Author: erich

  • Some recent Image AI Prompt Highlights

    This is a collection of my so far best result images I used to create using GenAI tools. Most of the examples you will see below have been created using Dall-E or Flux. I also included the prompt, so that you can copy the image if you would like to re-create them.

    Create an image of a figure wearing a dark, gothic costume with significant, stylistic elements. The figure's face is painted to resemble a skull, with deep black eye sockets and a white base, while the lips appear smudged. The most striking features are the large, curled ram horns on top of the head, adorned with an elaborate chain headpiece that drapes over the forehead and sides. Chains, varying in size and style, hang around the neck creating layers. The costume includes 

    A hyper-realistic and detailed 3D render in 8K resolution. The scene depicts a massive moon dominating the left side of the frame, casting a dramatic glow. The ground is covered with thick smoke and raging fires, creating a sense of chaos and destruction. At the center-top of the frame, a futuristic satellite hovers in space, emitting a powerful laser beam aimed at the ground below. The atmosphere is dark and apocalyptic, with intricate textures and dynamic lighting. The composition is in a cinematic 9:16 aspect ratio

    A fierce Viking warrior in a battle ready pose, holding his sword aloft with intense focus. His face is twisted in a fierce expression, beads of sweat and spit at the corners of his mouth. He wears rugged fur clothing, with wild, untamed hair and a thick beard. The surrounding environment is harsh, with dark clouds swirling above, crashing waves, and jagged rocks in the distance. Dust and mist fill the air, enhancing the atmosphere of tension and ferocity. His posture is powerful and tense, ready for the coming battle

    A menacing figure of Krampus, depicted with long, twisted horns and a grotesque, demonic face. His body is covered in dark, shaggy fur, and he has one human foot and one cloven hoof. Krampus carries chains and birch rods, symbolizing his role in punishing naughty children. The background is a creepy, wintery landscape, with snow-covered trees and a dark, ominous sky. The overall atmosphere is eerie and foreboding, capturing the essence of this mythical creature.

    A massive great white shark with its jaws wide open, and hanging from its terrifying teeth is a wooden sign. The sign reads, 'If you can read this, it's too late' in bold, weathered letters, giving a chilling sense of impending doom. The murky water surrounds the shark, with dark, shadowy figures lurking just below the surface, amplifying the tension. The shark’s massive mouth is poised to close, and the sign adds a sense of finality and danger

    A comet impact on Earth, viewed from the ground. T-Rex in the immediate foreground and a pterosaur crashing down. More dramatic cinema action. Dramatic sky in deep orange and red. Impact creates an exploding fireball. Massive shockwave. Trees uprooted. Debris flying. Huge plume of smoke and dust. Ground shaking violently. Sparks and glowing debris flying in all directions. Intense and majestic. 
    A fort gt,  blue with aluminum wheels, Carbon fiber rear wings. Dynamic curves and aggressive stance feature intricate aerodynamic details. The car is positioned in perspective, highlighting sculpted lines and jewel-like headlights. Floating around it, precise sketches show the design process, with annotations and measurements. Against pristine white background, subtle color accent the logo, grille

    Create an image of a bas-relief featuring two figures, one demonic and one angelic, symbolizing the contrast between good and evil. The demonic figure is on the left and has striking red and black tones. The skin is dark red and adorned with intricate black markings that suggest sinuous scales or armor. This figure's wings rise dramatically, feathers detailed and dark, matching the horns that curl from his forehead. 

    RAW hyper-realistic photo, post-apocalyptic urban street at sunset. A large sunset and a slight red cloudy sun below it, above the view. The road was flooded. Abandoned buildings lined the streets, and power lines stretched overhead, adding to the atmosphere of silence. Debris floats on the surface of the water, hinting at the turmoil of the past. Despite the destruction, there is a haunting beauty of how nature reclaims this urban environment under a dramatic sunset. UHD


    "A dark, medieval castle set atop a rugged cliff, surrounded by a gloomy and misty atmosphere. The castle has multiple tall spires and intricate gothic architecture. A winding, narrow stone pathway leads up to the entrance, with moss-covered stones and overgrown roots on the sides. A tall waterfall cascades dramatically down the cliff beside the castle, merging with the fog and mist in the background. 

