Pondering a new effort for a project Im working on.
Ive built a template over the last few years and a customer wants to purchase it. Im keen on selling it and possibly productizing it but would like to give it some protection. Is it possible to attach a license system to a Template? Does it have to become a plugin to have a license?
I honestly don’t even know the questions to ask here, just wondering if someone could point me in a better direction than having no idea.
Probably yes. A template is just another SketchUp or LayOut file.
Can templates be made into plugins?
I think you’d need to have an extension that can generate all the content needed for a template. I’m not sure if the API exposes all the required areas to do a proper template.
A template is just a file and anyone that received it can use that to convert it to something they’ve created.
What’s more important is the workflow you apply to those templates (eg. a consistent condoc in LayOut based on a consistent SketchUp file)
That can be an extension that generates specific scenes which are then used in LayOut.
@mikebrightman knows all about it with his condoc tools.
By selling a template only, you are half way there.
What’s up guys!? Unfortunately there is no way to lock down a template. They are just .skp/.layout files, so once loaded user can just save as. Same goes for ConDoc, there’s nothing stopping our users from clicking the design button to load up all of the layers and styles, then save as template. They could even create all of the drawing scenes (plans, sections, elevations, perspectives, details) and make that a template linked to LayOut… But then you are essentially back to ConDoc v1 which was heavily template based. Also, all LayOut resources get dumped in their program files and we can’t take those back either. I just play it off as a bonus for giving it a try. The real value is in the tools and our tagging system.
You could just have them agree to terms that they can’t distribute the files. I agonized over this with our CrowdSource 2D character library, and in the end it is terribly difficult to get the word out. It was a non issue! So if someone is in the business of using your template, not selling your template, I wouldn’t worry about it. Keith, give me a shout and we can talk more! We have a new feature on the horizon that just might solve your problem…
Thanks for responding here Mike.
I sent you an email a few days back. Also just posted on your ConDoc forum this morning.
Would love to discuss this tool. I think it might be the automation solution Im looking for.