Text on PNG path issues....

[Static]

The code below works...

if ($context['allow_calendar']) {
    
           $font = 'arial.ttf';      
           $text = date("d");
           $dow = date("l");
           $im = ImageCreateFromPNG('../forums/Themes/BlackBox/images/mainlinks_f/calendar.png');

           $black = ImageColorAllocate($im,50,50,50);
           $white = ImageColorAllocate($im,255,255,255);
           $lft = (strlen($text)==2) ? 8 : 16;
           $fSize = 7;
           switch (strlen($dow)) {
                   Case 6:
                       $l2 = 12;
                       break;    
                   Case 7:
                       $l2 = 10;
                       break;
                   Case 8:
                       $l2 = 7;
                       break;
                   Case 9:
                       $l2 = 4;
                       $fSize=6.5;
                       break;                   
          }
             imagettftext($im, 26, 0, $lft, 43, $black, $font, $text);
             imagettftext($im, $fSize, 0, $l2, 10, $white, $font, $dow);
           ImagePNG($im,'../forums/Themes/BlackBox/images/mainlinks_f/calendar1.png');
             imagedestroy($im);
                
        echo '<td class="linktd"><a href="index.php?action=calendar" title="CALENDAR"><img src="../forums/Themes/BlackBox/images/mainlinks_f/calendar1.png" border=0></a></td>';

} 

if I change the paths in these:

$im = ImageCreateFromPNG('../forums/Themes/BlackBox/images/mainlinks_f/calendar.png');
ImagePNG($im,'../forums/Themes/BlackBox/images/mainlinks_f/calendar1.png'); 

to

$im = ImageCreateFromPNG($settings['theme_url'] . '/images/mainlinks_f/calendar.png');
ImagePNG($im,$settings['theme_url'] . '/images/mainlinks_f/calendar1.png'); 

it no longer works?
$settings['theme_url'] is set yes. cause I can echo it and the path is correct... it doesnt want to load or write the image.