Watersmurph Project (Revised)

BIG 0.82 UPDATE!!! INTERNAL WATERMARKING AND META TAGS!!!

This proposal is for those of you who host images on your own sites, not DA. (Project driven and currently being tested by DA members.)

Bottom footer: Please note, that this is not an advertisement, just a shout out for the need of testers, you don't have to pay during the entire testing process. The system is very basic, there is no internal JPG manipulation for tracking (yet) it is all visual and probably the cheapest solution out there when finished.

PearlPhoenix (here on DA) is a good friend of mine, I host and back-code her site at [link] which has the system in place to visually tag, watermark, and log each image request into a database. The system also blocks any direct access attempts through the engine itself, protecting the folder where the real images are stored from being revealed to anonymous eyes.

With recent word-of-mouth requests for the system, I now offer it to the public. However, with being in its raw state I need testers. There is no payment requirement for the testers during alpha and beta stages. Any price estimate after the testing phase will be $10 a month for most people, and as low as $5 a month for low-traffic sites.

If you wish to participate in testing, please contact me at davidr@proqstudios.net or in my journal with info about you and your site. You can use your own custom watermark that is between 128x128 to 250x250 and must be a PNG (15%-50% layer transparency) file and named "wms.png". The file must be placed in the same folder as the art images you wish to log. I ask for testers because of the fact that the system was originally intended for PearlPhoenix's site specifications and was originally intended to be a dedicated engine.

For those of you who want the system now and just not for testing, feel free to tell me and I will discuss advanced options and work with you personally. The engine version will be the most stable for general purpose use like that of PearlPhoenix's site.

So how does the system work? When a user requests to view an image on your site it forwards it to Watersmurph which then checks for:
-Authentication (makes sure you're in the database)
-Validation (makes sure it's your site, not someone else)
-Direct Access (restricts any attempt to directly access the file via the engine)
It then requests for the real image and your watermark, while it's preparing to render the tagged image, it logs everything about the user IP, ISP, Date, etc. Once logged, the image is rendered and sent to the user as if it was an image hosted on your site.

I also provide a free and simple solution for those of you who have PHP enabled hosting service and only wish to block direct access and mass downloading/mirror engines.

Please note, that this is not an advertisement, just a shout out for the need of testers, you don't have to pay during the entire testing process. The system is very basic, there is no internal JPG manipulation for tracking (yet) it is all visual and probably the cheapest solution out there when finished.

Spread the word, slow the thieves.

-Q (Pearl's annoying site coder)

Extended Information:

Current Testers, Helpers, Coders, Developers:
Lead Developer: Q [link]
Helper & Tester: PearlPhoenix [link]
Helper: BadKittyAmy [link]
Tester: Skech [link]
Tester: Kt [link]

!!! SEE TESTBED DEMO HERE [link] !!!

FEATURES FOR BETA VERSION 0.90

• Public registration and login.
• Internal file manipulation & tagging.
• Manual quality render settings from 50 to 100.
• Upload and compare capabilities for suspected stolen images, including a X, Y look up for smudged out random X, Y watermark.
• Single and range IP ban options to deny access of viewing images.

Watersmurph Change Log

Alpha Version 0.82

• Added: Full Meta Tagging Support!!!

• Changed: "Jackle" algorithm is complete, tag is now internal.
• Changed: User's IP address is now internal.
• Changed: Better alignment of watermarks as well as the randomization placement and new method of merging the large overlay watermark.

The following are requests by testers and developers.

• To Do: PNG and GIF Support.

• Never To Do: BMP Support. For highest quality use PNG. This mostly applies to pixel artists.
• Never To Do: Animated GIF Support. There will be a seperate or sub-engine to log info for Animated GIF files, SWF files, and more; it will not be watermarking.

Alpha Version 0.81.2

• Changed: New "Jackle" prototype algorithm for ID tags, in preparation for internal file manipulation. Now providing over 1 in 200 BILLION chance of collision (up from 1 in 100 MILLION) in database entries, yet keeping the tag length of 8 characters.
• Changed: Better "Smurph" algorithm for IP tags to be stable with any IP address, in preparation for internal file manipulation.

Alpha Version 0.81.1

• Updated: Newer testbed output page: [link]

• Added: New font for tags.

• Changed: Smooth centered overlay and tags within watermarks according to ratios.

Alpha Version 0.81

• Updated: Testbed output page: [link]

• Added: Site validation for both primary and "www" portion.
• Added: Complete Overlay option for both default and custom watermarks.

• Changed: Invalid site sources will now render an Access Denied error image.

• By Design: Custom or default overlay watermark "wos.png" must be stored in the same folder as the real images for diagnostic and error reporting purposes.
• By Design: Sub-domains (youname.something.com) are not allowed. However, share folder hosting (www.something.com/yourname) will work though not recommended.

Alpha Version 0.80

• Added: Errors are now rendered as images.

• Changed: Random X, Y watermark no longer overlaps static watermark.
• Changed: PHP errors are suppressed and sent to variables which are then displayed within a rendered error image template. This guarantees an image will always be rendered after engine completes. Any failure will result in an error image, success will result in a successfully rendered output.

• Bug: Low resolution images such as high compression and B&W JPG do not render watermarks well and will be address later on.
• Bug: Engine does not allow image filenames with spaces. No solution at this time. HTML etiquette is to replace spaces with "_" on filenames.

• By Design: Direct access is blocked, images must be embedded into a page.
• By Design: Custom or default watermark must be stored in the same folder as the real images for diagnostic and error reporting purposes.
• By Design: Currently the engine only accepts JPG images.