watermarking...

flatpooks

hi guys

does watermarking images on the fly (ie, overlaying one image on another) use a lot of processor time on the server opposed to storing another copy with the watermark when its uploaded thru the cms?

the cms version gets icky in terms of management but if it saves a lot of time i guess its the way to go for high traffic sites no?

thnx

Weedpacket

Originally posted by flatpooks
hi guys

does watermarking images on the fly (ie, overlaying one image on another) use a lot of processor time on the server opposed to storing another copy with the watermark when its uploaded thru the cms?

Obviously, yes; in the first case you're repeatedly doing image processing and in the other you're not.

Shrike

Comparatively yes, overall no 😉

Why not create the images with PHP then store them somewhere for later use.

flatpooks

thats what i was going to do

its only a few images that need the watermarking and they change time to time ... like "latest blah blah" and those need a "new" stripe across them ... i just wondered if it would be too much processor time to do them on the fly

webdes03

I personally wouldn't think it'd take too much resources to do it on the fly. Your users would have a slightly faster loading time if the images were created before hand, but if they are going to change from frequently, I personally think it'd make more sense to take a minute loss in loading time and just do it on the fly.

Weedpacket

Nah; the expense of repeatedly doing them on the fly (with each view) is a lot higher than doing them once on upload: PHP has to reserve the memory, load the images into them, do all the GD_Lib stuff for watermarking, and emit the results before releasing that memory. For every such image in every such view. Beyond a trivial load that will become noticeable.