. You can specify the coordinates where you want the PNG image to be placed on the JPG image, as well as the transparency level.

// Load the JPG image
$jpg_image = imagecreatefromjpeg('background.jpg');

// Load the PNG image with transparency
$png_image = imagecreatefrompng('overlay.png');

// Get the dimensions of the PNG image
list($png_width, $png_height) = getimagesize('overlay.png');

// Set the coordinates for placing the PNG image on the JPG image
$dest_x = 50;
$dest_y = 50;

// Merge the PNG image onto the JPG image with transparency
imagecopymerge($jpg_image, $png_image, $dest_x, $dest_y, 0, 0, $png_width, $png_height, 50);

// Output the merged image
header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');
imagejpeg($jpg_image);

// Free up memory
imagedestroy($jpg_image);
imagedestroy($png_image);