    Create; "Detailed black and white pencil drawing illustration of a fierce mid-race Spartan warrior, wearing a traditional Greek helmet with a plume, carrying a large round shield and a sword. His muscular build and flowing cape are visible, and his armor includes protective arm and leg gear The background is minimal, with dust and energy trails emphasizing his powerful movement. The style is highly detailed, strongly contrasting the intensity and power of an ancient warrior.

    Create a moody, high-contrast black-and-white illustration of a man sitting alone in a dimly lit room. The setting should feature venetian blinds casting sharp, striped shadows across his face and body, highlighting his silhouette against the darkness. Position the man seated in a leather armchair, with a contemplative pose, partially obscured by shadow. The scene should evoke a film noir atmosphere with strong, dramatic lighting that accentuates the blinds and adds depth to the scene

    A realistic, detailed, and accurate HDR 3D render of an ancient ocean ecosystem. The main subject of the image is the seafloor, where Dickinsonia is visible. Anomalocaris is seen hunting nearby, while other small primitive marine life forms are visible in the background. The image is slightly hazy, with dim sunlight filtering through, creating an eerie, ancient atmosphere.
  • Image 2 Video AI Generator Comparison

    A very next step when playing around with generative AI tools, is to make a video from a given image. In my case I wanted to animate the above image of mysself (AI generated with Flux/LoRA) in a natural way to make me speak out.

    My first try out where with RunwayML – unfortunately only Model #2, not the newer version 3. The results are not the great: the movement is not natural mostly weird and also the transition in the face (morphing) looks rather spooky. So this first try was failure.

    Try #2 with minimax video

    A very new image2video model is minimax. You can easy access it via fal.ai. The prompt was very simply, just instruct to make me speak out and show some natural gestures. The output is way better then the one from RunwayML. It looks smoother and more natural. I wouldn’t say it is truely realistic but it must be around 90% acurate.

  • Flux/LoRA Prompts for business photos

    In the previous post I explained how to train Flux/LoRA to create images of yourself. This is a quite straightforward process and after that we can create via prompts the images we want to. In my case I did my first try outs with some business portraits for myself. The results a good, sometimes a bit to blurry and smoothened out. But there is an issue that the Flux AI tends to add you at least a 2nd time into the picture if you place yourself into a typical scenery with more then just 1 person. I also found a simple solution to overcome this. Here are my example prompts and the outcomes:

    Professional business portrait of erich wearing a dark grey suite, sitting confidently at a modern office desk. Background shows a contemporary office with glass windows and city views. Well-lit with soft, natural light, highlighting a friendly, approachable smile, wearing a formal suit.


    Professional business portrait of erich, standing in a modern office meeting room with a table and screen in the background. Wearing business attire with a confident, relaxed posture, arms crossed and smiling warmly. Soft, professional lighting enhances a welcoming expression.


    Professional portrait of erich, seated behind a modern executive desk, surrounded by minimalistic office decor like a laptop, notebook, and pen holder. Well-lit room with large windows and subtle artwork in the background. Dressed in a formal suit or business casual, with a focused, thoughtful expression.


    Professional yet relaxed business portrait of erich, standing in a collaborative office space with colleagues visible in the background, blurred slightly. Wearing business casual attire, arms relaxed, with a warm, approachable expression. Modern office setting with plants and glass walls, lit with natural light.

    Here we have the case, that I have been put a 2nd time into the picture.


    Professional business portrait of erich, caught in a natural conversation with a colleague in a modern office lounge area. Wearing business attire, seated on a stylish office sofa with hands gesturing slightly as if explaining something. Background features office decor with plants, well-lit with ambient lighting.


    How to overcome the multiple images of yourself in scenes

    This is actually quite simple, you just need to tell the AI via prompt that only one person is yourself and the others should be given random faces:

    erich is sitting in a high class restaurant and having dinner with a lovely woman wearing an elegant black dress. erich is smiling into the camera. he is wearing smart casual clothings. in the background we see the typical scenery of a restaurant with tables, people etc. only the person sitting on the table with the woman is erich. add random faces to all the others

    And after the prompt piece added:

  • Howto: train Flux-LoRA for custom images of yourself

    The first AI apps on the mobile I remember were some fun apps creating from an given image of you, different scenario pictures like a funny background. The makers charged quite some money for like 5 custom images. However with Flux LoRA there is a even better outcome for less money possible.

