Knoll Light Factory by Digital Anarchy.Orginally created by Photoshop’s co-creator, John Knoll, Light Factory was created to produce the photon torpedo effect for the Star Trek movies.

What do you think Light Factory (Version 3.0) ,do that Photoshop’s built-in lighting effects not able to do?According to Jim Tierney, Digital Anarchy’s president:

The lights that can be created and simulated go far beyond the simple lens flare that is built into Photoshop. Photoshop’s Lens Flare has three preset looks and the only thing that you can change is the position, size, and brightness. Knoll Light Factory provides over a 100 different light and flare presets. Each light/flare is created using combinations of the 17 different element types that occur when a light is photographed. The Light elements can be combined in any way, with lots of copies of only couple elements, one instance of each element, or any combination in between. Each element has five to ten different adjustable parameters, providing a practically infinite number of configurations and combinations.

Image credit:Macworld

Light Factory offers a series of options in the Preset list on the left side. You simply need to double-click the elements you wish to apply to your image. A list of selective elements (Elements of Lights), you can switch them on or off to view the results of different settings.Below are the Element Parameters, where each effect can be customized individually.

Once you customize each Element, you can adjust the overall effects of the Light Elements just below the large preview image. And unlike Photoshop’s built-in lighting effects, Light Factory allows full control over the movement of the lighting in your image. Just click and drag the flares around in the preview image.

image credit : Macworld

The $149 Knoll Light Factory 3.0 is a Universal Binary plug-in, compatible with Photoshop 7.0 through CS3 and Photoshop Elements 3.0 and 4.0 (and Elements 5.0 on Windows), and a demo is available to get your hands dirty. It works perfectly on my Mac Pro running Leopard and Photoshop CS3.This is a spectacular plugin if works with lots of images that need a extra lighting.

courtesy : Macworld

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Hackers have newer methods to hack into your systems.They are smart enough to detect security loop holes in your PC and enter through open ports,unencrypted Wi-Fi connections,malicious websites or internet servers.It is better you check your PC periodically for invasions and protect your system to prevent pilfering and damage of data.

Read the following tools that will rescue your PC when it is in danger.

Detecting security loopholes

Paros :Scans Internet Traffic and identify if any website contains any malicious codes.

Netcat : Finds potential trouble spots in the network.

Network Scanner : Searches for open spots.

Angry IP-Scanner : Fast IP and port scanner.

Nmap : Shows open ports and logs.

AiO secretmaker : Protects from intruders.

Airsnort : Verifies WEP keys in Wi-Fi network.

Whisker : Tests the web-server for security loopholes.

amap : Spies via open ports.

Wikto : Finds damaged programs on web servers.

WinHTTrack : Reproduces websites on the hard disk.

HTTPrint : Detects potentially harmful programs.

Nikto : The command line version of Wikto.

Libwhisker : Pest libary for Nikto and Co.

Kismet : Detects intruders in the Wi-Fi network.

Netstumbler : Tracks down Wi-Fi access points.

Cain&Abel : Finds coded passwords.

John the Ripper : Helps to find passwords.

THC Hydra : Detects security leaks in the network.

Pwdump : Restores NT-Logon passwords.

Rainbow Crack : Checks password security.

Eliminating malicious programs

Attack Tool Kit : Simulates exploit attacks.

Metasploit Framework : Check network.

a-squared free : Finds over 90,000 trojans.

Blacklight : Unmasks invisible rootkits.

Rootkit Revealer : Rootkit scanner for Professionals.

Hijack This : Unveils Browser Hijackers.

Spybot Search&Destroy : Removes spyware.

Antivir : Extensive virus scanner.

Spyware Blaster : Removes spyware.

Trojan Check : Checks for Trojans.

BitDefender Pro : Professional Virus Protection.

Tracking hackers

3D-Traceroute : Enhancement for the Tracert command.

Securing PC’s

Snort : Warns of intrusions into PC.

IDSCenter : Graphical user interface for snort.

Ossec-Hids : Intrusion Detection System.

Base Displays : Snort evaluation on the browser.

Sguil IDS : Uses the snort engine.

GPG4Win : Encodes important data.

OpenSSL : Actually secures SSL connections.

Tor Encodes : TCP/IP connection.

Armor2net : Firewall

Stunnel : Similar to open SSL;encodes mail as well.

OpenVPN : Sends data via a virtual network card.

Truecrypt : Encodes complete drives.

ArchiCryptStealth : Hides the surfer.

SpyBlocker : Blocks spyware.

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Screencasting is used for creating interactive demonstrations and simulations.You can take a series of screen shots of a application in live motion.The Screencast tool records the motions and creates a Screencast .There are a variety of formats like Macromedia Flash SWF,Standalone EXE, AVI format or the Windows Media Video (WMV) formats.Screencasts can be vert helpful e-learning purposes.You can teach someone who do not some tips with the help of Screencasts.

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