Branding flash monetization: full-frame 'made with ytLlive!' every 300s replaces the always-on watermark

ai.md

@@ -81,20 +81,26 @@ Apply this to every UI decision:
 - Visual/drag-and-drop scene building over property panels
 - Every action produces a visible outcome — no dead ends
 
-## Monetization (design decision — the watermark is the sword)
+## Monetization (design decision — the branding flash is the sword)
 
 Free forever: all streams unlimited, no time caps, no subscription, no per-feature paywalls. The
 **one paid line is a one-time unlock** (delivered via itch.io — they handle hosting, payment, and key
 delivery; we never own a server or a key shop):
 
-- **Free:** a small "made with ytLlive" watermark is always on, every frame, every stream — the sword
-  of Damocles. Standard practice; only Streamlabs runs watermark-nagging to a capitalist extreme.
-- **Paid (one-time):** watermark removed + **Alerts** (Super Chat / membership / subscribe pop-ins).
+- **Free:** a periodic full-frame branding flash — "made with ytLlive!" rendered big and centered at
+  ~25% opacity for about one second (soft 250ms fade in/out), repeated every 300s, on the live output
+  (and on v0.2 local recordings). Implemented as `BrandFlashLayer` in the preview compositor
+  (`MainWindow.xaml` CanvasGrid) + `BrandFlashTimer` in `MainViewModel` — cadence 300s, first flash
+  ~5s after go-live, only while live or recording. An always-on watermark can be cropped or covered;
+  an intermittent full-frame flash can't be cropped and is impractical to edit around on a live feed.
+- **Paid (one-time):** branding flash removed (flips `BrandFlashEnabled` off) + **Alerts**
+  (Super Chat / membership / subscribe pop-ins).
 
-Deliberately rejected: hard stream-time cutoffs (the worst dead end — a stream dying mid-broadcast
-reads as broken, and YouTube streams routinely run 2-4 hours), soft-limit nagging, freemium tiers,
-and donation-only (relies on the kindness of strangers). Resolution/quality ceilings are **deferred** —
-that decision belongs to the resolution & streaming-constraints conversation, not monetization.
+Deliberately rejected: always-on watermark (obscurable — replaced by the flash), hard stream-time
+cutoffs (the worst dead end — a stream dying mid-broadcast reads as broken, and YouTube streams
+routinely run 2-4 hours), soft-limit nagging, freemium tiers, and donation-only (relies on the
+kindness of strangers). Resolution/quality ceilings are **deferred** — that decision belongs to the
+resolution & streaming-constraints conversation, not monetization.
 
 ## Auth gates Go Live, but not exploration