useage

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coldplay wrote: I assume its ok to work stuff out based on what others have done but where is the line drawn?

It is considered common courtesy among filter authors to give credit where credit is due. If you build upon another authors' work, make it clear who laid the foundations. This is especially important if you plan on submitting your derivative work to the filter library.

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coldplay wrote: I really don't like my work being ripped off (although happy to share if asked) so naturally I won't do it to others which is the reason for working stuff out myself in FF rather than stealing others work by just changing a few things on the filter.

There are many filter construction problems that one will encounter frequently, and the most efficient solutions to these have been distilled by the filter maker community into so-called 'snippets'. Studying and using these is highly recommended, as it saves you from reinventing the wheel. Take uberzev's "Circular Angle Gradient" snippet for example, which has gone through many ever more brilliantly simplified incarnations. It is the one snippet that all my 'radial' themed filters cannot live without, and hence I'm always glad to credit uber for providing this 'core' architecture.

basically, what crapadilla said is how we've been doing things here. but, you shld also know if you submit a filter to the library, the EULA gives the end user the right to use your work any way they wish, with or without crediting you or FF.

you shld also know that the filter library is monitored for duplicates. we've had a few instances of duplicate filters where one author pretty much blatantly copied another. this doesnt happen often, but it does happen. the FF team keep an eye on things like this and will remove copy-cat filters if they show up. i doubt this will apply to you, since you're asking up front and obviously concerned about things like this.

there is also a certain amount of 'intent' that applies here. if the intent is to steal glory and useage, you're going to lose. if the intent is to modify for a new loook and effect/texture, that's more or less ok, providing you follow what crapadilla said. you are not obligated to give credit per any official policies i'm aware of, but it's always a good gesture. i've submitted filters that use other's works, but i try to remember to always credit them. i mean, they did the work so, why wouldnt you credit them?

and then there's another case that happens, simultaneous creation. this one is also pretty rare, but it does happen, and sometimes not real simultaneous. an example of this is Uberzev's proportional gradient filter. he submitted this quite a while back. now, ThreeDee shows up, starts making filters, and submits his own proportional gradient without any knowledge of Uber's filter. it happens. the guts of the two are different enough that both are valid works. they are obviously not copies of each other. but, they pretty much do the same thing and have the same name. this also happens in the real world, more often than one might think.

mostly, common sense will apply in all this... mostly

amen to that