Instructions

Quick Tutorial

  1. Select a background color using the “Background” selector in the upper right corner of the program to the right of these instructions. (Clicking on it pops up a window to choose a new color.)
  2. If you wish to have a name or motto, click the “Set Name/Motto” button near the top of the program. This opens a small window. You can enter a name or motto in the black in that window. You can also change the name/motto’s font size and edit the colors. The shield does not have a scroll until a name or motto is added. Removing it removes the scroll. You don’t have to keep the window open for the name/motto to stay on the shield.
  3. Create a new object by clicking in the green square in the center of the shield.
  4. Select a type of object using the pop-up menu. The options are: Creatures, Symbols, Divisions (give part of the shield a different color), and Ordinaries (bars, crosses, etc. that span the shield.)
  5. If you choose “Creatures” or “Symbols” a “New Charge Wizard” pop-up appears. This allows you to create several identical creatures or symbols in a pattern on the shield.
    1. Select a creature or symbol using the first drop-down list.
    2. Select an arrangement in the second drop-down list. If you only want one creature or symbol, simply keep the default choice (“Centered”). Note: You are free to reposition and resize the object once you finish the wizard.
    3. If you want to make these creatures and symbols identical color-wise, keep the “Copy the charge…” checkbox checked. However, if you want to vary your charges (which would be an exception to traditional heraldry) unckeck the box. Note: You may resize and reposition each individual charge whether this checkbox is checked or not.
    4. If the box is unchecked, select the specific location of this individual charge using the last drop-down. Since you want to vary the charges, you’ll have to add each one individually by repeating these steps.
  6. After completing the “New Charge Wizard” or simply selecting “Division” or “Ordinary” from the object list, the right side of the application will fill in with several other choices:
    • If you chose a creature or symbol, you may change its height and width as a percentage of the shield’s size. You may choose a primary color for the creature or symbol and in many cases you may also choose a secondary color. You may position the creature or symbol using the horizontal or vertical controls. These are a number of pixels to move the object in one direction or the other. The horizontal selector causes the object to go to the left as the number increases while the vertical indicator causes the object to go down as the number increases. Finally you may rotate the object by entering a number of degrees using the rotation selector.
    • If you chose a division or ordinary, only the list of divisions or ordinaries and a color selector will appear.
  7. Create a second object by clicking the green square in the center of the shield again. Edit it as desired using the instructions above.
  8. Now you have created two objects on the shield. Now if you click on the green square in the center of the shield you will have a new option to “Reorder” the objects. Choosing this will open a new window listing the object that are on the main shield area. Select the top object. Click the “move selected object down” button. The two objects in the list will be reversed and they will now be reversed (the one that was on top will be below) on the shield. Click the same object in the list then click the “move selected object up” button to put it back.

How Divisions Work

  1. Add a division just as you would any other object. (Click on the green square in the center of the shield and choose “Add a Division.”)
  2. Select a type of division. (For example Per Pale.)
  3. Now you will have a couple of extra green squares on the shield. Don’t worry about these yet.
  4. Change the color of each part of the division using the controls in the “Edit Object” area. (For Example, if you chose “Per Pale” change the color of the “West main color” and “East main color.”)
  5. Now that you can see the different areas of the division, click on a green square that is not the square in the center of the shield. These squares allow you to add objects to particular parts of a division. Choose an object to add to the division.
  6. Continue adding objects as desired.
  • You may subdivide divisions as much as you desire.
  • If selected, the “Resize objects to fit” checkbox causes creatures, symbols, and ordinaries to be scaled to fit within the part of the division you added it. Unchecking it often causes those objects to be partially cropped under the other parts of the division unless they are manually resized to fit.

Printing and Saving

Currently there is no direct support print your creation. However, you can save the image you created by clicking the “Save Image” button at the top of the application. Once you’ve saved the image you can edit it in your favorite image editor (photoshop, gimp, irfanview, ms paint, etc.) and/or print it if you desire.

Comments

Instructions — 2 Comments

  1. If I pruchase the “Pro” software,is it capable of “importing” some of the pictures that I have stored on my computer. I would like to place them on the Shield.
    Can I use only 2 pictures on the Shield?

  2. The pro version does allow you to use your own images, but with a big caveat: Your images may not be transparent. If you use jpgs, nothing is transparent and that will affect/cover up parts of the shield that are under the rectangle that is your overall image. GIF & PNG does support transparency which fixes this issue, but some GIF & PNG images don’t use transparency.

    And those images can not be re-colored within the software. (Only repositioned and resized/scaled.)