Jack Tomalin

Finally, March Update!

Jack — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:01:07 +0000

Hey strangers!

Well, finally taking a moment while I can to post a quick update about what's been going on.

Firstly - you will have noticed the site has had a bit of a spruce up! I've tried to add in a bit more 'big store' functionality and while not 100% it is a lot better I think. Amongst other things, you can control your download history and reset downloads as you wish. I've not had any complaints so far, but if you have any thoughts or feedback please let me know.

Secondly - my newest PA product - Anderson Hall was released. It's a rather swish mansion entrance hallway, which will fit in well with Baroque Grandeur. The response and support was brilliant, despite it getting caught up with all the insane March Madness deals which are going around.

Finally, the new revamped Guildhall is being released 'soon'. I've somehow managed to fit in retexturing it amongst everything else which is going on around here.

My Platinum Club duties are still being carried out too - and there is some brilliant stuff in the can. As always, I can't say much, however, the PC Anniversary? OMG!

Any comments or suggestions, drop me an email or find me on Facbook or Twitter.

Cheers!

January News

Jack — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:41:25 +0000

A belated Happy New Year everyone!

I hope by now you have all recovered and fully digested those Christmas dinners.

The keen eyed amongst you will notice the forum post and newsletter emails about the Redhouse Studio content being temporarily pulled from DAZ.

This is only short-term, while I look to replace the textures and I will then be relaunching the products as soon as is humanly possible. However, I am unable to give you a definite time-scale, since it will all have to be done in between my usual duties for the Platinum Club (which keeps me busy enough as it is) - as well getting married in May. But I will do my best.

Owners of the original products will of course be granted free updates - so please don't worry. Whether the original textures will be released separately by Gordana I do not know at this time, sorry.

I would like to just state for the record, there is no conspiracy thoery - I am not leaving DAZ, nor is any of my own 'Jack Tomalin' content being affected - just the older Redhouse stuff. All our Platinum content is DAZ-owned, and will remain as-is.

In other, more positive news, a mini-themed set of products has been delivered to DAZ for the Platinum Club, West Park Basement has just been released - and I am currently texturing my next brokered product too. Lot's on the go, and as always, I'm not allowed to say anything.

And remember, that silence on the site doesn't mean nothing is happening. No news is good news as they say in that respect. I look forward to being able to unveil more of my work as time allows.

Thanks for reading, as usual, if you have any comments or suggestions don't hesitate to get in touch!

Cheers!

Season’s Greetings

Jack — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:20:39 +0000

Well, here we are.

Nearing the end of a long and eventful year. The Platinum Club has seen some 30+ products created for it, along with releases of both Sacrament and The Library amongst other things. Next year is shaping up to be quite hectic too, which work has already begun on!

Before I get back to work, a couple of goodies for you all. Firstly, Michael314 over on the DAZ forums pointed me towards a freebie on the 3D World Advent Calender

Secondly, I appreciate most of you are all spent-out now with all the sales and promotions that are on - but here's a little coupon for you. 30OFFTOMALIN2011 will get you 30% off my stuff either here or at DAZ, so if you wanted to treat yourself you can.

With that, I just want to say thanks for all the support this year and wish you all a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Insert your own celebration here. I hope you all have a good, peaceful and safe time over the festive period.

As always, feel free to get in touch with any comments/suggestions.

Cheers!

Say hello to my little friends

Jack — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:04:22 +0000

A lesser known side-project of mine is as part of the Cornish Knocker Company.

It's based loosely around the old legends and folklore of Cornwall - and features characters such as piskies, yaargs, knockers, mermaids and much, much, more. If you're new to it all and are wondering just what I am babbling on about, be sure to check out the Knockerpedia which will explain all!

As well as 2D illustrations, we also provide a unique 3D perspective on the Knockerverse and that is where I come in. It's worlds apart from my usual architectural offerings, being totally bonkers and far less uniform that I'm normally used to it is a nice departure from the day job. It's actually a lot harder than it appears to take a 2D illustration and turn it into something 3D, while keeping the original look and feel, but we're all pleased with the results so far - and have a lot more stuff in the pipeline too.

If this is your thing, or you would like to find out more, be sure to check out our site at www.cornishknockers.com. There are both Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep up to date too, so be sure to join up! Want to support us? Head on over to our Zazzle store where you will find all manner of wonders: prints, posters, t-shirts and more.. ideal for Christmas and birthday presents.

I will be posting more details of up and coming Knocker projects too, so stay tuned!

Cheers!

November?!?

Jack — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:49:41 +0000

I can't believe we are already in November.. where did the year go?

I read online somewhere something along the lines of 'Time goes so fast nowadays that when I look at a calendar I feel like a bewildered time-traveller' and that sums it up perfectly.

November, like October, is going to be quite an eventful one. There is a lot going on which I'm sure I've told you all about enough so I won't bore you again just yet. But please, check back regularly since there are going to be at least one thing which is going to be just a 24 hour event.

It will be across both here and DAZ, so whatever the weather you shouldn't miss out.

Thanks to everyone who supported and enjoyed the Platinum Club Anniversary stuff. You'll be pleased to know we're already thinking about next years plan

Oh and hello to all the new subscribers - don't be shy, feel free to drop me an email and say hi if you wish.

For now, cheers!

Platinum Club Anniversary is GO!

Jack — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:23:16 +0000

The Carnival has finally come to town!

This theme has been in production since March and is a culmination of months of hard work from everyone involved at the Platinum Club towers. We decided then to go for a 1930's Carnival, complete with a worn-out depression era look.

My own personal contribution included a large part of the architectural pieces. From the Entrance, to the Big Tent, Midway stalls and Carousel, it was a massive project over a long period of time. These sort of projects you come to loathe after looking at them for so long, so it was nice to finally get it released and see the enjoyment that everyone gets from them.

