title: Merge two images and serve as base64?
body: <p>Is it possible to merge two images as one AND serve them as a base64? </p>
  
  <p>I am guessing no as there isn't a genuine real image but figured I would ask in case I am misunderstanding something. </p>
  
  <p>For example I have the following - img.php file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$dest = imagecreatefrompng('myimg.png');
  $src = imagecreatefrompng('myimg1.png');
  imagealphablending($dest, false);
  imagesavealpha($dest, true);
  imagecopymerge($dest, $src, 10, 9, 0, 0, 181, 180, 100);
  header('Content-Type: image/png');
  imagepng($dest);
  imagedestroy($dest);
  imagedestroy($src);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is it possible at all to then </p>
  
  <pre><code>base64_encode(file_get_contents(img.php)))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Obviously i have attempted and its not working, so I am curious if I am just doing it wrong, or if its just not possible. </p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATING QUESTION</strong></p>
  
  <p>So apparently it should be working but it doesn't seem to work for me. </p>
  
  <p>Here is the very basic code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$abs_path = '/home/user/web_dir/path/to/img.php';
  $rel_path = '/path/to/img.php';
  $data = file_get_contents($abs_path);
  echo $data; // should return crazy characters on the screen
  echo '&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src="'.$rel_path.'"&gt;'; // should return the image as an image
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The image returns perfectly, the $data returns nothing. Both paths are correct. No errors are returned.</p>
  
  <p>If I run a </p>
  
  <pre><code>$test = base64_encode($data);
  echo $test;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>the base64 produced, does not return a valid image. just an empty container. </p>