protecting sculpt maps with alpha?

I've heard about doing this before. Can anyone tell me how you protect a sculpt map by adding to the alpha channel?

Any other advice would be helpful too.

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-1042;jsessionid=D8C02FDD1CB219CAD024DE2200D1603F

"Periapse Linden - 09/Aug/07 01:57 PM

..... If you're worried about exposing the texture you can always add in an alpha channel to obscure it (see forums for details)."

Waste of time.

EDIT: If someone wants your sculpt map they can use "A TWO WORD EXTERNAL PROGRAM THAT CERTAIN PEOPLE WISH TO PREVENT FROM BEING SAID IN PUBLIC" to get it.

If i say the word 5 times will one appear in world and copy all my stuff?

Detailed instructions how to do this are in this thread:
/8/6a/248258/1.html

NOTE: In the original program the TGA file will still look like the normal sculptmap, but after you upload it to SL, the alpha channel will be on top and it will look something like this:

Briana, please edit your post to make it less instructional. All you needed to say was if someone wants your texture, there are ways to get it. You didn't need to mention any of the ways by name.

In any case, it's not a waste of time any more than locking your front door is a waste of time. If someone really wants to break into your house, a locked door won't stop them. But it will stop those who would just casually walk in and take something if the opportunity presented itself. And those people outnumber the determined thieves significantly.

Coal, to answer your question, simply open up your sculpt map image in Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, GIMP, or whatever your image editor of choice happens to be, and add an all black alpha channel to it. Since the the sculpt information is only in the RGB channels, the alpha won't change the way the sculpty is built, but it will cause the map to be invisible in the editor window, preventing casual theft via screenshot.

Now, as Briana said, if someone really wants to take your sculpt map, or any other asset, they pretty easily can. Anything, absolutely anything, that can be displayed on a screen or played through a speaker can be captured. There's no way to prevent determined thievery, period. All you can do is cut down on casual theft.

If you are using Blender, then the release candidate version of my scripts include map protection. You'll need to set the image format to Targa, RGBA before saving the map. This is done in the Scene format tab.

The protection is done by baking a pseudo 3D view of the sculptie to the alpha channel, so it gives a rough representation of how the sculptie will look as a bonus

http://dominodesigns.info/second_life/blender_scripts_git.html

Great idea, Domino.

If, as rumor has it, LL is considering the use of the alpha channel in TGAs for a "flexi map", it seems that existing sculpt maps making of use of this technique might be in big trouble.

How close are they (we) to flexties/sculpexes?

All this does is make sculpty images larger.

The preview image is re-sized and has a beveled edge. Fixing these things and re-uploading has got to result in a crappy sculpty. Has anyone actually tried to do this to determine if it's worthwhile "protecting" sculpties by making them larger with an alpha channel?

well that stinks. although, since the editor window now has the mirror, inside-out, and sculpt type options. and i'm sure LL is well aware of the protected sculpt maps. so hopefully they'll either not use the alpha channel. or it will only be used for flexi sculpts. even with that said, hopefully they make using the alphas an option and not a requirement. if it is a required for flexis, would that mean all sculpty export plugins for 3d software would need to be re-written to create alphas?

Technically, yes, but if you're talking about a 64x64 image, the increase is only 4K. Even if all 15,000 prims in a sim were unique sculpts, you'd only be talking about 59 megabytes of extra data. You'd never notice the difference, from that perspective.

Of course, if you were looking at 15,000 sculpts, you'd certainly have other problems (poly count would be about 31 million), but the presence of an extra channel in the maps wouldn't be significant.


I just tried it myself. It took me all of two tries to discover the right way to crop the image out of the previewer. (I won't share the details) The end result was what looks to be a flawless copy of my original sculpt.



Interesting. It's about time they started thinking of more creative things to do with alphas than just transparency.

I don't think existing sculpts need necessarily be in trouble, though. All they'd need to do is give the flexi property an on/off toggle, just like they already have for regular prims, and there'd be no problem. As long as the default is for flex to be off, not on, there'd be no trouble at all.



In any case, what I've never been able to figure out is why don't they just hide the maps from view in the editor on no-mod sculpts? They hide the parameters on no-mod prims, after all, and it's the same thing. If they did that, this whole thing would be a non-issue.

great point

I read a message from a Linden (sorry I forget where) that did say they would do something like that. It's what prompted me to add the protection to my scripts.

Treating the matter as hush hush and super secret isn't the way to do it. Every time you tell someone to edit their post because they mentioned * causes more harm then good. Ever heard the expression "Security by obscurity?", that's right; IT DOES NOT WORK. I know personally because a few years ago when I first heard someone say the same ludicrous thing to please remove the name, I googled and found what it was in 2 minutes.

This post will NOT be editted.

Jesse, as I said, nothing will ever stop a determined thief. There's no such thing as security at all, be it by obscurity or anything else. Obviously, you were determined enough to find a tool you were looking for, even though you didn't know its name at the time, which I agree, proves that anyone else so determined would also do the same.