For more details, teasers and news on the rewards associated with the Platinum Club 9th Anniversary celebrations check out the DAZ forums

Here are the promo images I made to accompany the release:

And here is an animation showing the carousel in full swing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51rg0Gh8LaM

There are still loads of things which we can add to this and I dare say we will in the future. Like most 'themes' I work on (West Park, GIS, Curious) they are never final. So stay tuned - and if you have any suggestions of what you would like to see then get in touch.

Thanks and enjoy!

July Update

Jack — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:04:50 +0000

Hey folks!

I'll take this opportunity while waiting on a render to blow the dust off the site and post a little update.

I should just point out, that while it might be quiet on the outside looking in, things here are far from it! The Platinum Club has some really good stuff tucked up, packed and ready for release between now and Christmas. I don't think I've had much out recently, but there is a ton of stuff in the wings. That said, the Platinum Club has been releasing some really stuff without me, so my absence is no great loss at the moment

As always I can't really say much about what I've been up to - but it's going to be exciting. I've been revisiting a few of the popular themes (GIS fans take note!) as well as rendering out a massive 1200 frame animation for some promotional stuff. Can't say I've really touched on that kind of stuff before but the end result is looking good.. just a shame it's going to take about a week solid to render it all out. Still, the workstation can now earn it's keep a bit!

I have a new PA project on the back burner too - which again is looking really promising. The texture addon for Sacrament is in the works too, as well as couple of other things.

Readers of the newsletter will have heard that we finally hit 500 subscribers and it's continuing to increase each week. So thanks for that as always and please keep it going. I have a freebie which is kicking about in my work folder too, but who knows when it will be finished.. as soon as it is though, I will get it out to you all.

There was a good number of you who took advantage of the voucher and again, thanks for the support. It's obviously not as attractive as a reward like a entirely free model, but given I won't be putting stuff on sale any time soon I hope it's of use. For those who couldn't take advantage of it, I am looking at putting a voucher out again soon. Probably at 750 subscribers or something - rather than 1000.

Times are tough out there for everyone, so I understand people don't have the budgets like they used to where they can spend loads of money on 3D stuff. But I do appreciate the support that people give me both on here and over at DAZ.

I think that about wraps up the news. Keep the comments and questions coming in too!

Cheers!

PS.� Finally got round to sort out some of my photos from our trip to Dublin this year, this is one of favourites..

Welcome to Parkside

Jack — Sun, 01 May 2011 13:49:55 +0000

West Park and it's add-ons have have really struck a chord with people.

This has spawned a whole town now, dubbed Parkside with the release of two new additions - Parkside Passenger Car and Parkside Box Car.

These highly detailed trains feature both interior and exterior sections as well as including the detailed train track segment too.

Parkside is set to see some new addtions shortly, so be sure to check out DAZ3D.

Old Books

Jack — Sun, 01 May 2011 13:12:32 +0000

One of my things I like to collect is old antique books on architecture.

I haven't got loads, but it's a small little collection which I add to when I find a bargain. I occasionally have a look on eBay and try to limit myself to about £5 for them. There are some amazing ones which come up for sale dating back to the 1600's but obviously they are a little out of price range.

To me there is some quite amazing to read books where Gothic architecture is considered contemporary. I think it also has a lot to do where everything nowadays is digital, especially in my line of work, so having something tangible harking back to the past is brilliant. I wonder if my work will be around that far into the future? I somehow doubt it, but would like to be proved wrong.

The latest I have is from 1926 (English Gothic Architecture) but the oldest goes back to 1869 (Introduction to Gothic Architecture). That was particularly impressive find and I paid a mere £1.99 for that one. Less than the cost of a pint and 143 years old! You can only imagine the people and way of life which has passed the covers of those books.

If you happen to see any on your travels around the Internet, let me know!

March Update

Jack — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:41:53 +0000

Hey,

I'll just take this opportunity to summarise what's been going on - while I have a spare minute.

This week sees another West Park release - this time it's the Ward. There's quite a few West Park products now and I will try and get a proper blog post on them all shortly. There's some really good stuff in the pipeline waiting to be released and fans of West Park will be in for a treat.

Work has also been split between the 3D stuff and some other web development. I can't really say much about that (as always) but it's been a pretty diverse month. It's a nice change of pace really and helps to keep things fresh and interesting.

With regards the my site, I've had a tweak here and there. I have installed a script which protects all the file links. You will see now that links generated on the site will expire after 5 mins (from when the page loads) to encourage people to check back to the site and stop links being shared about the Internet. The freebie link has also been converted to use this system, where it will expire after 30 minutes. The upshot is that you get the link as soon as you confirm your email, so you shouldn't have to wait around now. If anyone has any problems with them just drop me an email and I'll do my best to sort it.

Newsletter scheduling is still broken, so I'm having to do it manually. Not sure what the problem is to be honest and time is short to really get in there and solve the problem. Oh well! That one has to wait for now.

I've also been working on my own product too. It's coming along nicely and I think should see the light of day in 4-6 weeks. It's a huge project, coupled with the fact that it has to take the back seat to my Platinum Club duties means everything takes that much longer.

Finally, thanks to everyone who responded to the last email I sent out. I will hopefully be getting the first of the texture resource packs out this week. Bear in mind they are going to be straight out of the camera, so they are not going to be perfect. But, they will be a really good start to make some quality high resolution texture maps from - they are 21MP which is 5616x3744 pixels.

Sorry it's been quiet on the image front - I have to work on a delay until stuff gets released at DAZ. But like I say they next couple of weeks should see some new stuff coming out which I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions to.

Until then,

Cheers!