When you look at today’s magazines, all the beautiful models are photoshopped like there wasn’t a new day tomorrow. As long as the result is not a freaky alien-like caricature we all like the perfect skin, hot curves and so on…

I recently saw a before-after photo that demonstrated all the reparations and modifications on a bikini model…

I thought Hey! It’s exactly what i am doing to the characters of my erotic story Luisa & The Elfish Spell! Most of the hot pics are intensively retouched and photoshopped.

So i created a before-after picture with one of my latest creations, the sexy contest winner Zelda…

Virtual models also need to be retouched!

When you make a photo of your avatar the result is often not too pretty. In case you use SimPose to make custom scenes with your Sims the result is never satisfying. Those photos need retouching like they were “real”.

While the retouching technically isn’t very complicated to do, it’s still a very time intense task. Look at my before-after pic (click on this thumbnail):

Retouching techniques in detail!

You don’t need to have an up-to-date and state-of-the-art editor like Photoshop. I’m sure other editors also have the perfect tools and can do most of the required things as well.

Here’s more about the tools i use for different retouching tasks:

1. For Hair Reparation i use Brushes, Stamps and even custom-made hair patterns
2. Skin smoothing can be done with the blur tool. Larger areas with the Gaussian Blur Filter
3. Skimming is more complicated. I prefer to redraw such areas with the Pen Tool, make selection and fill it with the Smudge Tool

I know this isn’t very detailed information but i hope it gives you the idea. After all, you will find many retouching tutorials on the web – you can use the same methods on your avatar ;)

Don’t forget to check out the complete gallery of the virtual model shown here, Zelda Full Nude on dreamsofluisa.com

I’ve just realized how much people love sun beams. The warm ray of light makes us smile and say “Jesus, how wonderful!”

But it’s pretty hard to shoot photos in nature that feature those special beaming atmosphere. The same counts for virtual worlds where it is technically tricky to add stunning lighting effects.

But luckily we can add self-made sun beams to our photos and virtual pictures manually. I will give you the right tools in this post…

6 Photoshop Brushes and a Template File!

It’s pretty easy to create a nice light beam in Photoshop or appropriate applications. You don’t need special knowlegde, plugins or something like that…

Just make a selection, cut out some chaotic pieces, add  the Render/Fibers filter and large motion blur, transform the result into the shape you need. Make it more or less transparent and add layer effects of your choice.

Or better don’t worry about that… simply use my template file and brush set to create sun beams in no time.

Sun Beams Collection - all together

The template contains 6 different beams as well as many single developing phases. So you can always look back at how a beam reached his final look, see which layer effects are in use and so on.

The layers contain all sub stages - great to learn and test

This way you can also take the basic beams and create your own shapes!

Here’s how the final rays look on a black background:

The same beams on a black background

The download package also includes a brush set with these 6 final beam shapes.

It’s free and you can do what you want with the template and brushes, just do it ;-)

Credits:

The background of the demo picture was taken in the “Patron Wilds” in Second Life, a place really worth a visit.

A bigger version of the demo pic can be seen here.

Download:

File is zipped, about 12MB and free.

I did it. I bought a new PC and jumped over from XP to 7. Windows, you know. Ultimate, 64bit.

It’s a bit to early to tell you if Windows 7 is really that great like everybody says. It’s no crap, that’s for sure…

After only a few days of working with Windows 7 Ultimate i would say it’s nice. Well, just nice. If you are still lucky and happy on XP and you got no plans to buy a new PC then forget about 7 and save the money.

For me, moving from XP to 7 didn’t feel very comfortable. So here are 10 things that made me feel a bit more like home in Windows 7…

At first you should install Windows 7, of course, and set it up properly, including internet access, activation and so on… But what comes next?

1. Install Firefox

No joke. I only started the built-in Internet Explorer one time: To surf to mozilla.org and get Firefox. I imported the bookmarks from the old installation and immediately knew that it was good.

2. Anti Virus

It’s obvious that you should install an Anti Virus program immediately. The internet is evil. I use Avira Anti Virus, which is not only free (for private users), but also extremely slim and super powerful.

3. Drivers

Yes, Win7 can detect your mouse, screen, keyboard… Even Windows 95 could do that, so don’t get hysteric. Don’t expect wonders. I needed to search the web for the correct monitor driver and still have an missing unit in the system manager, though the whole computer seems to work fine. Except the sound. There’s still no sound… I’m sure this is no big problem but after all i need to search for drivers – even on Windows 7.

4. First Steps Tutorials

The Windows 7 files and folders structure can be confusing when you’re coming from XP. I’ve often heard that Win7 is so much “easier” to handle than XP. What a nonsense! You can’t open up individual taskbars on your desktop, the new features here and there are not soooo helpful and i still can get my keyboard shortcuts to work. I always open the most required programs via shortcuts but it seems to be kind of tricky on Win7.

So it’s a good idea to get a quick overview and watch some instructional videos to learn what Win7 is all about and how things were meant to be. Links can be found in the Win7-Startmenu.

