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.
Over the past couple of weeks I've added 10 more creatures and symbols each week, fixed a few bugs and added functionality for counter-charging (where a charge changes colors based on the background colors) and quartering (where the shield is divided into 4 quadrants and each part can be designed separately.)
Hey, this is pretty cool! Gotta wait to get home to play with it, but the samples look great.
You should post a link to the main page in the Useful RPG Links sticky thread here.
Very nice! Love this.
As said above, "very cool"!
Dude, this is awesome. I just messed around with it. I dig it.
-=Grim=-
I got a chance to play with this last night...very cool, and it got me reading all those articles on heraldry I printed out years ago. I'll most definitely be using this if my B/X game gets off the ground.
I see from the original post that you're adding creatures and symbols; is there any way to allow people to use a custom graphic on a coat of arms?
Also are there plans to allow users to manipulate symbol or creature graphics with the mouse (drag'n'drop, re-scaling)? I don't know the first thing about Java, so not sure if that's a feasible idea.
Quote from: KenHR;241633I got a chance to play with this last night...very cool, and it got me reading all those articles on heraldry I printed out years ago. I'll most definitely be using this if my B/X game gets off the ground.
Thanks (to you and the other posters) for the kind words!
Quote from: KenHR;241633I see from the original post that you're adding creatures and symbols; is there any way to allow people to use a custom graphic on a coat of arms?
I've thought about it, but I'm a little worried that it could open me up to copyright infringement if someone adds something copyrighted even if it is available only to them. Also, the software uses Scalable Vector Graphics so that when I add a feature to display/save/print a large version of the shield/escutcheon, it will still look good. Therefore, you would only want to use other SVG files which are a little harder to find.
But I'll add it to the medium/long term upcoming features list so I can think about a way to do it right. If you or anyone have a particular idea, please let me know.
Quote from: KenHR;241633Also are there plans to allow users to manipulate symbol or creature graphics with the mouse (drag'n'drop, re-scaling)? I don't know the first thing about Java, so not sure if that's a feasible idea.
Yep, see the "Upcoming features" page on the site.
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.
- It's a nice little application - well done, sir.
- It's too late for me, but how do I know you haven't installed some virus on my system (no offense).
- Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see an undo. Is it there and my cluelessness did me in?
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
The coat of arms software I currently use was kinda clunky when it came out in 1995. I've been waiting over a decade for someone to come out with something better!
Quote from: James J Skach;241935- It's a nice little application - well done, sir.
- It's too late for me, but how do I know you haven't installed some virus on my system (no offense).
- Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see an undo. Is it there and my cluelessness did me in?
Thanks for your comments. I'll respond in order:
1. Thanks again. (And to Jeff who replied after you as well.)
2. I felt it was more important to get the save feature added quickly, even though I didn't have a certificate yet to properly sign the program. In order to save a file to your computer the program has to be signed. Before I added that feature the program didn't need to be signed because it wasn't doing anything that security experts feel could damage your computer.
(A certificate is issued by a trusted third party and that third party confirms you are who you say you are before it will give you a certificate in your name. Then if you have signed your program using the certificate by a third party your web browser is programmed to trust, the program can be downloaded without a security prompt to the user.)
At first I was going to say you have a good point and I'd revert to the prior version that didn't have the save feature for now and I would get a proper certificate ASAP, but after looking into it I'm not sure. They cost a couple hundred dollars and my software is essentially free and the ads don't bring in anywhere near that yet. Also, after reading the process that at least one of these trusted third party certificate issuers uses, I'm not sure they realy add that much security. (Essentially fax a copy of a driver's license or company incorporation document and you can get a certificate.)
What are your thoughts on this? (James or anyone.) I probably will get a proper certificate in the next few weeks after all, and I'll just hope the ads pick up and help pay for it or else maybe some later paid features I plan to add will pay for it. (I plan to keep everything you see now and more free, however.)
3. There isn't an undo feature right now, although I could add it if there is enough demand. My reasoning was that you can easily either change one or two settings for a particular object back the the prior setting or you can quickly remove an object by the "remove object" button and start that object over again because even the most complex objects only have about 10 settings. Or am I missing something or is that too much?
Quote from: SowelBlack;2421182. I felt it was more important to get the save feature added quickly, even though I didn't have a certificate yet to properly sign the program. In order to save a file to your computer the program has to be signed. Before I added that feature the program didn't need to be signed because it wasn't doing anything that security experts feel could damage your computer.
(A certificate is issued by a trusted third party and that third party confirms you are who you say you are before it will give you a certificate in your name. Then if you have signed your program using the certificate by a third party your web browser is programmed to trust, the program can be downloaded without a security prompt to the user.)
At first I was going to say you have a good point and I'd revert to the prior version that didn't have the save feature for now and I would get a proper certificate ASAP, but after looking into it I'm not sure. They cost a couple hundred dollars and my software is essentially free and the ads don't bring in anywhere near that yet. Also, after reading the process that at least one of these trusted third party certificate issuers uses, I'm not sure they realy add that much security. (Essentially fax a copy of a driver's license or company incorporation document and you can get a certificate.)
What are your thoughts on this? (James or anyone.) I probably will get a proper certificate in the next few weeks after all, and I'll just hope the ads pick up and help pay for it or else maybe some later paid features I plan to add will pay for it. (I plan to keep everything you see now and more free, however.)
It's not a huge deal for me (as I said, I already installed it so you've got my SSN, my bank acount, you're good to go ;) I just asked cause I could see the question coming up. We tend to be a trusting group when someone does something like this, but I'm an old coot....
The money question is one you'll have to answer for yourself. I could see if it start to get distributed more you might get enough traffic to cover a part of the cost.
Quote from: SowelBlack;2421183. There isn't an undo feature right now, although I could add it if there is enough demand. My reasoning was that you can easily either change one or two settings for a particular object back the the prior setting or you can quickly remove an object by the "remove object" button and start that object over again because even the most complex objects only have about 10 settings. Or am I missing something or is that too much?
For me, it's not so much the number of settings, but the number of choices. Damn that color set is big. So if I don't remember to track what the RGB was before I changed it, I'm screwed - see how close some of those blues are?
So in a way the nice flexibility in the number of choices I have dooms me to need an undo. Then, I'm an old coot and my memory is failing.