GD Library: Thumbnails not sharp - what am I doing wrong?

cheshil

Hi there,

I have never really used GD library before but I have now used it on a test site I am playing around with but I have not been too impressed with the quality of the resized thumbnails. Is it normal for thumbnails to be a little unfocused?

Here is my test url for you to see yourself.

http://www.bedingfield.biz/gallery/index.php?action=&page=1

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Weedpacket

I don't really see what you mean; if anything they're too sharp. It may be to do with the fact that you're relying on the browser to reduce their size (i.e., the image is actually larger than the dimensions you've specified). The first one, for example (lr_b.jpg) is 300x225, but you're sqeezing it into a 150x109 box. Perhaps different browsers force-scale images differently.

On a somewhat different note, extreme size reduction can lose definition; if you've got PHP5 you might want to play with imagefilter(). Sometimes images are reduced in stages, with a light sharpening filter waved over it between each stage. It really requires a human eye to be involved for this to work.

cheshil

Sorry, you are right they are too sharp.

Hmmm GD library should be resizing my images:

		<?
			//img_id,cate_id,img_name,url_image
			while(list($img_id,$cate_id,$img_name,$url_image,$thumb_w,$thumb_h)=$stmt->getrow())
			{
				$wimage = "../images/gallery/".$url_image; 
				$realsize = ResizeImage($wimage,150,146);
		?>

So are you saying that GD Library only resizes the larger image and does not create a thunbnail of a smaller size?

If that is the case thats not so good as when we upload real images anyone would be able to get a larger version free.

Are there any other methods?