How to safeguard my work?

[alien_landscape]

Hello All,

I have just taken on a small freelance Flash job for the first time. I am working remotely via email and being paid on completion.

I’ve heard a few horror stories about folk not getting paid for their work, and not wanting to fall into the same trap, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to add a watermark to any swf files that I send to the client, thus rendering them unusable. I would, of course, replace the file with an unmarked copy once payment had been received.

What do you think? Is this a common practice among Flash designers? Or would it come across as being rude and distrustful?

It would be good to know if anyone has any alternative ideas, or is being ripped off an unavoidable risk that every designer faces?

Many Thanks.

[Chris_Seahorn]

Trap the swf in an executable kiosk (preferably made with a 3rd party tool)and send to the client. This lets them preview it and see it working and if it's dynamic just use full urls to your backsides to be replaced with relative ones on final payment and delivery.

Although not perfect, it never gives them access to the swf (for decompile) or the fla and would require them to decompile a full blown windows executable. Unlike hitting in a browser, no instance of the embedded swf is cached running from a kiosk as a standalone. Once they pay the bill they get the package in normal format.

[alien_landscape]

Trap the swf in an executable kiosk (preferably made with a 3rd party tool)

Is this the same as a flash projector? if not could you perhaps suggest some third party software? Thanks.

[Chris_Seahorn]

I would suggest SWFKit pro or Northcodes SWF Studio (Northcode mods the projector forum) or similar.