5. Flash and other Plug-ins

Before you can watch video tutorials you need to install the current Flash Player. The latest version of Flash Player is a must-be and not already on board. BTW, it’s also the right moment to install your most be-loved Firefox add-ons and related stuff.

6. Shut down Messages

Yet another rumor. I know Vista good enough to tell you that the worst Windows sickness, warning messages, still isn’t cured in Windows 7. Check out the System Manager to find all those shitty little reminders and switch them off. Open every options window you can find and see if there’s anything else you can shut down. Windows 7 is still too loud.

7. Install your Software

The most exciting (and most expensive) question is: Will my software work on the new computer? Microsoft says yes. I say well, sort of.

I can confirm that most of my old software runs on the new Windows 7/64bit system. For example, there’s no problem with Photoshop CS4 on this side, and older games like The Sims 2 or software like Milkshape 3D or the Second Life Viewer on the other side.

But when you are doing non-mainstream things, like audio-recording in your home studio, better pay attention. I’m currently experiencing time-intense problems with my old – and very important – audio plug-ins. I’m thinking about keeping my old pc as the main recording station. Just never change a running system.

8. Start networking – or not

Now it’s time to connect your new Windows 7 to your nice little home network. Oops, forget about it till you have installed Win7 on all other home computers as well. Win7 is not willing and able to connect with XP.

After the first shock about this fact comes the second: How will you be able to transfer tons of Gigabytes from your old to the new PC?

9. Use “Easy Transfer”

Here comes the best Windows 7 feature i spotted so far (i don’t know if it originally was in Vista). With “EasyTransfer” you can transfer your data easily, even from the old XP machine. I recommend to connect both computers to the internet router and use an USB-Stick to install “EasyTransfer” on the XP machine. There are other methods possible. The whole procedure is self-explaining and works perfectly well.

You can transfer huge loads of data at once or only little pieces one after another. On a fresh installation you can find “Easy Transfer” in the Start Menu – or just type “Easy Transfer” into the search field.

10. Create libraries and start working

Libraries are a powerful way to sort and manage your most important works. They enable you to access files without clicking through numerous subfolders. Anyway, start working as usual and try to arrange yourself with the Windows 7 “way of thinking”.

And if Windows 7 is getting on your nerves, stand up, open the window, have a deep breath and imagine the good old times when computers didn’t exist.

Resume

Like i wrote in the introduction Windows  7 is a nice OS. I can confirm that it is quick and stable, it is relatively easy to handle and has got some cool features. But don’t blind-trust Microsoft’s advertisements and some hysterical reviews.

When you love to walk aside from the mainstreet and enjoy swimming against the stream sometimes, Windows 7 isn’t better than any other Operational System:

If you keep your old XP up-to-date it will run stable enough. If you can live without some stylish window features, the XP desktop will still be a beautiful place for you. And you still can speed up XP by removing all that never-used software and defragging the Hard Disk.

Only if you buy a new computer it’s probably the right moment for a change.

Whatever you do, i hope my list of 10 first things you can do after jumping from XP to Windows 7 will be helpful.

With only a browser it is possible to delete the Admin’s password and let him stand outside his own site, due to a vulnerability in WordPress’ up-to-date version 2.8.3.

When you’re unable to login to your own site, it can get kind of stressful. Hey, it just happened to me today, isn’t that a remarkable coincidence?

Luckily i already read about the problem, so if you can’t login to your WordPress 2.8.3 admin area, don’t worry too much:

1. The hacker cannot get into the admin area by using this particular vulnerability
2. The WordPress Devs already resolved the problem (i hope so)

Here’s what you can do to reset your admin password and avoid more damage…

How to act after hack attack!

Have you been logged out from the admin area? Have you received one or more emails with new generated passwords? Can’t you login with your original password anymore?

Go to the site village-idiot.org and download the “Emergency Password Reset Script”. Follow the instructions:

1. Unzip the file
2. Upload “emergency.php” to your WordPress root directory on the server
3. Call the address in your browser (http://yourpage.com/emergency.php)
4. Enter your original Username and a new password, click “Update Options”
5. Delete “emergency.php” from your server immediately!

Now you can log in with that new password. It’s important that you’ve entered your original Username to that form on emergency.php. Don’t take a new Username.

How to avoid further attacks!

Okay, i’ve decided to blind trust the WordPress Devs. They say they found a solution. If that’s true it’s pretty simple to kill the vulnerability.

1. Download the file “wp-login.php” from your WordPress
2. Make a back up just in case you destroy something
3. Open wp-login.php with an editor and go to line 190
4. Overwrite the code:

if ( empty( $key ) )

with

if ( empty( $key ) || is_array( $key ) )

Save, upload and overwrite the old wp-login.php and you’re done.

For more detailed information about this please visit the following sites:

WordPress Changeset 11798

[Full-disclosure] WordPress <=2.8.3 Remote admin reset password by Laurent Gaffie

Resetting Your Password (codex.wordpress.org)