I'm opting for ImageMagick since GD lacks support for color profiles. I found this module and it worked well until I need to use custom image effects. The downside of using external binary is you can't access image data. Some image effects, such as Smart Crop, need to access image data to work.
I made a sandbox project which uses Imagick php extension as a backend by copying and adapting modules/system/image.gd.inc. Would you like to take a look at it? Thanks you in advance.
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