So, while I was browsing through various pirate sites that have grabbed my resource pack (oh what great fun), I noticed that sites like 9minecraft and 5minecraft grab their own version of your images... but they fail to translate the alpha channel properly:
See that pink? Apparently that's what color I had selected when I first generated the image and made it transparent.
One thing you should know about image transparency is that some programs (GIMP, at least) don't change the actual color of erased pixels, but simply sets their opacity to zero. So... it is possible to leave some hidden messages in an image, which will only appear if run over with an anti-erase tool, like so:
If those pirate sites were to nab this new version of my banner and do whatever they do to mess up it's transparency, the hidden warning would become visible (threw in a couple google translations in there, just to be safer)
If course, if there were actual intelligent human beings behind the creation of my pack's articles on these sites, they would probably think to remove the image. Too bad for me... unless I plant similar warnings in all of my screenshots, thereby denying them all usage of my display material. Of course, I've already established my pack's images across multiple sites, so I really can't be bothered to take them all down and change them, but a new artist who has yet to release their pack could feasibly do so.
Tl:dr: Sites like 9minecraft and 5minecraft mess up your image's alpha channels when they steal them. You can plant hidden anti-piracy messages in the erased parts of an image to give them a nasty little surprise when they take your images.
I personally will not implement it, as my pack wouldn't be as popular as it is without piracy, but this is really useful for those who don't want their pack pirated.
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I've just taken to putting the URL on the image somewhere. It doesn't stop piracy, but it does get people thinking about where my preferred download location is which is almost as good.
This is an awesome trick, though. I doubt I'd put that message, but perhaps something like "If you're reading this message, please download this pack from it's official source at http://www.goo.gl/MNJLF. Thank you."
Never heard of "9 minecraft" and i just googeled it. First thing i saw was my quadral pack and inklination on this site. ( released on 19. nov and 1500 views????)
yeah i will try this trick. Thanks for that
Yeah, I saw that as well. It was flattering, that they'd have those up so soon, but they probably have bots that trawl Planet Minecraft and post that stuff.
I'll definitely be giving this a shot myself. I don't know what kind of traffic those sites get, but I do know that some of them show up before my own legit download links when you search my packs in google, which is no bueno.
I would add this to the "The All-Inclusive UPDATED Guide to Texturing", but I'm not going to because if people who are making mix-packs (& are using my guide to help make them) I don't want them to know tricks to bypass anti-piracy tricks.
edit: Further down there's a minecraftmods9 page copying the planet minecraft page. A stolen copy of the stolen copy?
So some guy outright stole your pack? Well... that was a surprisingly kind comment you left, considering. Remember the project owner can delete whatever comments he wants (ridiculous, I know), so your notification to visitors might get removed.
I would add this to the "The All-Inclusive UPDATED Guide to Texturing", but I'm not going to because if people who are making mix-packs (& are using my guide to help make them) I don't want them to know tricks to bypass anti-piracy tricks.
Eh, I don't think it's much of a risk putting it on there anyway. The trick was mainly aimed at 9minecraft and not mixpackers (mixpackers... that should be an official term around here. :P)
In fact, piracy and legal issues seem to be often overlooked by new artists, so it might not hurt to add a section for that kind of stuff in your guide (which covers a lot more than just texturing, correct?)
So some guy outright stole your pack? Well... that was a surprisingly kind comment you left, considering. Remember the project owner can delete whatever comments he wants (ridiculous, I know), so your notification to visitors might get removed.
The last update was a month ago, so I doubt the poster is still looking after that page. The message is mainly for other people visiting the page, so they know who actually made the pack.
Eh, I don't think it's much of a risk putting it on there anyway. The trick was mainly aimed at 9minecraft and not mixpackers (mixpackers... that should be an official term around here. :P)
In fact, piracy and legal issues seem to be often overlooked by new artists, so it might not hurt to add a section for that kind of stuff in your guide (which covers a lot more than just texturing, correct?)
Mixpackers & PvPpackers sould be official terms around. (I should add that to the guide too, lol).
But jokes aside... Yes, the guide does cover a lot more than just texturing. Piracy & legal issues do seem to get overlooked a lot. So I guess I will add it.
This has been added to the "The All-Inculsive UPDATED Guide to Texturing" with a new section that was created to have a good place to put this post in.
The link to where you can the section that mentions this post is here.
See that pink? Apparently that's what color I had selected when I first generated the image and made it transparent.
One thing you should know about image transparency is that some programs (GIMP, at least) don't change the actual color of erased pixels, but simply sets their opacity to zero. So... it is possible to leave some hidden messages in an image, which will only appear if run over with an anti-erase tool, like so:
If those pirate sites were to nab this new version of my banner and do whatever they do to mess up it's transparency, the hidden warning would become visible (threw in a couple google translations in there, just to be safer)
If course, if there were actual intelligent human beings behind the creation of my pack's articles on these sites, they would probably think to remove the image. Too bad for me... unless I plant similar warnings in all of my screenshots, thereby denying them all usage of my display material. Of course, I've already established my pack's images across multiple sites, so I really can't be bothered to take them all down and change them, but a new artist who has yet to release their pack could feasibly do so.
Tl:dr: Sites like 9minecraft and 5minecraft mess up your image's alpha channels when they steal them. You can plant hidden anti-piracy messages in the erased parts of an image to give them a nasty little surprise when they take your images.
I personally will not implement it, as my pack wouldn't be as popular as it is without piracy, but this is really useful for those who don't want their pack pirated.
This is an awesome trick, though. I doubt I'd put that message, but perhaps something like "If you're reading this message, please download this pack from it's official source at http://www.goo.gl/MNJLF. Thank you."
Yeah, I saw that as well. It was flattering, that they'd have those up so soon, but they probably have bots that trawl Planet Minecraft and post that stuff.
I'll definitely be giving this a shot myself. I don't know what kind of traffic those sites get, but I do know that some of them show up before my own legit download links when you search my packs in google, which is no bueno.
Also, sneaky message:
I'll definitely post this message all over pics for Kuvio when I release that
Anywho that is a very nice trick to adapt when I get to creating my next pack... I will not stand for ripoff artists like (number)minecraft anymore.
edit: Further down there's a minecraftmods9 page copying the planet minecraft page. A stolen copy of the stolen copy?
Putting the CENDENT back in transcendent!
So some guy outright stole your pack? Well... that was a surprisingly kind comment you left, considering. Remember the project owner can delete whatever comments he wants (ridiculous, I know), so your notification to visitors might get removed.
Eh, I don't think it's much of a risk putting it on there anyway. The trick was mainly aimed at 9minecraft and not mixpackers (mixpackers... that should be an official term around here. :P)
In fact, piracy and legal issues seem to be often overlooked by new artists, so it might not hurt to add a section for that kind of stuff in your guide (which covers a lot more than just texturing, correct?)
The last update was a month ago, so I doubt the poster is still looking after that page. The message is mainly for other people visiting the page, so they know who actually made the pack.
Putting the CENDENT back in transcendent!
Mixpackers & PvPpackers sould be official terms around. (I should add that to the guide too, lol).
But jokes aside... Yes, the guide does cover a lot more than just texturing. Piracy & legal issues do seem to get overlooked a lot. So I guess I will add it.
The link to where you can the section that mentions this post is here.
The nerve some people have to downright steal other people's work. I'd sue them all if I could!
PS: Lol the spanish message on the anti-piracy message has many errors. I'm Chilean so I'll give you the favor:
"Si usted puede leer este mensaje, lo más posible es que este paquete de texturas haya sido robado. No descargue Triton en este sitio!"