    Flux is the image generator model by German AI company Black-Forest-Labs and is at the moment the hottest and best image generator for photo realistic images. The image generator itself can be easily for free on their website.

    To achieve custom pictures of us we need to go a step further and train the model. This is not complicated and cost only 2$. I use the AI workspace fal.ai for this where you can work with many different model – and also Flux and Flux SoRA.

    Step 1: train the model

    Go to: https://fal.ai/models/fal-ai/flux-lora-fast-training

    You will see the form pictured above. Add face shots, selfies, close up pictures of you into the uploader. I used about 25 pictures of me. Then select a “Trigger Word” – to reference the training data in your future prompt. I simply use my name “Erich” as the trigger word. Then let the training start – it will last around 1 minute to finish.

    Step 2: Run the model with your trigger word

    To create an image prompt based on the trained data with the Flux SoRA model simply klick on the Run button of the training form:

    Or you can also directly chose the model prompt interface: https://fal.ai/models/fal-ai/flux-lora/playground

    Enter your prompt referencing the “Trigger word” you have set before and let the magic happen. I generated some examples using very simple 1 line prompts:

    The business picture is really great and it looks very much like me when in use in small scale. When getting closer you can see blurry areas somehow. The 2nd picture was to put me to Oktoberfest with interesting result being put twice into the picture 🙂 The black t-shirt and the yellow backbag is actually taken from one of my training pictures. Overall I am quite happy with the outcomes and with some more detailed prompts, you definitely will get even better results. Total costs ~2$.

    Advanced prompt examples

    Here are some more examples I generated today with a more advanced promoting:

    erich is captured mid-speech.  His expressive face, adorned with a salt-and-pepper beard and mustache, is animated as he gestures with his left hand. He is holding a black microphone in his right hand, speaking passionately. The man is wearing a dark, textured shirt with unique, slightly shimmering patterns, and a green lanyard with multiple badges and logos hanging around his neck. The lanyard features the "Autodesk" and "V-Ray" logos prominently. Behind him, there is a blurred background with a white banner containing logos and text, indicating a professional or conference setting. The overall scene is vibrant and dynamic, capturing the energy of a live presentation. 

  • My AI Image generator tryouts

    This is a summary of my progress with AI image generators over the past months. From first try outs with creating new movie posters to very advanced prompting showing really cool results.

    Alternative movie posters

    Those are my first try-outs with AI image generators and also already over 1 year old. I used Dall-E for the generating (except the 2 alien pic – those came from Flux. Dall-E still has huge problems putting text 1:1 into the image, as you can clearly see. Flux is comparable great at this task.

    Comic strips

    Pixel Art

    Advanced prompting results

    This are the my best images and most advanced prompts I have been using in the past. Most images are generated with Dall-E 3 and Flux1.0. The more realistic looking image have been generated with flux, which as at the moment for me the reference when it comes to image generating. If you need not the super realistic look, Dall-E will also do. Plus: those 2 you can still be used for free.

    Video

  • RSS Feed mit PHP bauen

    Disclaimer: This is a new version of my RSS Feed Turorial from 2008, as it still gets a decent amount of traffic from Google. Hope it still helps 15 years later.

    Einen RSS Feed kann man kinderleicht für seine dynamische Website, zum Beispiel ein News Script, erstellen. Dafür ist nur die Kenntnis vom Aufbau einer RSS Datei plus eine einfache Datenbankabfrage notwendig. Hier wird gezeigt wie man einen solchen dynamische generierten RSS Feed manuell zusammenstellt.

    Einleitung

    Als Vorwissen für dieses Tutorial benötigt man Kenntnisse in php und mysql. Ziel ist es ein kleines php Script zu schreiben, das auf Basis von Daten aus einer mysql o.ä. Datenbank dynamisch einen RSS Feed generiert.

    Zuerst muss man sich entscheiden auf welchen RSS Standard man zurück greifen will. Es gibt diverse Standards, die man auch gängig bei anderen Seiten finden kann – zB. RSS0.91, RSS1.0 und RSS2.0 (mehr dazu hier). Wir werden in diesem Tutorial einen RSS2.0 Feed erstellen.

