Heraldric Design Software (Downloadable?)

[creagdhubh]

Greetings,

I thought I'd ask the rabble if anyone knew of any good online programs or perhaps downloadable software that is capable of designing and producing decent to high quality images concerning all aspects of heraldry? A program which allows one to experiment with the many, quite literally, colourful facets of Scottish heraldry. Thank you for your time and help with my query.

Yours aye,

[English Bloke]

Hi Kyle

Have a look round this site: http://www.digiserve.com/heraldry/ There is a section on heraldry software although I'm not in a position to recommend any of it as I've only had a quick look myself.

You might also want to PM Alex ('cessna152towser') and ask how he went about getting his arms drawn up.

X Marker 'Chas' is also a Herald so he may be better placed to assist.

[creagdhubh]

Hi Kyle

Have a look round this site: http://www.digiserve.com/heraldry/ There is a section on heraldry software although I'm not in a position to recommend any of it as I've only had a quick look myself.

You might also want to PM Alex ('cessna152towser') and ask how he went about getting his arms drawn up.

X Marker 'Chas' is also a Herald so he may be better placed to assist.

Thanks John!

Cheers mate,

[Mark R]

Greetings,

I thought I'd ask the rabble if anyone knew of any good online programs or perhaps downloadable software that is capable of designing and producing decent to high quality images concerning all aspects of heraldry? A program which allows one to experiment with the many, quite literally, colourful facets of Scottish heraldry. Thank you for your time and help with my query.

Yours aye,

1. If you are looking for free downloads, I really dont know of anything out there which is anywhere near complete in terms of the many facets of heraldry.

2. If you are looking for a few basic (which does not appear to be the case), I have a pretty good library of designs.

3. If you are looking for a good resource for Scottish heraldry in particular or for a more exhaustive library of all general categories of heraldry artwork, I would recommend taking a look at http://www.heraldryclipart.com/features.html

Sorry, wrong link 1st time, this is the correct one.


If you do find something you like on their site, please let me know as I have used some of their packages in the past.

Hope that helps.

[creagdhubh]

Thanks Mark. I am basically looking for any good software to where I can experiment with creating arms based upon the rules of Scottish heraldry - the clipart website looks pretty good (the Isles and Family Design Collections look intersting and the price isn't too bad). Perhaps Sandy, David, Scott, or Todd have any suggestions also?

Cheers,

[Mark R]

Thanks Mark. I am basically looking for any good software to where I can experiment with creating arms based upon the rules of Scottish heraldry - the clipart website looks pretty good (the Isles and Family Design Collections look intersting and the price isn't too bad). Perhaps Sandy, David, Scott, or Todd have any suggestions also?

Cheers,

Their Gold collection would have everything you would possibly need to create coats of arms. You can get the components in vector files so you can actually pull apart every file they offer to only use the parts you would need.

Thousands of images in that collection categorized with headings to make it easy to navigate.

Hope that helps.

[creagdhubh]

Their Gold collection would have everything you would possibly need to create coats of arms. You can get the components in vector files so you can actually pull apart every file they offer to only use the parts you would need.

Thousands of images in that collection categorized with headings to make it easy to navigate.

Hope that helps.

Good to know!!! Yes, that does help very much, thanks Mark!!!

Cheers,

[SlackerDrummer]

Armorial Gold is the best canned clip art for putting together heraldic achievements using out-of-the-box vector graphics. It does require vector software, though IIRC. Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw are the industry standards, but I have heard good things about Inkscape (an Open Source - read "free" - vector graphics program). There is no alternative, though, for good old-fashioned art.

[creagdhubh]

Armorial Gold is the best canned clip art for putting together heraldic achievements using out-of-the-box vector graphics. It does require vector software, though IIRC. Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw are the industry standards, but I have heard good things about Inkscape (an Open Source - read "free" - vector graphics program). There is no alternative, though, for good old-fashioned art.

Quite right Kenneth, and I agree with you! Thanks for the advice. I was looking for a program that I can sort of 'fool around with', in regards to putting together a blazon for my wife's uncle, who is a Robertson. Again, I am simply 'messing around' nothing too entirely serious. I would argue, that by actually putting together the many faceted areas of heraldry, particularly Scottish Heraldry, one can understand the terminology, the correct manner of assembling a full heraldric achievement, etc, much more profoundly, and will thus, be able to correctly speak of arms utilizing heraldric vocabulary. It is quite the learning experience, in my opinion.

[Chas]

Hi Kyle,

As far as I am aware, there are no graphic programmes that are currently available that handle heraldry adequately. The thing with these type of programmes is that they require a vast amount of memory.

An example: Sable a bezant. The graphic would show a black field with a gold disk that almost fills the field. Sable three bezants. The default is two over one, but the two on the top are usually depicted as larger than the one at the bottom. Most programmes will depict these as the same size. By the time you get to the arms of Cornwall, Sable 15 bezants, all you get is the 15 overlapping in one large blob. The amount of programming required is usually not worth the programmers time and effort - there are just too many variables.

If there is a chief, all the charges are reduced in size and pushed downwards into the shield. Again the size of the charges is altered.

We now come to arguably the most prominent of all Scottish ordinaries - the bordure. It is like the chief, but from all sides. The algorithm is just too huge for most programmes.

This link might be useful -

http://www.inkwellideas.com/coat_of_...ee_coads.shtml

It is reasonable, but not good and of course, it doesn't do bordures.

Regards

Chas