Awesome news, thanks Kees.
There will always be jack-asses that rip code and call it there own, nothing anyone is going to do about it. What is funny is when someone does it and gets busted, lol and for crap code even
I agree certainly with Denis, I have never encrypted anything simply for the fact that there is nothing genius going on within anything I have ever written. I would prefer it open, if it causes an exception, someone has the opportunity to fix it.
If you are going to release a free script what have you got to loose by leaving it open? Is there this fear that someone may open it and go “OMG what the hell was this person thinking?”, I doubt it, maybe they might fix it
EDIT: I can also see the counter point of why too encrypt it, I would more trust an encrypted script written by someone that I have a good idea that knows what there doing
I consider myself a beginner and I have often used other people’s code to get to the place I want. I find it a must to, at the very least, put in a comment around the ‘borrowed’ code noting the original author’s name. It’s the very least one can do since other people codes doesn’t just save one time but it’s simply the best way to learn.
On the other hand, free and encrypted, IMO, few things are as annoying. While I do understand some of the reasons behind it the benefits of keeping outweigh any possible argument.
I don’t think anyone should be embarrassed because of the messy code if it works. In that case, someone who knows more and finds it useful might clean it up and improve it benefiting everyone. Even if one ends up being ridiculed, the script still works, right? So who cares.
Encrypting for the time being with plans to sell the software in the future is perfectly fine and probably the only case where it totally makes sense but then again, I don’t think that’s the original question here or the topic.
And if someone’s going to simply take code and call it their own…well that’s a PITA. That can’t feel good at all. But the thing is, those guys usually get left in the dust with time, the original author will surely progress much further and much faster than the guy just copy/pasting. And those actions have a way of blowing right back in to the guys face. Karma?
However, in the end, IMO, people should do what they think is right with their own code, nothing wrong with that. Just might be a bit annoying, sometimes.
you have really caught my point.
as you see usually i don’t comment my code. if you looking for simple solution just take it. i don’t ask for credit. if you want to learn just ask me. i always answer and be happy to help.
I agree that perhaps today people expect too much credit for every single click they perform but a quick reference to the original source and author takes very little time and effort yet, IMO, contributes nicely to further spreading of love.
As for commenting and going slightly OT…
One of the things I like about maxscript is it can be written to seem almost as plain English, and as such being self explanatory , so I don’t comment too much either but I like to note occasional thing or two on top of making a conscious effort to write clean, readable code. It’s working out nicely, had to return to some of the old scripts I’ve forgotten of and just reading the code it was clear what is going on.
I haven’t posted in a while, but this thread caught my attention.
I think all maxscripts should be released unencrypted for 3 reasons:
- You can decrypt encrypted .mses.
- Releasing an encrypted script for free allows users to experience your genuis, but doesn’t allow the community as a whole to learn from your genuis. I’d prefer to learn from you, then come up with an innovative idea that adds to your original idea, thus taking the concept further. In the end, everyone benefits. As a business model, this fails.
- A commercial plugin should be obfuscated/encrypted through C++. And it would probably be faster than implementing it in maxscript. Although even that approach has drawbacks.
As to the issue of stealing others code: I don’t see it as an issue at all. If you are copying and pasting someone’s code, then that’s all you’re going to be able to do. Maybe you figure out you can substitute this and that and get a different result – but you’re missing the forest for the trees. It’s the idea and implementation, not the syntax. Stealing without innovation is merely annoying. Stealing with innovation is progress. Issac Newton said “If I have seen further it is by standing on the backs of giants“. The future needs giants.
Hope that makes sense. Keep on scripting! (:
Well said.
As to the issue of stealing others code: I don’t see it as an issue at all. If you are copying and pasting someone’s code, then that’s all you’re going to be able to do. Maybe you figure out you can substitute this and that and get a different result – but you’re missing the forest for the trees. It’s the idea and implementation, not the syntax. Stealing without innovation is merely annoying. Stealing with innovation is progress. Issac Newton said “If I have seen further it is by standing on the backs of giants”. The future needs giants.
Few months ago I wrote a tool to nicely place feathers on mesh and style them trough a brush like interface. Basically it works in a very simple way.
You select some edges to have a brick pattern like distribution, a lot of edges in a few clicks.
Click place.
Click Move/Scale/Rotate/Comb/Bend to get the respective brush and edit those feathers.
Now, the colleagues love and it gives nice results. When you run it, it has whole bunch of buttons and options and blah blah. Yes, I am proud of it but…
30% of the code is the interface(usual Maxscript rollout interface)
60% of the code are typical, built in maxscript functions, constructs etc. that simply filter and calculate the brush effect.
10% of it is just well known vector math that defines the brush effect.
Every single brush effect in the end is just one simple line of code. The only line that does something to the feathers, the rest just filters stuff.
So how much of it can anyone steal since it’s all well known and well documented? The most “advanced” thing in it is “SLERP”. In the end, it’s nothing more then a package of maxscript functions packed in a certain way, so what is there to steal? Move? Rotate? ray? Scale? SLERP? intersectray? Bend modifier? All of it is a “F1” press away and those are the only things that actually do something.
So that experience got me thinking, if this thing that I’m proud of is like this and it isn’t too trivial, could it be that a vast majority of freely available maxscripts are like this too? If so, what can anyone really steal from these? And, what is it that people “protect” in these?