    Dokument Definition

    Als erstes erstellen wir in einem Editor eine leere Datei und fügen folgenden Header Code in die ersten Zeilen ein:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?> 
    <rss version="2.0"> 
    <channel> 

    Hier wird erstmal definiert um was für ein Dokument es sich hier eigentlich handelt bzw. die XML DTD dazu bestimmt. Die Tags “<rss>” und ” <channel>” sind die Basis Element eines RSS Feeds. Da wir einen Dynamischen RSS Feed haben wollen und die erstellende Datei eine php Script beinhaltet, muss die erste Zeile, die XML Definition, mit einem echo ausgegeben werden, da sonst der php Interpretor auf das “?” mit einem Parse Error reagiert.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>" 

    Weiters muss hier dem Browser der content type mitgeteilt werden, da dieser sonst den Inhalt als Html und icht als xml ausgibt. Die ganze veränderte Zeile sieht dann wie folgt aus:

    <?php header("Content-type: text/xml"); 
    echo "<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>"; ?>

    Meta Daten

    Nachdem wir nun die Stammelemente plus die xml Definition erstellt haben machen wir uns an die Meta Daten des Feeds. Die sehen bei RSS2.0 folgendermaßen aussehen und sind meistens statisch. Die Elemente hier sind selbsterklärend. Beim Tag “lastBuildDate” könnte man zum Beispiel mit <?php $now = time(); echo $now; ?> zur Script Laufzeit das aktuelle Datum einsetzen.

    <title>Website name</title>
    <link>http://www.beispiel.de</link>
    <description>Beschreibung von Website</description>
    <language>de-de</language>
    <pubDate>Datum der Erstellung</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Datum des letzten Outputs, in vielen Fällen die Ausführzeit des Scriptes</lastBuildDate>
    <docs>http://www.beispiel.to/rss.php</docs>
    <generator>Rss Feed Engine</generator>
    <managingEditor>info@beispiel.de</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>info@beispiel.de</webMaster>

    Elemente

    Nun da die Meta Elemente ausgefüllt sind ist der nächste Schritt die einzelnen News Elemente des z.B. News Scipts in RSS konforme Daten zu konvertieren. Die Struktur eines Items sieht dabei so aus. Ein Feed kann beliebig viele Items beinhalten aber es macht Sinn diese auf ca. 10-20 Elemente zu beschränken.

    <item>
    <title>Beispiel Titel</title>
    <link>http://www.beispiel.de/link</link>
    <description>Beispiel Beschreibung, Text, Bilder etc. Die Description kann auch einen Excerpt (Auszug) des vollen Beitragtextes enthalten.</description>
    <pubDate>Datum der Veröffentlichung des Beitrags</pubDate>
    <guid>http://www.beispiel.de/link</guid>
    </item>

    Dieses Template eines Items füllen wir nun mittels einer Datenbank Abfrage o.ä. mit Daten. Der dazu passende Code könnte z.B. so aussehen:

    <?php require('mysql_connect.php'); 
    $SqlSelect = "SELECT link, pic, titel, text FROM news LIMIT 0,20"; 
    $result = mysql_query($SqlSelect); 
    if (!$result) { die('Invalid query: ' . mysql_error()); } 
    
    while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { ?> 
    <item> 
    <title><?php echo $row['titel']; ?></title> 
    <link> <?php echo $row['link']; ?> </link> 
    <pubDate> Wenn vorhanden Timestamp des Beitrages, ansonst einfach weg lassen </pubDate> 
    <description> <?php echo "<img src=\"".$row['pic']."\"></img></a>"; ?> <?php echo $row['text']; ?> </description> 
    </item> <?php } 
    mysql_free_result($result); 
    mysql_close($dbh); 
    ?>

    Zum Schluss schließen wir noch die beiden Stammelemente channel und rss am Ende des Dokumentes.

