What are common issues with image manipulation functions like imagecopymerge in PHP?

Common issues with image manipulation functions like imagecopymerge in PHP include incorrect positioning of the merged image, transparency issues, and poor image quality. To solve these issues, make sure to properly calculate the positioning of the merged image, handle transparency settings correctly, and use appropriate image compression techniques.

// Example of using imagecopymerge with correct positioning and transparency handling
$baseImage = imagecreatefromjpeg('base.jpg');
$overlayImage = imagecreatefrompng('overlay.png');

// Get the dimensions of the overlay image
$overlayWidth = imagesx($overlayImage);
$overlayHeight = imagesy($overlayImage);

// Calculate the position to merge the overlay image onto the base image
$posX = 10;
$posY = 10;

// Merge the overlay image onto the base image with transparency
imagecopymerge($baseImage, $overlayImage, $posX, $posY, 0, 0, $overlayWidth, $overlayHeight, 50);

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

// Free up memory
imagedestroy($baseImage);
imagedestroy($overlayImage);