Coat of Arms Designer web-based software - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Coat of Arms Designer web-based software

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
indyjoe
Aug 21, 2008 10:51:27 [I posted about this in the Character Development forum last week. But I also wanted to get the attention of anyone designing game settings because I believe the tool is useful for that as well. Furthermore, the tool has been updated.]

I truly hope a bunch of y'all find this project useful and I'm trying to spread the word about the software.

I've been working up a coat of arms (visual) designer that is easy to use and runs on a web page. I think it has many different uses, some for heraldry experts and some for people with a casual interest.

For a game setting, you may want to create a coat of arms for the key nobles in the game or maybe for each government or for other key organizations. Players of knights or other noble characters may want to create that character's arms. Outside of gaming, you may want to create a personal coat of arms as an avatar for the forums or you want to recreate an ancestor's coat of arms.

If you are interested, take a look at the examples to see what's possible, then open the instructions in one tab/window and then open the software designer in another web browser window.

Main Page: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/
Examples: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Examples
Instructions: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Instructions
Design Software: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Design_Software

Please send me feedback (see the link on the website) or post constructive criticism or positive reviews here. Thanks! I'm planning on adding to it and making improvements every week or so for a while yet. I'll definitely be adding more creatures, symbols, and objects to include in a coat of arms.

[Update: Below are the changes this week:
-Added 10 more charges (battleaxe, lance, sword, owl, comet, cannon ball, cinquefoil, oaktree, and two new crosses) to the software.
-Fixed a bug that caused the program to not run in some web browsers.
-Added the ability to do counter-charging for ordinaries. (Counter-charging is where the ordinary (a design) on the shield changes color based on a division of the shield.)]
#2
indyjoe
Aug 28, 2008 10:25:00 I've made some significant upgrades in this week's update to the Coat of Arms Visual Designer:
* Added support for quartering the shield. Many arms use this method of marshaling (or combining) two sets of arms when a marriage between families occurs.
* Added 10 more charges (annulet, crescent, cross moline, double quatrefoil, label, martlet, martlet volent, monkey, mullet, quatrefoil). Many of these are used to designate that a set of arms belongs to the first son (label) or the 4th son (martlet), etc.
* Fixed a bug that caused the "flip" option to flip all creature and symbol charges instead of just the one you are editing.
* Moved the name/motto editor to a separate pop up window to free more space for editing the charges.

Quartering is definitely a major new feature and should allow for unlimited new possible coats of arms.
#3
orloff
Aug 28, 2008 13:28:27 This is an excellent program, and will be most useful for my upcoming nobility-themed campaign.

Just as a side note, when I try to access the website in Mozilla Firefox the browser crashes. Works fine for me in Explorer, though.
#4
Shiftkitty
Aug 28, 2008 14:55:42

AAAAAAHHHHHH! I am a heraldry nut! I played with it with hyperactive enthusaism. You'd have thought I was Howard Dean giving a speech! (Okay, I didn't scream in the middle of my lunch break, but I was thrilled!) I didn't get to look for "Save" or "Print" options before realizing that I had to get back here to post my impressions, but AWESOME!

I love that you can change the color of things so easily. I was able to recreate my family CoA without having to settle for kinda-close colors. For some reason, the CoA for Chacon is so difficult for heralds to get right. I intend to play with it more. (I didn't even use the tutorial. Maybe I should and it'll tell me about saving and printing, eh?)

Again, bravo! Thank you for your work and contribution!
#5
indyjoe
Aug 28, 2008 15:04:10

Thanks for the enthusiasm! (and Orloff too--it was easier to just quote one person.)

I didn't get to look for "Save" or "Print" options before realizing that I had to get back here to post my impressions, but AWESOME!

Unfortunately saving and printing are 2-3 weeks away. The software is in Java, and Java has a pretty strict security model that requires the programmer to sign the software to do certain features, like saving to the filesystem and printing. I'll add that soon. For now I suggest you take a screenshot and crop it in your favorite image editor. (Click the "prnt screen" (print screen) button on your keyboard, then open and image editor like photoshop, GIMP, Irfanview (my fave for simple things), or even MS Paint and paste the image there then crop it using the image editor's tools.)
#6
Reg06
Aug 28, 2008 15:10:19 This is a really great idea, and looks to be a very, very useful piece of software. However, I can't add objects. I'll make the object, and I can move the object up and down the list of objects but I can't actually add it to the shield.
Additionally, a way to bring these over to a word document would be nice, so we can resize them and print them off.

edit; nevermind. I see now why you don't have that.
#7
indyjoe
Aug 29, 2008 16:24:35 I wasn't planning on adding the save until the next update or two, but it has become enough of an issue that I expedited it. The software now has a "Save Image" button at the top that will save your design as a png image, with a name and in a location you choose. Have fun with it!
#8
indyjoe
Sep 25, 2008 21:27:04 For any interested there have been a few updates since I last posted here about the software. Over 30 more charges have been added (bears, boars, dolphins, a bat, an arrow, eagles, rabbits, another rose, and more), users can now edit the font of the name or motto (if they want one at all), other shield shapes are available and more.