    </channel>
    </rss>

    Um jetzt den erstellten Dynamischen RSS Feed auf der Hauptseite einzufügen und ihn für die Browser erkennbar zu machen, muss man foolgende Zeile in den Kopf der Hauptseite schreiben:

    <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://www.beispiel.de/rss.php" />

    Hier die fertigen Datei:

    <?php header("Content-type: text/xml");
    echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"ISO-8859-1\" ?>"; ?>
    <rss version="2.0">
    <channel> 
    	<title>Website name</title>
    	<link>http://www.beispiel.de</link>
    	<description>Beschreibung von Website</description>
    	<language>de-de</language>
    	<pubDate>Datum der Erstellung</pubDate>
    	<lastBuildDate>Datum des letzten Outputs, in vielen Fällen die Ausführzeit des Scriptes</lastBuildDate>
    	<docs>http://www.beispiel.to/rss.php</docs>
    	<generator>Rss Feed Engine</generator>
    	<managingEditor>info@beispiel.de</managingEditor>
    	<webMaster>info@beispiel.de</webMaster>
    
    <?php
    require('mysql_connect.php');
    
    $SqlSelect = "SELECT link, pic, titel, text FROM news LIMIT 0,20";
    	$result = mysql_query($SqlSelect);
    
    	if (!$result)	{	    die('Invalid query: ' . mysql_error());	}
    	
    	while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))	{
    	
    ?>
    	<item>
    	<title><?php echo $row['titel']; ?></title>	
    	<link>
    	<?php echo $row['link']; ?>
    	</link>	
    	<pubDate>
    	Wenn vorhanden Timestamp des Beitrages, ansonst einfach weg lassen
    	</pubDate>
    	<description>
    	<?php echo "<img src=\"".$row['pic']."\"></img></a>"; ?>
    	<?php  echo $row['text']; ?>
    	</description>
    	</item>
    
    <?php
    	}
    mysql_free_result($result);
    mysql_close($dbh);
    ?>
    
    </channel>
    </rss>
  • How to create an AI driven content machine for your website

    Simple AI tools and the connection of them makes it very easy to create large amounts of content (here in the example text) for your blog, website etc. All tools I used here are free and easy to handle.

    Step 1: ask chatgpt to create a list of popular items of any category you are interest in. In my example I asked it for the most popular DOS Games with some data of additional information:

    Chatgpt will return you a handy table that you can easily further process. The data is nice, but we need some more text and therefore we are going to query chatgpt for each of the game for a summary. You can do this also in the normal prompt screen, but this would take very long. I am using for this a Google Sheet with the GTP for work plugin, that allows you to use the chatgpt als normal Google Sheet functions.

    Step 2: Add some more content in a Google Sheet. When you copy/paste the table it will look something like this:

    I already added another column Summary where then we want chatgpt to generate our text for each game. To do that we use a simple function:

    After some time the request will be filled with a text comparably to mine:

    You can add the details or specifics you want to have in your text. Quick hint on the prompt: chatgpt tends to just end longer texts in the middle of a sentence, so to trick it here tell in the prompt you want a 1.500 word summary and the only the first 750 words should be displayed. With this little tweak you will avoid having cut off texts.

    As we are in a Google Sheet, the only thing we have to do now is to extend the function to all other rows below and let chatgpt produce the 100 texts. Having our complete texts we can go the next step and get the data into our wordpress Blog. Doing so we use zapier.

    Step 3: Import the data als new content to your wordpress blog. Create a new transfer with your source “Google Sheets” and destination “WordPress Blog”.

    In the next step choose the Google Sheet File from the dropdown:

    Your WordPress also needs some preparation and you need to install the zapier plugin there, so that the app can communicate properly with the blog system:

    Next we need to connect our WordPress blog and enter the credentials:

    And then we can put everything together and tell zapier which data to use from the Sheet to create our new blog post (you can also create pages or attachments with images):

    You can also use HTML in some fields like the Content to create more advanced entries. For the game example here we could create a little table at the top showing all the additional data we have. In the next step you can then review the full dataset and choose which one zapier should transfer.

    Final result: the post in WordPress:

    If you have chosen the full 100 dataset you will have 100 new posts in your blog. Some constraints from the zapier/Wordpress connection: As you can also see in the screenshot the plugin uses the old classic editor and not the new block editor. Also there are no links in the posts, which are to add in another step.

