Seems Odd

[whtknt]

Great idea! I like the look of the watermark, and it's distinctive enough to be readily noticeable. By the way, Tilt, I love your avatar! Every time I see it, a smile comes across my face

[jfrazierjr]

Here is my test using Ravells watermark. I opened the file in GIMP, added a white background and then bump mapped that onto a new transparent layer. I then saved that as a pattern 500x500 px and used the pattern over one of my maps:

This is the image at half size with the watermark:


Same image zoomed in 200% and opacity dropped to 50%:

[Steel General]

Seems to work fairly well.

[ravells]

Cool, I like the last of the five, it'll make a nice little watermark in the corner somewhere.

May I have your permission to use it?

-D-

Of course. It's free for anyone to use. Seems to work quite well on jf's test....although I'm wondering if the watermark should say www.cartographers Guild so people can see it's a URL and come here. And maybe in the CG Brown?

It would only be worth doing a CG watermark if we can find a way where you can automatically have it placed on your maps if you want to like on Deviant Art (if you have to do your own watermark you might as well put your own name on it). We're also looking at an option where the watermark will only be visible to people who have less than a certain number of posts since they are the ones who are most likely to 'farm' our maps for their websites. There is a thread on the CL forum where we are currently discussing it, but there are downsides like server loads etc to the method that RobA has found so far.

Here are two versions

[jfrazierjr]

Well, I used a bump map so that it could be at least "mostly" transparent over top of the image. In the second example I played with, I added my name as we as a copy of the CC license. Perhaps putting the .com on the end in letters the same size as www would help also(though, in the URL there is no apostrophe allowed).

[ravells]

Well, I used a bump map so that it could be at least "mostly" transparent over top of the image. In the second example I played with, I added my name as we as a copy of the CC license. Perhaps putting the .com on the end in letters the same size as www would help also(though, in the URL there is no apostrophe allowed).

Yack....maybe we shouldn't have the apostrophe in the watermark then?

Something like one of these perhaps?

[Gamerprinter]

To me a watermark is like a locked door, as locked doors keep the honest man out of your house, but the dishonest man will break into your house, despite the locked door. I'm wondering how easy would it be to create a symbol-signature that is hidden within a map, so it is not obviously seen, therefore not assumed to be a "lock", yet still retrieveable or recognizable if pointed out, as a means of protecting your IP. So if someone crops your map, since you've placed your watermark at the corner of the design, now the watermark is gone. If a hidden symbol is placed as part of a mountain top or buried in a forest near the center of the map. One can point to the hidden signature to prove it is your IP.

I don't know how practical or feasable this is - but I think creating a mark that is hidden has more protective qualities than a watermark that can be "photoshopped out" or cropped away.

If such was workable, I think both a watermark and a hidden mark would be the best solution. One prevents the honest man's theft, the other prevents the dishonest theft from being gotten away with.

Thoughts?

GP

[ravells]

The main problem (and the one that the original post mentions) is not so much people taking individual maps from here and claiming that they drew them but people from other sites who copy a lot of maps from here and then post them (unattributed and without permission) on their own websites. The 'obvious' watermark makes it clear that this is what they are doing and the site loses credibility (and hopefully someone who sees the watermark on those sites will tell us about it). If they are taking a lot of maps it's going to be a whole lot of work for them to photoshop out the watermarks, particularly if they are little ones spread at regular intervals (as jf has done in his example)...or maybe that's what the 'spot healing' brush was invented for, lol!

[Gamerprinter]

The question was brought up earlier in the thread, as to how to prove a work is yours or not, especially for a map that has been cropped so the title and by line is missing. The first world map on RPGLIfe.com is one of Mike Schley's and the property of WotC, however that map has certainly been cropped down to about a third of the actual map. My inquiry regarding hidden symbols relates directly to that issue. Mike's name was on this map, and not as a watermark, but now its gone in the RPGLIfe posted version.

I agree the watermark idea works for general purposes, but I think one can go the extra step and further protect their work by placing hidden symbols, that the perpetrator doesn't notice and therefore does not remove. Its a means of proving IP, which I think, especially in the situation this thread is currently about, has direct implications.

I'm not so worried about someone else claiming my work as theirs, rather I'm more worried about someone claiming there is no license to protect the item, as the license is not visibly seen.

GP

[ravells]

Well it's pretty easy to prove the work is yours - presumably you'll have all the WIP material and in addition if you will have a timestamp showing that you posted the map up earlier somewhere else. All you have to do is show the full map which will include the 'cropped' bit which has been posted by the rip-off artist. The hidden symbol idea is really cool, but if we're talking about cropped maps then the cropping process might not include the hidden symbol. As you said earlier, if someone really does want to rip your maps off, they will, I guess the best form of prevention is to make it time-uneconomic for them to do so.