But that doesn't in any way mean that keeping quiet about such things is ludicrous or ineffective. The simple truth is most people aren't as determined as you apparently are. The vast majority who might casually steal if it's made easy enough for them to do would also never steal if it's not made easy. People, for the most part, are governed far more by path of least resistance than by ethics, morality, or legality.

Let me offer a RL example, which illustrates the point well. About 10 years ago, I walked into a local bank branch, to find most of the lights turned off, and the place deserted. It was a little past 5 p.m., and apparently the staff had all gone home, but had forgotten to lock the front door or turn on the alarm. Even the vault door was wide open. It was pretty creepy. I quickly left, and alerted the bank's 800 number people to the situation. I'd imagine a few heads must have rolled over that one. (Needless to say, I don't do business with that bank anymore.)

Now, I'm not one to steal, but if I were, I could have gotten pretty rich that day. The ONLY reason that bank wasn't robbed is simply because no one of low character had happened to notice that the doors were unlocked. If anyone even slightly less scrupulous than I had happened to stumble across the place, I'd imagine a lot of money would have been taken out of that vault.

Imagine what would have happened if someone had put up a sign alerting the public to the fact that the bank was unlocked. Do you think it would have remained unrobbed? Most likely not.

Noe consider this. The reality is that almost all banks are of course competent enough actually to lock up at night, but even so, a certain percentage of them do get robbed. It happens all the time. Why? Because absolutely no force on this earth can stop a determined person from doing anything, and if one happens to be a determined enough bank robber, one will rob banks, period.

So why do banks bother locking up at all then? Quite obviously, it's because locking the doors stops casual thieves from acting. They know they can't stop the determined ones, but they don't worry about that because determined thieves are only a very tiny percentage of the population. Most people, regardless of their morality level, simply don't have the drive to do anything very difficult.

The same logic holds true with advertising IP theft tools. Most people won't steal IP if they perceive it as hard to do. You and I both know that anyone could, pretty easily, if they're determined to do it, but again, reality is most people aren't that determined. Make it easy on them, and they'll do it. Maintain a modicum of difficulty, and they won't.

Nope, wrong and that is the point. People that are determined or corrupt ALREADY know. All you are doing is hiding it from the honest people, who like me would never use it to their own gain anyway.

End of sermon, there is nothing to argue about here and no arguments that can overcome an illogical thought process. Linden Labs uses Open GL and because of this, textures have always been vulnerable. Trying to "hide" this info from the noobs doesn't change that fact. Bad people do bad things, good people do not.

To use your same, rather lame example; Everyone, honest or not, already know how to rob a bank. But you don't see all of the newspapers in the country censoring their articles to keep honest people from knowing that all you have to do is go down to the corner and buy a gun.

At one time in these very forums LL was banning people after they even said the oh so horrible word GLIntercept. Fortunately they woke up and came to the realization that this was kind of a stupid thing to do, so let's not try to turn back the clock.

People who create textures have not only survived several years of this very same vulnerability but have thrived. Yes, there are stores out there selling stolen textures, yes there are bad people profiting in SL, but no, bleeping out a word does not change anything. File take down orders and use the other tools at your disposal. Go to the 3rd party forums and spread the word as to who the thieves are. Educate people instead that SL IS vulnerable and believe me, there are enough honest people who will NOT give the thieves their money.

The sky is not falling, SL is still SL and doing well despite GLIntercept. SL is still doing well and people are still making a profit despite the fact that Copybot is several versions past the point where it was when first released. So many people were wrong then also and said then that it was going to be the end of SL. All anyone has to do is Google for either, so why is SL still here? We are here because the majority is and has always been honest. The honest majority should not be treated as children, nor should they be suspected of being dishonest and a word stricken from the forums because it might tempt them.

You're missing the point, Jesse. No one said anything about the sky falling or SL dieing or any other fatalist euphemism you'd care to assume. And yes, most people are honest, or at least they think they are.

But none of that means you should make things any easier on casual thieves than need be. The argument that every potentially dishonest person already knows everything is laughable at best. Quite obviously, no one is born knowing anything about anything. We all have to be told in order to learn of anything at all.

And no, not everyone knows how to rob a bank, at least not successfully. I certainly don't, and by the sound of it, neither do you. Having a gun might be a good start, sure, but I'd imagine that to have a good chance of success, a bank robbery probably takes months of planning (employees forgetting to lock up notwithstanding).

Ask yourself why convenience stores get robbed so much more frequently than banks do. It's certainly not because of the amount of cash they've got on hand. The $80 in the local 7/11 cash register is hardly a more tempting target than the $100,000 the bank around the corner probably has in the vault. Convenience stores get robbed for one reason, and one reason only. It's relatively easy to do.

Or how about the bully who routinely takes the weaker kids' lunch money every day? If that weren't easy, he certainly wouldn't do it.

