What's in a Name

[kjc733]

Wahoo, my net connection is finally good enough to upload!

Ok, to business. Having watched the Star Trek Andromeda clips on the Fan Made CGI thread, I had this overwhelming urge to build a Starfleet carrier. Now this was a bit of a challenge for me (not least because of my poor old laptop creaking under the strain), and it is by far the most complex mesh I've ever done - certainly a far cry from my usual subs and fighters.

Anyway, after much ado, she's gone as far as I can take her, and I'm rather pleased with the results. Obviously she's derrived from a Sovereign type-configuration (which was again harder than I'd expected) although there are some differences, the obvious one being the saucer hanger has been extended forward and down and includes a forward facing door.



Unfortunately, I'm terrible at naming things. After some consideration and discussion I have two, the USS Endeavour (a good strong Trek name), and the USS Righteous (named for an Excelsior lost at Wolf 359). Both are good names, but neither sit quite right with me. So, anyone have any ideas? Other than Noodle, which is the current placeholder name (in joke).

Constructive criticism also appreciated.

 

[Avon]

Nicely done, she looks good

I've always favoured good old English place names such as: Lincoln, Winchester, Lancashire, Essex, Suffolk and so on.

 

[Jetfreak]

Dang, that's a mighty fine carrier design there. And its a nice design direction you've chosen using the Sovy as a base. It actually reminds me of the Armada 1 Premoniton.

Why not ask the Admins to make a poll for a name?

 

[Hellkite]

USS Indefatigable

HMS Indefatigable was a British Pacific Fleet Air Craft Carrier in WW2 .
that had Battle Honours Norway 1944, Palembang 1945, Okinawa 1945, Japan 1945

 

[FahreS]

Hey that looks pretty cool. It might not be the design that I would prefer for a spaceship, but the mesh looks well done. What I like is the deflector connection to the saucer, looks nice.

Unfortunately, I'm terrible at naming things. After some consideration and discussion I have two, the USS Endeavour (a good strong Trek name), and the USS Righteous (named for an Excelsior lost at Wolf 359). Both are good names, but neither sit quite right with me. So, anyone have any ideas? Other than Noodle, which is the current placeholder name (in joke).

Constructive criticism also appreciated.

Hehe ive usually the same problem^^ and using strange names like "noodle" as space holders is my standard

ive also looked for names like endeavour, righteous and indefatigable, but noticed that the most great adjectives are already used for other star trek ship names.
You should look for something special, a name that wasnt used before, so that everyone has your ship in mind, when he/she hears that name

 

[kjc733]

What I like is the deflector connection to the saucer, looks nice.

That area was probably the most difficult of the lot. I foolishly decided to start with the secondary hull and work out, which meant that the saucer started as a messy triangular wedge - won't be doing that again! Was very tempted to start over but by that time it was a bit late as I'd crafted the nacelles.

My other problem with names is that some of the ones I would consider have already been used on my other meshes: Indomitable, Formidable, Renown, Vanquisher. And whilst they're not starships, I dislike reusing names.

 

[Starfox1701]

Dralafee its Minbary and means Black Star. Nice mesh

 

[FahreS]

That area was probably the most difficult of the lot. I foolishly decided to start with the secondary hull and work out, which meant that the saucer started as a messy triangular wedge - won't be doing that again!

believe me, i do exactly know what you mean^^
But I promise you, youll do such things again

 

[dinosaurJR]

I would call it the USS Nimitz, of the Nimitz class...

Although I kinda like the ring of USS Khitomer... A Khitomer class Carrier...

 

[Atlantis]

Dralafee its Minbary and means Black Star. Nice mesh

Drala'fi. Minbari.

I lean towards the name "Poseidon" for decent carriers. A Greek god, had loads of children, father of many heroes... Plus the main Earth Alliance supercarrier is named Poseidon too, so it's a bit of cheating.

 

[Majestic]

I would call it the USS Nimitz, of the Nimitz class...

Although I kinda like the ring of USS Khitomer... A Khitomer class Carrier...

Drala'fi. Minbari.

I lean towards the name "Poseidon" for decent carriers. A Greek god, had loads of children, father of many heroes... Plus the main Earth Alliance supercarrier is named Poseidon too, so it's a bit of cheating.

I like both those names, they both fit very well.

 

[thunderfoot]

I have a few suggestions for a name. Or names of the units if it is a class. The American centric names have been done too many times. Even the Native American ones. Same with the Greek or Roman ones. Because they've all been seen before, they conjure up images of other ships. Adjectives and adverbs have also been done a great deal. It is time to broaden the minds of a few people. Time to go in new directions and include names from all the wonderful and diverse cultures of Man.

Lead Ship - Shiva, Vishnu, or Kali I am sure there are other heroes and gods of the Hindu world which would be suitable. Vishnu is the penultimate god of the pantheon and the preserver. Shiva is the dark mirror and destroyer. Kali is a lesser avatar of Shiva but no less deadly for that.