See the links way back in the first post. Thanks everyone for the encouragement and feedback!
#9
Reg06
Sep 26, 2008 16:02:25 The program is awesome. I eagerly await updates.
The choice for different shields would be a nice addition.
#10
indyjoe
Sep 27, 2008 12:23:28 Thanks! As of the update made late Thursday, you can change the shield shape. Go to the "Tools" menu and choose "Set Shape..." a sub menu appears with 6 different shield shape options. If you pause over any of the options a one sentence tooltip tells you a little about that shield shape.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 indyjoe Aug 21, 2008 10:51:27	[I posted about this in the Character Development forum last week. But I also wanted to get the attention of anyone designing game settings because I believe the tool is useful for that as well. Furthermore, the tool has been updated.] I truly hope a bunch of y'all find this project useful and I'm trying to spread the word about the software. I've been working up a coat of arms (visual) designer that is easy to use and runs on a web page. I think it has many different uses, some for heraldry experts and some for people with a casual interest. For a game setting, you may want to create a coat of arms for the key nobles in the game or maybe for each government or for other key organizations. Players of knights or other noble characters may want to create that character's arms. Outside of gaming, you may want to create a personal coat of arms as an avatar for the forums or you want to recreate an ancestor's coat of arms. If you are interested, take a look at the examples to see what's possible, then open the instructions in one tab/window and then open the software designer in another web browser window. Main Page: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/ Examples: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Examples Instructions: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Instructions Design Software: http://www.inkwellideas.com/heraldry/index.php?title=Design_Software Please send me feedback (see the link on the website) or post constructive criticism or positive reviews here. Thanks! I'm planning on adding to it and making improvements every week or so for a while yet. I'll definitely be adding more creatures, symbols, and objects to include in a coat of arms. [Update: Below are the changes this week: -Added 10 more charges (battleaxe, lance, sword, owl, comet, cannon ball, cinquefoil, oaktree, and two new crosses) to the software. -Fixed a bug that caused the program to not run in some web browsers. -Added the ability to do counter-charging for ordinaries. (Counter-charging is where the ordinary (a design) on the shield changes color based on a division of the shield.)]
#2 indyjoe Aug 28, 2008 10:25:00	I've made some significant upgrades in this week's update to the Coat of Arms Visual Designer: * Added support for quartering the shield. Many arms use this method of marshaling (or combining) two sets of arms when a marriage between families occurs. * Added 10 more charges (annulet, crescent, cross moline, double quatrefoil, label, martlet, martlet volent, monkey, mullet, quatrefoil). Many of these are used to designate that a set of arms belongs to the first son (label) or the 4th son (martlet), etc. * Fixed a bug that caused the "flip" option to flip all creature and symbol charges instead of just the one you are editing. * Moved the name/motto editor to a separate pop up window to free more space for editing the charges. Quartering is definitely a major new feature and should allow for unlimited new possible coats of arms.
#3 orloff Aug 28, 2008 13:28:27	This is an excellent program, and will be most useful for my upcoming nobility-themed campaign. Just as a side note, when I try to access the website in Mozilla Firefox the browser crashes. Works fine for me in Explorer, though.
#4 Shiftkitty Aug 28, 2008 14:55:42	AAAAAAHHHHHH! I am a heraldry nut! I played with it with hyperactive enthusaism. You'd have thought I was Howard Dean giving a speech! (Okay, I didn't scream in the middle of my lunch break, but I was thrilled!) I didn't get to look for "Save" or "Print" options before realizing that I had to get back here to post my impressions, but AWESOME! I love that you can change the color of things so easily. I was able to recreate my family CoA without having to settle for kinda-close colors. For some reason, the CoA for Chacon is so difficult for heralds to get right. I intend to play with it more. (I didn't even use the tutorial. Maybe I should and it'll tell me about saving and printing, eh?) Again, bravo! Thank you for your work and contribution!
#5 indyjoe Aug 28, 2008 15:04:10	Thanks for the enthusiasm! (and Orloff too--it was easier to just quote one person.) I didn't get to look for "Save" or "Print" options before realizing that I had to get back here to post my impressions, but AWESOME! Unfortunately saving and printing are 2-3 weeks away. The software is in Java, and Java has a pretty strict security model that requires the programmer to sign the software to do certain features, like saving to the filesystem and printing. I'll add that soon. For now I suggest you take a screenshot and crop it in your favorite image editor. (Click the "prnt screen" (print screen) button on your keyboard, then open and image editor like photoshop, GIMP, Irfanview (my fave for simple things), or even MS Paint and paste the image there then crop it using the image editor's tools.)
#6 Reg06 Aug 28, 2008 15:10:19	This is a really great idea, and looks to be a very, very useful piece of software. However, I can't add objects. I'll make the object, and I can move the object up and down the list of objects but I can't actually add it to the shield. Additionally, a way to bring these over to a word document would be nice, so we can resize them and print them off. edit; nevermind. I see now why you don't have that.
#7 indyjoe Aug 29, 2008 16:24:35	I wasn't planning on adding the save until the next update or two, but it has become enough of an issue that I expedited it. The software now has a "Save Image" button at the top that will save your design as a png image, with a name and in a location you choose. Have fun with it!
#8 indyjoe Sep 25, 2008 21:27:04	For any interested there have been a few updates since I last posted here about the software. Over 30 more charges have been added (bears, boars, dolphins, a bat, an arrow, eagles, rabbits, another rose, and more), users can now edit the font of the name or motto (if they want one at all), other shield shapes are available and more. See the links way back in the first post. Thanks everyone for the encouragement and feedback!
#9 Reg06 Sep 26, 2008 16:02:25	The program is awesome. I eagerly await updates. The choice for different shields would be a nice addition.
#10 indyjoe Sep 27, 2008 12:23:28	Thanks! As of the update made late Thursday, you can change the shield shape. Go to the "Tools" menu and choose "Set Shape..." a sub menu appears with 6 different shield shape options. If you pause over any of the options a one sentence tooltip tells you a little about that shield shape.