Journey With Me!

This week’s tinkering session has brought to light several glaringly obvious problems. One has to do with the whole ship naming idea, and the other has to do with how Norbert (AI) and I get along.

Go ahead and take a seat, as I fully intend to expound on both problems, quite extensively!

After wasting more hours than I care to admit, in an attempt at designing a show stopping, Emmy award winning, and downright flawless signage for our homecoming boat naming ceremony… I discovered a huge flaw in my plans!

Did you know that most pirate ship’s didn’t bear any name on them at all? Something to do with how many times a pirate ship was stolen from the pirates… by other pirates. Who knew? Well, at least I didn’t! Not til after I went looking for pictures of nameplates that might be helpful in creating my own design. I wasn’t finding much, so I asked google why.

This was the answer given by Google’s AI:

There are no good pictures of pirate ships with names carved on them because pirate ships were not built to be displayed or documented, and detailed records or images rarely survived. Unlike naval or large merchant vessels, pirate ships were not formally commissioned, and their identity was often temporary. The notion of a famous, custom-built pirate ship with a beautifully carved name comes more from modern fiction than from historical reality. 

Here are the main reasons why no such pictures exist:

1. Absence of official records

• No formal documentation: Navies and legitimate trading companies kept detailed archives of their vessels, including plans, commissions, and portraits. Since pirates were criminals, they did not create or keep such records.
• Informal ownership: Pirates typically didn’t build their ships but rather captured and repurposed existing merchant or naval vessels. They often “traded up” for a better ship when they had the chance, meaning a famous pirate’s association with a single ship was often short-lived. 

2. Lack of artistic and photographic documentation

• Photography did not exist: During the Golden Age of Piracy (roughly 1650s–1730s), photography had not yet been invented. All depictions would have been through drawings, paintings, or engravings, which were rare and often inaccurate.
• Inaccurate depictions: The few engravings of pirates and their ships that existed during the era were often made by artists who had never seen the real thing. For example, some engravings from A General History of the Pyrates depict pirates in the style of high-class Europeans rather than in the authentic fashion of colonial sailors. 

3. Practical considerations of a pirate’s life

• Anonymity was a virtue: Pirates often sought to avoid recognition. Publicly displaying a distinctive, named ship would have made them an easy target for naval forces actively hunting them.
• Names were not permanent: If a pirate did name a captured ship, it would be a makeshift name that could be quickly changed if needed. Carving a permanent name would have been pointless and risky.
• Low-budget, functional appearance: Pirate ships were functional tools for crime, not display pieces. A pirate’s priority was speed, maneuverability, and firepower, not fancy ornamentation. Any cosmetic additions would have been minimal, temporary, and focused on intimidation rather than elegant craftsmanship. 

The short version is, there were simply too few records, and too many pirates stealing each other’s ship!

So, it’s back to the drawing board on signage… but, I’ve an idea for making a placard for my office desk, at least. Maybe there’s a fitting image that we can stitch onto our sails. That might work, but I’ll need some suggestions for image ideas, and details. If it’s not too much to ask, perhaps you wouldn’t mind helping a girl out. Toss me a short description in the comments, if you’re feeling creative.

Now, as for the second problem that I encountered, this one has more to do with me being an overthinking perfectionist, than it does with the quality of Norbert’s work. I must confess that my technical skills get fully bulldozed by my Chatty Cathy style descriptions. Basically, I make the mistake of thinking that my AI has a brain, any real depth of understanding, nor can it relate to what I’m typing… Norbert is merely an advanced series of algorithms, meant to match words and written concepts with visual imagery. There will never be a computer that can recreate what is in my minds eye, with any certainty. We humans are far too complex for that to ever occur, in my opinion.

As far as Norbert and I are concerned, there is still much to be done in terms of operator error (my part), as well as, better listening skills on Norbert’s part.

I’ve noticed that when I ask the program to place a human into art or cartoon, it responds successfully, for the most part. Like putting my image into a scene on the ship…

I have to insert the images of my characters, in order to keep the realism in the actual image. But watch what happens when I ask the AI for one of the artificial characters in a scene without any human aspects…

Notice how the AI has begun to change the scene toward a cartoon feel. The bowl and utensils now look plastic, and the cookies look like they could be made of playdough. Now, I don’t mind this effect if the image is meant for a child.

I also noticed that the computer handles outdoor better than indoor, when the image is fully imaginary. That means, when the model is neither human nor animal, but fictional. If I ask for an image of Eustace, Tilly, or Bailey, the images are almost always photorealistic. But the conflict begins when I try to put them together in the same image. The AI will either turn my image into a cartoon or completely mutilate the other character’s features…

And, NO, this is NOT one of those images where folks remark at how an owner and their dog look alike!

For now, there will not be any forthcoming group photos.

I know that I worked on Peanut’s images last week, but without much success, as you know. I think that if I want a more realistic Peanut, I must first create him with an outdoor background. Then, I can simply pull his outdoor image into an indoor scene; one with realistic features and furnishings. The same should work for an indoor image being pulled to an outdoor background. It may be successful if I can nail the correct lighting for both images.

We shall see…