[Closed] MXS code obfuscation

Hi there,

I have no idea about code obfuscation for MAXScript, but I have made a syntax definition for notepadd++. It is not complete, but you can add missing things when you open it as a user-defined language.
If you don’t like it, search in Google for it, there are some people that already did something like that.

Kind regards!

maybe …maybe …c# n vb…i think…the style in maxscript free style is like vb…

I think you would have to write your own tools for MXS obfuscation
I brievly thought about that topic half a year ago, and the only things i came up with were:

Write a text processing tool (maybe based on lex, YACC or similar) that makes your source as hard to read as possible, but still compiles in the maxscript compiler.

• convert all tabs, multiple spaces, formatting etc. to single space
• fit functions into single lines using ; ( if possible )
• convert all variable names ( including function names ) to GUID style
• insert blocks dummy code automatically ( which never gets run or called of course )

etc…

main problem is that encrypted scripts can be decrypted and people peek into the source
now your only option is making the source as hard to read as possible…

if the your core algorithms are that important to you the best and easiest way to obfuscate them is to put them in a compiled plugin.

There are tools out there that do c# obfuscation (I think even in VS there such a tool), you could write a c# assembly or maxplus maybe and obfuscate that?

-Johan

lex, yacc, compiled plugin, c#… I was hoping this would not require a re-write.

I took a stab at parsing a .ms file but this really needs to be done right, otherwise there are just too many failure cases.

Josef, what is ‘GUID style’ for functions?

And yes, this all comes from the ease of decrypting .mse

– MartinB

also i think that not many clients want to share a thing what they paid for. using a simple licensing you can easy determine a ‘source of leaking’ if so.

Thanks all for the comments.

As I said, this is not about stopping some hardcore hacker, and also not about preventing the tool to be copied/used, but rather to protect some algorithms. Re-writing those as C++ plugin is not a solution as it would require installing a plugin that needs recompilation with every other release. Also, to convert the algorithms into SDK code would take too much time.

– MartinB

if you want to make only understanding how your algorithm works as hard as possible only by reading it probably it's possible... you have to write this piece of cod a little specific, following some rules to make it easier for 'uglifying' :)
for example:

source:

fn blendMatrix m1: m2: weight:0.5 =
    (
    	fn dotQuat q q_prev = (q.w * q_prev.w + q.x * q_prev.x + q.y * q_prev.y + q.z * q_prev.z)
    
    	local r1 = m1.rotation
    	local r2 = m2.rotation
    	if (dotQuat r1 r2) < 0 do r1 *=-1
    	
    	local r = slerp (normalize r1) (normalize r2) weight
    	local t = m1.pos + (m2.pos - m1.pos) * weight
    	local s = m1.scale + (m2.scale - m1.scale) * weight
    	translate (rotate (scalematrix s) r) t 
    )
    blendMatrix m1:(matrix3 1) m2:(matrix3 1) weight:0.0

after 'uglifying'

fn\--\********************************************************************************\
    'ScjkMzrp3BrIBzBEln3I4g==''2wKt7IOkeYC9DJszleKK0g==':'snh5l17IyK1Q5YkIZ1VHWw==':'E9vZRm6Xb59iyzFSCsgJMA==':0.5=
    (
    '7M1ekLY0bycu2TvMyA+63Q=='=TRANSLATE;'rB9GDoMTCe7BqLpQh1TY8g=='=\
    slerp;fn '7PUzWde+tArF10jn0kD80A==' 'RikZajcZ64nzUBLB9GLoGw==' 'xCl43hpKRELP8fn9YDtkpA==' = ('RikZajcZ64nzUBLB9GLoGw=='.w * 'xCl43hpKRELP8fn9YDtkpA=='.w+'RikZajcZ64nzUBLB9GLoGw=='.x*\
    'xCl43hpKRELP8fn9YDtkpA=='.x+'RikZajcZ64nzUBLB9GLoGw=='.y*'xCl43hpKRELP8fn9YDtkpA=='.y+'RikZajcZ64nzUBLB9GLoGw=='.z*'xCl43hpKRELP8fn9YDtkpA=='.z)
    'tsp9Aq/lUB7RyQG9lhd6kA=='=\
    '2wKt7IOkeYC9DJszleKK0g=='.rotation;'TMRjdAITLEP9LEjk8tyFhg=='=normalize;'+XxwC7MPi3m6P2u7WOQhTg=='='snh5l17IyK1Q5YkIZ1VHWw=='.rotation
    if('7PUzWde+tArF10jn0kD80A==''tsp9Aq/lUB7RyQG9lhd6kA==' '+XxwC7MPi3m6P2u7WOQhTg==')<0 do'tsp9Aq/lUB7RyQG9lhd6kA=='*=-1;'xWCIfBsGc+kL2gGBbsrJXg=='=\
    --\************************************************************************************\
    
    
    ROTATE;
    'mMu7IJRfL1nFRGqV4Gegyw=='='rB9GDoMTCe7BqLpQh1TY8g=='('TMRjdAITLEP9LEjk8tyFhg==''tsp9Aq/lUB7RyQG9lhd6kA==')('TMRjdAITLEP9LEjk8tyFhg==''+XxwC7MPi3m6P2u7WOQhTg==')'E9vZRm6Xb59iyzFSCsgJMA=='
    'nVrTR1xn2GdkI11g24O6UA=='='2wKt7IOkeYC9DJszleKK0g=='.pos+('snh5l17IyK1Q5YkIZ1VHWw=='.pos-'2wKt7IOkeYC9DJszleKK0g=='.pos)*'E9vZRm6Xb59iyzFSCsgJMA==';'C15+vrRHAW27eu8WnoyInw=='=scalematrix
    'tbUzWQObPG/B4vN0FZv0ZQ=='='2wKt7IOkeYC9DJszleKK0g=='.scale+('snh5l17IyK1Q5YkIZ1VHWw=='.scale-'2wKt7IOkeYC9DJszleKK0g=='.scale)*'E9vZRm6Xb59iyzFSCsgJMA=='
    
    '7M1ekLY0bycu2TvMyA+63Q=='('xWCIfBsGc+kL2gGBbsrJXg=='('C15+vrRHAW27eu8WnoyInw==''tbUzWQObPG/B4vN0FZv0ZQ==')\
    'mMu7IJRfL1nFRGqV4Gegyw==')'nVrTR1xn2GdkI11g24O6UA==')
    'ScjkMzrp3BrIBzBEln3I4g==''2wKt7IOkeYC9DJszleKK0g==':\
    (matrix3 1)\
    'snh5l17IyK1Q5YkIZ1VHWw==':\
    (matrix3 1)\
    'E9vZRm6Xb59iyzFSCsgJMA==':0000000000000000000000000000000.0

nice, is not it? :)

ps. in some place added ‘extra’ spaces…
for example ‘rB9GDoMTCe7BqLpQh1TY8g ==’ has to be ‘rB9GDoMTCe7BqLpQh1TY8g==’

but i swear the code works! and there is no any performance difference