Customers have asked for a way to apply a unique watermark to geometric objects in files so they can be traced. Rhino 5 has added a tool to watermark curves, surfaces, and polysurfaces. The watermark persists when objects are saved, copied, transformed, exploded, or exported. If a user does not know the watermark pass phrase, then there is no way for a user to detect that an object is watermarked.

There are two new commands in Rhino 5, ApplyWatermark and FindWatermark.

• ApplyWatermark
  • The ApplyWatermark command asks you for a watermark pass phrase, uses the watermark pass phrase to create a watermark, asks you to select objects to watermark, and then applies the watermark to those objects.
  • UsePreviousWatermark option: If you have used the ApplyWatermark command in a Rhino session, then the command has a UsePreviousWatermark option that will apply the same watermark you used the previous time you ran the command. For security reasons, it is impossible for Rhino to tell you the pass phrase you used to create the previous watermark. When you end a Rhino session, all information needed to use the previous watermark is destroyed.
  • Watermark pass phrases: Rhino creates a water mark from a watermark pass phrase. Rhino does not save watermark pass phrases and there is no way to recover lost or forgotten watermark pass phrases. Treat watermark pass phrases the same way you treat important and secure passwords.
  • What can be watermarked: Rhino can apply a watermark to some curves, surfaces, and polysurfaces. Simple geometric objects like lines, planes, and cylinders cannot accept a watermark.

• FindWatermark
  • The FindWatermark command asks you for a watermark pass phrase and then finds all the objects in the model that have a watermark created from that pass phrase.
  • UsePreviousWatermark option: If you have used the FindWatermark command in a Rhino session, then the command has a UsePreviousWatermark option that will search for the same watermark you searched for the previous time you ran the FindWatermark command. For security reasons, it is impossible for Rhino to tell you the pass phrase used to create the previous watermark. When you end a Rhino session, all information needed to use the previous watermark is destroyed.

We know many of our customers would like to know more details and want a perfect way to protect their intellectual property. But …

• Robert McNeel & Associates provides the watermarking tools as is, without express or implied warranty. All implied warranties of fitness for any particular purpose and of merchantability are hereby disclaimed.

• Robert McNeel & Associates will not disclose any more details about watermarking.

So, how can you use watermarking to your advantage? If you are sharing a valuable model with an outside entity, watermark every object in the model before you send it out. If you later find a part of your model someplace it should not be, load it into Rhino and see if it has your watermark. If so, then you can start asking questions.

Back to Rhino 5 Features.