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[PolyPort]

Hey everybody!

I work for a startup called PolyPort that specializes in 3D asset protection. We are solving a $300bn digital asset theft problem by transforming how the creative market protects, collaborates and distributed high-value digital assets. We enable 3D asset creators, VR/AR developers, collaborators, internal and external studios and brands to protect and control their 3D content wherever it travels, for its entire lifecycle.

Our unique and trusted platform provides you with the ability to securely outsource work and leverage the best talent across the globe. PolyPort analytics provide a digital story of where your assets have traveled through their entire lifecycle, as well as the ability to revoke access to those assets in real-time. Most importantly, PolyPort is completely transparent to your existing workflows and processes.

We are currently in Beta, but have received some wonderful feedback; we won two consecutive SXSW awards for privacy & security and we’re thrilled to have NAB invest in our company after winning the NAB Pilot Pitch Contest in NYC this past fall.

It would be great to get some additional feedback:
- Is the security around 3D art an issue in the gaming industry?
- Is working with external vendors challenging due to security issues?

All feedback in greatly appreciated

[fluffrabbit]

I'm familiar with SXSW as a film festival, so I guess this puts your product in a similar place to the Oscar-winning Bullet physics engine. Congrats on the honor.

As for the security of 3D art, this line of thinking strikes me as paranoia. Have 3D assets from motion pictures been leaked? Of course, but what's the big deal? The content authoring pipelines are all standardized so there are no technical trade secrets to learn. The art can't be used in other films because of copyright/trademark issues. Methinks some old producer is looking for people to blame for his movies flopping and will happily support anyone who lets him pass the buck.

I also think that game developers are less naive. If you pay artists on a work-for-hire basis, your game's assets are iconic and can be identified, just like in film. The difference in games is that producers thereof seem to better understand how their business works. Maybe with the proliferation of small apps, some things can slip through the radar. Whether or not it constitutes a significant financial loss warrants investigation. I doubt the $300bn figure represents losses in game sales.

The best application I see for this in games is to create a strong trust path for asset marketplaces, though IMHO said sites have enough red tape already.

[ThemsAllTook]

PolyPort analytics provide a digital story of where your assets have traveled through their entire lifecycle, as well as the ability to revoke access to those assets in real-time.

How? This sounds to me like it would either be an enormous liability to anyone using assets under that system, or else wouldn't be possible at all. If some sort of runtime DRM is involved with every application that uses an asset under this system, requiring them to fetch the asset itself or some sort of decryption key from a server before using it, this completely gets in the way of any offline use cases, shackling any application that uses this system to an always-on internet connection. If it's something short of that, there isn't really any effective way to revoke access. There's also the worry of a bad actor finding a way to revoke access maliciously, causing a huge problem for users of your system without your direct involvement.

To me, this sounds like a solution looking for a problem, and something that has the potential to do serious damage to the creative ecosystem if it comes into common use. As described above, I wouldn't touch such a system with a 10-foot pole if I needed art assets for a game.

[nova++]

I don't think a forum for tiny indie devs is going to be the target market for a weapons-grade asset DRM system

this sounds like a solution looking for a problem

a startup

keeping in character

[Schrompf]

- Is the security around 3D art an issue in the gaming industry?

No.

- Is working with external vendors challenging due to security issues?

No.

Glad you asked!