    To fully automate the flow, create a new Zap from the transfer in zapier and let the process run each time a new row has been added to the Sheet. So all you have to do then, is add the row with the name of a new game and the chatgpt function will create your text and the zapier zap will import it automatically to your blog.

  • Über den Karl-Kantner-Steig auf die Rax

    Am Wochenende war ich seit langem mal nicht mit dem Bike sondern wie seinerseits zu Fuß im Bergland unterwegs. Es ging auf die Rax, genauer gesagt auf den höchsten Punkt, die Heukuppe. Ausgangspunkt war nicht die Bergstation der Seilbahn, sondern die Preiner Gscheid auf ca. 1000 Meter Sehhöhe. Was dann rechnerisch einen Aufstieg von weiteren 1000 Metern als Aufgabe mit sich brachte. Es gibt im Rax-Gebiete einige schöne und einfache Klettersteige die problemlos von jedermann bewältigt werden können.

    Mein Wahl viel auf den Karl-Kantner-Steig. Der ist relativ einfach zu klettern und befindet sich entlang eine Geröllschneise.

    Aufstieg:
    2:20 Stunden
    6,76 km

    Abstieg:
    1:05 Stunden
    5,28 km

    Hier ein paar Impressionen vom Aufstieg:

  • Datenschutz bei Firmengründung (=Fehlanzeige)

    Ich habe im März mein eigenes Unternehmen gegründet und im Zuge des Generierungsprozesses einige interessante Erfahrungen gemacht: nicht dass es ewig dauert (Durchlaufzeit 1 Monat+ bis man seine Tätigkeit aufnehmen kann), man wird binnen kurzer Zeit mit Angeboten etc. von Dritten bombardiert. Da frage mich echt woher kommt das, dass meine Daten von einer behördlichen Stelle für Akquise nach außen gegeben werden. Ich weiß zwar dass es laut DSG erlaubt ist Kalt-Akquise bei Firmenkunden zu betreiben dennoch bin ich einigermaßen schockiert, dass von einer Behörde einfach so rigoros Datensätze an Firmen weiter gereicht werden.

    Einem Zufall ist es zu verdanken, dass ich genau weiß welche Behörde das ist. Da jede der Behörden die im Gründungsverfahren beteiligt waren, meine akademischen Titel in einer anderen falschen Reihen folge aufzeichneten, weiß ich genau welche Behörde das Datenleck ist: nämlich die Bezirkshauptmannschaft.

    Und folgende Firmen haben die Daten erhalten und haben sich umgehend bei mir gemeldet:

    • KSV 1870
    • Metro
    • Volksbank
    • Erste Bank
    • Wiener Städtische Versicherung
    • GIS

    Die GIS klappert jetzt anscheinend auch alle neuen Firmensitze ab um mit dem Argument “jeder Computer mit Internetanschluss ist ein Empfanggerät” hier auch nochmals Gebühren zu kassieren. In meinem Fall da Wohnsitz und Firmensitz ident sind, wollten sie zwei mal kassieren.

    Update:

    • druck.at
    • c&c pfeider
  • Side project: brandeins PDF generator

    brand_eins_PDF_Generator_-_2015-03-05_11.55.49

    Heute darf ich ein kleines Nachmittags-Projekt vorstellen, das ich vor Kurzem geschnitzt habe. Das Problem das es zu lösen gallt: brandeins ist eines meines Lieblingsmagazine das ich auch gerne mal online lese. Hier ist brandeins eine wahre Freude für den Leser, da alle vergangenen Hefte in einem Archiv angeboten werden – auch als PDF Download von einzelnen Artikeln. Allerdings ist es recht mühsam sich ein ganzes altes Heft oder große Teile davon (sprich mehrere Artikel) in einem Flow durchzulesen.

    Deshalb hab ich ein kleines Spider-Script geschrieben, das mit der Eingabe einer Heft-URL aus dem Archiv eine PDF Datei generiert und zum Download zur Verfügung stellt. Der PDF Generator stellt mir also alte brandeins Hefte als eine einzelne Datei zum Gebrauch für E-Reader etc. zur Verfügung.

    [Update 06.03]
    Habe das Service nach Rücksprache mit dem Rechteinhaber wieder eingestellt.