Resizing a jpeg stored in a database

Hi, I have a question that I hope you can answer. So far I have accomplished the following: Storing a jpeg in a MySQL database Retrieving the jpeg from the database Sending the jpeg to a browser and displaying it correctly Creating dynamic PNG images in PHP Resizing the dynamic PNG image in PHP Now I need to combine the two processes. I am storing jpegs in a database, and I want to write a script that can serve the image as either a thumbnail view or a full view. How exactly would I go about this? I was hoping I could just load the image from the database and then insert it into an object I created with "imagecreate()". However I don't seem to be able to find any functions that will allow me to do that. I noticed there were functions to import images from files or URL's. Does this mean that I will first have to save the image as a file on the hard drive and THEN import it into the image object? Thanks in advance for your help. Donald Tyler