Or how about something a little closer to what we're actually talking about here? Know anyone who ever photocopied a library book? Years ago, if you wanted to copy a book, you had to do it by hand, which would take weeks, so very few people ever bothered. Enter the Xerox machine, and now it's just a matter of minutes. Books get illegally copied all the time now simply because it's been made easy to do. Most people who do it don't even realize they're stealing. They're "honest" people.

But what is "honest"? How many people, if they found a wallet on the street, would return it with all its contents included? I'd certainly like to think I would, as I'm sure would most people, but when faced with the actual situation, what percentage do you really think wouldn't pocket the cash before turning the wallet in, if they even turn it in at all? I'd imagine it's a pretty low number.

I'm reminded of something a psychologist once said to me. She told me that in 70% of all long term relationships, there's infidelity. I found that statistic to be simply staggering, almost unbelievable. 70%?! Really?! I asked her, "What about us 30-percenters who would never ever cheat? What makes us so abnormal?" She replied, "Almost everybody thinks they never would, right up until they do. It's not a question of 'normal' or 'abnormal'. Most people don't consciously set out to have affairs."

By the same token, most people don't wake up and consciously decide, "You know, I think I'll start ripping textures today. I better start searching for the tools to do it." No, what happens is they they find themselves at a convergence of two situations. The first is they really want a particular image or collection, and the second is they've just discovered the tools that will enable them easily to take it (usually by total accident, often by stumbling across posts like yours). They think to themselves, "Well that doesn't sound that hard," and then they do it.

Now, are there people out there who DO make the conscious decision? Sure. But they're a tiny minority. By leaps and bounds, most people who become texture rippers do it out of circumstance, not out of deliberate motive.

By making the effort not to mention tools by name or describe processes in detail, the requisite amount of mystery is maintained to prevent that convergence of circumstances. Obviously it doesn't stop the deliberate thieves, but as I've said several times now, nothing will stop those people, so there's no point in trying. But casual, circumstantial, thievery can certainly be prevented, to a large degree, and we all have a responsibility to do just that.

Psst, Kat, if you're gonna edit out that particular word, you might want to hit search on the forums, as it's all over the place.... nevermind the product tutorialized by LL in the blogs at one time...

it's just too late, it's already out of the bag (no pun intended)

Well as I said, my post is NOT going to be editted. I for one do not treat all of the forum readers who are here to learn as the lowest common denominator. This is the second time this week where you have told your fellow forum contributors to edit their posts and this is flat out wrong. I have vehemently fought misguided attitudes like this several times here in these forums. You will be sitting there reading this and thinking that I am wrong and you are not trying to censor the others or lessen their input, but think this through very carefully Chosen, because this is exactly what you have done with both Briana and Lear. Just because others think differently then you does not mean they are wrong.

Everyone's contribution here, whether noob or older, experienced or fledgling should be left intact unless it is in violation of the TOS. Posts can be countered or they can be expounded upon but no one should be telling others that their posts should be editted. In doing so you are telling Brian and Lear that you personally know what is better for people then they do. Everyone contributing here is taking time away from their personal lives with no recompense trying to help others learn. No one should be appointing themselves the position of thought police.

you can thank Kat for that one... personally it's silly if you ask me.... like I said, there's a few hundred posts discussing it, nevermind all the content creators inworld (reasonably) paranoid about it... now if people are handing out links, instructions on use, etc, I might be more than a lil po'ed

Thanks for the help all, not to mention all the discussion and the little trip to the bank. Thanks!!!

trip to the bank? for what? lol

This is why i thought it was OK to say the unmentionable words.

Beetle Juice or Candy-man?

Just look at my sig. I changed it to point to GLIntercept close to a year ago to counter the security through obscurity notion as well as the harassment that was going on against people who DARED to link to tool such as this and it remains that way to this day .

Chosen, I figured you'd have actually realized by now that your agument no longer makes sense in an age when with a google search you can learn how to create a nuclear bomb or to give an example that's easier to get the supplies for napalm or thermite.

Those examples are a bit out there compared to what we're talking about but if it's easy to find recipes for napalm or acid or for a thermonuclear device then saying that you shouldn't give someone the link to a program that actually has legitimate uses because it could be used for bad purposes makes absolutely no sense.

Nonsense. There's a world of difference between having information out there for someone diligent enough to go searching for it, on the one hand, and deliberately handing nuclear bomb plans to a terrorist, on the other. When you have a personal choice -- and you do -- why would you purposely spread information to make it easier for people to do something illegal? It's morally indefensible, not to mention dumb. I, for one, do not choose to leave the key to my door hanging on a lighted post in front of my house.

Your right I do have a personal choice and I have made it. I won't bother going into why I made my choice but Chosen and the other people who've been a part of the debate on obscurity vs full disclosure on Glintercept and other tools know my reasons and if you care enough it's all there in the public record of my forum postings.

Just for good measure to see if it'll actually come up and steal all my stuff GLIntercept! GLIntercept! GLIntercept.....

/me waits