Not having tried it but just looking at the examples in the GD.pm docs, they would seem to indicate setting $im equal to either (from your first example) GD::Image->newFromJpegData("d:\test\found.b64") or GD::Image->newFromJpegData(\*FILE).

Can you read a base-64 encoded JPEG, or do you have to unencode it first? (Just wondering aloud.)

Any more experienced monks have ideas/experience with this?

Hope this helps.

Update: In response to Steve_p 's comment in Re: newFromJpegData error about not being able to find the GD::Image->newFromJpegData() function, I looked back at the documentation for it at http://search.cpan.org/doc/LDS/GD-1.36/GD.pm , and found, in the section entitled "Object Constructors : Creating Images":

$image = GD::Image->newFromJpeg($file)
$image = GD::Image->newFromJpegData($data)
    These methods will create an image from a JPEG file. 
They work just like newFromPng() and newFromPngData(), and 
will accept the same filehandle and pathname arguments.

    Bear in mind that JPEG is a 24-bit format, while GD is 
8-bit. This means that photographic images will become 
posterized.

Thus being said, I find myself in error with the second assignment I offered above, which should read GD::Image->newFromJpeg(\*FILE) rather than my reference to GD::Image->newFromJpegData(). My appologies for any confusion I may have added.