I'd like to note something.
I've used GD and ImageMagick with text before, and had some troubles. The fonts I would choose would not show up. Instead, some random looking font would render.

This is because these modules can use to be told exactly what you're talking about- as in font- as in the absolute path to the font file.

Look at GD usage in regards to text..
If you're having trouble getting the font you want- to render- try specifying as argument, instead of font 'name', the font path.

You can search for the font you want via.. for example..
find / -type f -iname "*arial*"

update

Actually... you have to load the font.. as...

my $font = GD::Font->load($font_path) or die('cant load font');

$image->string($font,50,30,$content,$red);

exit;
[download]

In my script I get an error 'panic: malloc at test.pl line 14.' When I try to load the font..

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use Cwd;
use Carp;
use GD;

my $font_arg ='/home/leo/misc/fonts/Suicide.ttf';
#/usr/share/fonts/ttf/unvr57w.ttf';
my $jpeg_quality=90;
my $content = `date`;
my $out = sprintf "/tmp/%s.jpg", time;
-f $font_arg or die; # just in case

my $font = GD::Font->load($font_arg) or die('cant load font'); # error
+ here



# create a new image
my $image = new GD::Image(700,350);

my $red = $image->colorAllocate(255,0,0);      

$image->string($font,50,30,$content,$red); # not making it to this lin
+e

open(DATEI ,'>', $out) || die "could not write image: +$!";
binmode DATEI;
print DATEI ($image->jpeg($jpeg_quality));
close(DATEI);

warn "saved $out\n";

exit;
[download]

I checked the file too..

[leo@mescaline ~]$ file /home/leo/misc/fonts/Suicide.ttf
/home/leo/misc/fonts/Suicide.ttf: TrueType font data
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1. Ok.. this works for me:

   #!/usr/bin/perl
   use strict;
   use Cwd;
   use Carp;
   use GD;
   
   my $jpeg_quality=90;
   my $content = `date`;
   my $out = sprintf "/tmp/out.jpg", time;
   
   my $image1 = new GD::Image(200,250);
   my $red = $image1->colorAllocate(255,0,0);      
   my $white = $image1->colorAllocate(255,255,255);      
   
   $image1->fill(0,0,$white);
   
   $image1->string(gdSmallFont,2,2,$content,$red);
   
   open(DATEI ,'>', $out) || die "could not write image: +$!";
   binmode DATEI;
   print DATEI ($image1->jpeg($jpeg_quality));
   close(DATEI);
   
   warn "saved $out\n";
   [download]

2. And this freaks out:

   #!/usr/bin/perl
   use strict;
   use Cwd;
   use Carp;
   use GD;
   
   
   
   my $font_arg ='/home/leo/misc/fonts/Suicide.ttf';
   my $jpeg_quality=90;
   my $content = `date`;
   my $out = sprintf "/tmp/out.jpg", time;
   -f $font_arg or die;
   
   my $font = GD::Font->load($font_arg) or die('cant load font'); # line 
   +15
   
   my $image1 = new GD::Image(200,250);
   
   my $red = $image1->colorAllocate(255,0,0);      
   my $white = $image1->colorAllocate(255,255,255);      
   
   $image1->fill(0,0,$white); # background
   
   $image1->string($font,2,2,$content,$red);
   
   open(DATEI ,'>', $out) || die "could not write image: +$!";
   binmode DATEI;
   print DATEI ($image1->jpeg($jpeg_quality));
   close(DATEI);
   warn "saved $out\n";
   [download]

   Output:

   [leo@mescaline ~]$ perl test2.pl
   panic: malloc at test2.pl line 15.
   [download]

Anyone? Help?

Reading leocharre's suggestion, you'll find that GD::Image::stringFT() can be used for True Type fonts.