ZapMachine/README.md

# ZapMachine

Revival of the old ZapMachine. A collage machine that merges random images layer by layer remaining about 50% of the original images


## ApFab - Zap Machine V0.9.0                   

🄯 2009 - 2026 Fabian de Boer, Vincent Bruijne
www.apfab.com

Zap stands for 'Zapped Artificial Picture', a collage made from Internet images. A Zap translates a set of words or a text into an image which reflects the visual representation of the words on the Internet.

This web application, Zap Machine, needs a number of words as input. It then takes the most relevant image that search engine Brave comes up with.  After having collected all images the Zap Machine creates a given number of different collages from those images.


## installation   

First you need to run a server with PHP. The application is developed and tested on Linux and macOS; Windows is not recommended.

ApFab Zap Machine needs some PHP extensions:
- JSON (default installed)
- CUrl (default installed)
- Imagick (Image Magick image processing Class)

You need to acquire the following API key:

1. **Brave Search API Key** - https://api.search.brave.com/

Then set up your configuration:

```bash
# Create your local config from the template
cp conf/conf.local.php.dist conf/conf.local.php
# Edit it with your real keys
nano conf/conf.local.php
```

`conf/conf.local.php` is gitignored so your secrets stay safe. You can also set the `BRAVE_API_KEY` environment variable as an alternative.

Adjust permission (chmod 777) for 'sessions' folder, then run index.php in the www/ directory, fill in the form and voila.

# yet to come
- Logfile also generated in imgProcess Class (0.9.2)
- Number and camera filename (virgin images) input (0.9.3)
- Proper stop meganism (0.9.1)
- better error handling: dead links give dynamicly generated image thats allso used in collage (0.9.3)
- visualisation of logfile, so viewers can see what is happening (0.9.1)
- replacing all 'random' image processing parameters (0.7)