When finishing a project and converting the source file into an exe by means of Panda, does panda place artistic resources into any special format?
I guess I’m asking, does Panda make textures non viewable out side of your program?
I know model files will convert from .egg to .bam; it would be nice to have a .jpg, .bmp. png or any other art work format drop the extension or something and become only readable by your final executable.
I’m a long way from compiling anything into an executable, so the curiosity is killing me.
If a person is interested in your assets, nothing can stop him. I don’t think that a missing extension would stop a hacker. Using formats like jpg/png is already a protection because they’ve no access to your artist’s work (layers and the like), but only to the final exportation (so, if he wants to use and modify your image he hasn’t the most important resources).
And, if you give the possibility to read an image to your executable (locally), even the hacker has the possibility to read that. When a program is on a hacker’s computer, he has all he need. So, (imho) you can’t prevent the “personal” use of an asset, but you can use a license which impedes the diffusion of your assets.
I was speaking in a more casual manner. Just wanted to hide my art work from the Gamer, instead of having it capable of being seen right out of the folders.
The Panda’s packaging system puts files in multifiles so the user should know the Panda tools in order to view the files. Surely you can rename your files, you could encrypt your files, or you could use formats specific to computer graphics (so casual Photoshop/Gimp users haven’t plugins for these formats already installed) like DDS.
Keep in mind there are tools that can rip the mesh and textures during runtime from both DirectX and Opengl. Ultimately, there is no protection for these assets.
