I have a dillemma & I could use some advice.

[wood-n-things]

It would be great if I could get some advice from you pattern designers.

I have a website like so many of us do and I do a decent amount of sales all over the world from it. I continually get e-mails asking me what other items I have patterns for.

 

Honestly like so many scrollers I'm a pattern aholic. I have 1000's of patterns from many different designers. I'm trying to figure out a way to post some of them on my site without allowing others to steal them and thereby not give the actual designers the credit they deserve.

 

I would of course place a disclaimer that I'm not the creator of the pattern but these other items are available. I have refrained for several years of doing this because I don't want to offend any designer. However in talking to a couple of them they said so long as I was not trying to share the pattern they did not have a problem with it.

 

I really do not have the time or inclination to cut all of these as you can well imagine, in the hopes they will all sell.

 

I need to know how to post them but protect them without going to the trouble of watermarking them or whatever.

 

Can I simply re-size them to thumbnail size? Won't they distort if someone just tries to take the thumbnails and re-size them? I know you can disable right click capabilities but this can be thwarted as well by anyone trying hard enough.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to do this and keep the patterns safe?

[steviegwood]

I do not have a web site ( wish I knew how to set one up) but I have been asked the same question at shows. My answer is is usually that I have literally thousands of patterns and there are thousands more available. If you are interested in something specific I will try to find a pattern to suit your needs or if one is not available I will work with you to design what you may need. It seems that if you post a pattern even with a water mark a thief will find a way to steal it if they want it bad enough. I used to post a link back to an artist that I have permission to use his works until I found that people were using his art to make their own patterns without permission. It is a shame that people have to steal others works to try and make themselves look good. Steve

[wood-n-things]

Steve,

Thanks for your input it is appreciated and yes it is a shame that people will stoop so low. This is why I have been trying to figure out a workaround that protects the designers and gives the best exposure for the patterns available.

[Messman]

Here is my take on it. I would make sure that you have a written agrement with each designer, just to protect yourself. Second, I know there is a way to "lock" a page if you will. Where if someone tries to copy a picture the copy function will not work. I have seen this on some sites, now what the code is for that I have no idea. The other thing is that you post only low res. pictures that are small in size, while this will not prevent theft, it will help deter it.

[Travis]

You can mock up what a cutting would look like if cut. Open up the pattern in GIMP and select the white and delete it. Then below your pattern layer, find a wood picture and put it below it. It will look like the pattern is cut from wood. Its a little crude, but it works well enough. If you keep the pic small enough, you really can't pull a pattern from it.

 

The anti-copy script is pretty easy to get around. I suppose you can add it for extra security. But if anybody knows enough about computers, they can get around it with no hassle at all.

[Christina]

There really just isn't a way to get around it........if someone wants to steal something they will figure out a way. Drives me nuts! Even if you disable right click, lock a page.........all they have to do is take a screen shot. And even if their computers don't do that.........there are idiotic free programs out there just for this. Believe you me I have researched it big time since I was selling patterns online. And even if the lines are blurry they still manage to cut them. It's happened to me more times than I care to count. Good luck.

Christina

[Firedkm]

Mike it is just to easy to take photos off a website. Putting the lock on the page or even the right click disable is really going to annoy most of the honest people trying to shop your website. If you do a search on this you will read how easy it is to get around and the explanation of why it is not a good idea to do.

 

Travis has a good idea and it will work. It does look a little cheesy though .

 

As far as an easy way to do this.....I am at a lost!

 

As you know I am selling patterns too. I have cut just about every thing I sell but i am really bad with taken photos. I wish I had because my site has items on there with out any pictures! The ones with out pictures still sell but I am sure they would sell better with pictures.

 

I dont think its a good idea to post the pattern itself. That is just saying "take me please"

[wood-n-things]

I thank you all for your advice and I have decided not to display the patterns. I do not want to offend those wonderful designers who have so graciously shared patterns with myself and countless others. I'll figure out another way to share what I have available.

 

Thanks again for your perspectives.

[saw dust john]

Mike how about this:

 

I maintain my friend's web site and I put a ghost type script in the picture.

 

I made it in photo shop.

 

it can be made larger or smaller

 

 

 

[wood-n-things]

I have thought of the watermark but that will not deter a scroller. LOL Thanks for your input though!