This is essentially a fork of Alex Ilhan's Email Countdown repository which he writes about here, with a few key differences:

• Built for use with an API, instead of time
  • Depends on an array of 24 different numbers, value comes by passing the current hour as the key
  • It counts the difference between two numbers.
• Outputs a gif to the attached folder instead of generating one in browser
• Different style text (white and outlined)

First, the whole things runs off of php so be sure to run things through a local server, like MAMP. Also, you'll want to replace background-3.png with your desired background image. Below are a few lines you'll want to look into before getting started.

• 61: Font file - upload your own font file to be used here depending on which font you want
• 56-63: Font positioning and style - created centered white outlined text, modify depending on image preferences
• 39-42: Simply a sample array of data, modify as necessary

If using an API:

• 22-34: Uncomment and modify url based on API
• 38-42: uncomment line 38 and commment out sample data in 39-42

For any additiaonl info, please reference the Email Coundown repo mentioned above, or Alex's writeup, also listed above.

I am by no means a php expert, so I'm 100% positive, there's a better way to do this, this is what got the job done for me.