Sun Hou Tzu The Monkey King from the wonderful story Journey to the West. Which has quite a few more excellent names based on the descriptions of the characters.

These are a couple of suggestions. I hope they help out.

EDIT: Ooops I forgot a few. From Celtic legend Chuchulain(que-HULL-en) or Wild Hunt, or Lhu.

 

[Majestic]

Not bad Thunderfoot, thanks for suggesting those, I may start to use some Hindu names for units in my game. Thanks.

 

[dinosaurJR]

I have a few suggestions for a name. Or names of the units if it is a class. The American centric names have been done too many times. Even the Native American ones. Same with the Greek or Roman ones. Because they've all been seen before, they conjure up images of other ships. Adjectives and adverbs have also been done a great deal. It is time to broaden the minds of a few people. Time to go in new directions and include names from all the wonderful and diverse cultures of Man.

Lead Ship - Shiva, Vishnu, or Kali I am sure there are other heroes and gods of the Hindu world which would be suitable. Vishnu is the penultimate god of the pantheon and the preserver. Shiva is the dark mirror and destroyer. Kali is a lesser avatar of Shiva but no less deadly for that.

Sun Hou Tzu The Monkey King from the wonderful story Journey to the West. Which has quite a few more excellent names based on the descriptions of the characters.

These are a couple of suggestions. I hope they help out.

EDIT: Ooops I forgot a few. From Celtic legend Chuchulain(que-HULL-en) or Wild Hunt, or Lhu.

You know, this is something I have never really thought about - but Its true - the Westernized names DO get overused... Its like 1000 years in the future, and whats you ship called? "Defiant" or "Windrunner" or "Excelsior" or "USS Cup of Tea Old Chap"... even "USS Bismarck"... And no thought given to the hundreds of other cultures on old Earth that would have been mixed up in the melting pot...

 

[Atlantis]

"USS Cup of Tea Old Chap"

Surely you mean HMS, not USS.

And I'll have you know the HMS Cup of Tea Old Chap was one of the most prestigious vessels in history!

It's good to see the envelope of naming conventions being widened; it is quite surprising that Celtic and Hindu names aren't used very much yet. Will have to do some research, I think.

As an aside... 'Excelsior' is a type of packing material, is it not? Look it up. (Wikipedia:"Wood wool")

 

[kjc733]

I'll have to remember "HMS Cup of Tea Old Chap" for the next one.

I actually quite like Khitomer as well, something tickles me about naming a carrier after a peace treaty (or place where a treaty was signed). But no decision made yet.
Some good ideas all round though, may as well keep them coming as I'm sure others will find it useful.

 

[dinosaurJR]

Surely you mean HMS, not USS.

And I'll have you know the HMS Cup of Tea Old Chap was one of the most prestigious vessels in history!

It's good to see the envelope of naming conventions being widened; it is quite surprising that Celtic and Hindu names aren't used very much yet. Will have to do some research, I think.

As an aside... 'Excelsior' is a type of packing material, is it not? Look it up. (Wikipedia:"Wood wool")

Ah - someone else who remembers the good old HMS Cup of Tea Old Chap... or the "Cuppa" as we affectionately named her... It was never the same after they transferred me to the "HMS Apples and Pears, Plates of Meat, I'm A Cockney I'm A Cockney Cor Blimey Guvner What a Two and Eight and No Mistake Fish and Chips, Not Arf!"...

 

[kjc733]

It was never the same after they transferred me to the "HMS Apples and Pears, Plates of Meat, I'm A Cockney I'm A Cockney Cor Blimey Guvner What a Two and Eight and No Mistake Fish and Chips, Not Arf!"...

Wow, they must have used a small font to get that on the cap badge. Or did everyone just have very big hats?

 

[kjc733]

Apologies for the double post.
I just wrote a response on another thread, and I realised that it was equally applicable here. This mesh is built using Maya 5 on a 6 year old laptop (I know!). It is by far the most complex mesh I have ever done, and once smoothed is the most poly heavy. There is detail I'd like to add, but my machine protests as it is now, so I've had to stop.
The next step would obviously be texturing it properly but, sadly, there just never seems to be enough hours in a day to get everything done. And in this case it'd mean learning to uv map, learning how to use photoshop, and then learning how to texture to a decent level. And then I still wouldn't be able to render it due to my pc limitations.
So in short, for the time being the Noodle probably won't be changing much (I may colour the phasor strips but thats about it). So if anyone feels like taking a crack at doing something with her then drop me a pm and I'll send a copy of the mesh.

 

[Starfox1701]

Heres a link to a tool that helps with the UV maping and 2 tutorials on how to use it.

UVMapper.com - downloads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-YSKPa9NBM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcmA7cebFsM