Pricing (help)

I’m not sure if it’s the right place but I’m kinda new so please, go easy on me :D. So… soon I will begin my work as a 3D modeler for a certain somebody seriously involved in 3D printing. Could you give me estimated price on how much you would charge for modeling these hi-poly models. I would like to get a glimpse of level of detail to price ratio or whatever you wanna call it :). Maybe you made something and you can say how much you got paid for it? Please let me know :).

iron man helmet


helmet from Fallout


sci-fi rifle


I hope this is enough. Wish I could add more but I can’t (3 pics per post :<)

Moved from “Jobs > Paid Work” to “Misc: > Off-topic Chat”

The jobs forums are for offers of work, not for price fishing.

it depends on your skill level, experience and your costs of living. if you have more experience you can charge more an hour.

you have to calculate software cost, cost of living for you, taxes, insurances and everything else that comes with that.

average hourly rate for individual freelancer is around 35USD an hour.

so let’s say that helmet takes you 7 business days to complete, 8 hours a day, 835 = 280 a day, 2807 = 1960. usually it takes less time, but that’s how it works.

Why not charge for amount of labor put in the models? i.e. $$ per hour?

Also, if you take a peek at CG Trader and Turbosquid you’ll see that simple low-poly/low-size models usually don’t go over $20, while complex models like rifles/cars/spaceships vary from $150-$500 depending on complexity.

I think he wants a fixed price :). Since you mentioned what do you get per hour for such work? Is there a difference in price when you compare custom commission work and models from turbosquid for example?

You mentioned you are doing work as a 3d modeler for someone doing 3d printing? Are you working from pre-designed plans that someone else did? Are you designing from scratch? Is it for decoration or industry/automotive applications where the output project requires a high degree of precision?

Often when I see someone wanting to contract me for design/installation/modification work (electronics) And they are wanting to pay me a fixed price for the “project”. It is often part of a bait and switch tactic in an effort to get highly complex/demanding work done for the price of a simpler design. Look for amorphous language, work requirements and project scope and if you see some of that I would personally begin to ask some definitive questions to determine how much effort will be required.

And if pricing is being talked about between you and the " certain somebody seriously involved in 3D printing" They should already have a fair idea what would and would not be a fair price for rendered services ( Or have on speed dial the person who does). And if they are " seriously involved in 3D printing." And they feign ignorance as to what part of that workflow costs…I won’t tell you to say no. But I myself personally would show some concern at that point as to long term viability of their 3d printing endeavors. And on the flip side to that. If they do know what said 3d modeling services would pay and they are hedging on giving you fully the scope of work that would be required. Then I would ask if this is the person you would wish to interact with on a regular basis in a professional manor.

You can not get something for nothing, But you can get something and have someone else foot the bill.

That is quite an answer, thank you for your concern :). By “seriously” I mean printing a lot but not for movie of game industry. Mostly personal use or collecting purposes :). My job will invovle recreating stuff so design is not my area of work, just modeling :). He asked me to come up with a price so… that’s what I’m trying to do :).

I have not gone into 3d printing as much as I would of liked to, I have done some work with programming for a cns machine and some work in modding 2d printing devices to serve as x/y controllers for other applications. So that will have to be the workflow template I would have to use as much as it could be applicable. Although a CNS machine takes a piece of stock material, Or often a piece of molded material and removes the unwanted portions from it. And 3d printers tend to deposit donor materials to produce an end item. Still both of them use comparable control systems.

But as from what I am now reading this is not so much a professional endevour, But a personal hobby/self improvement endevour? but right now as I read this in-order for anyone to give you a definitive response you would have to provide far more concise and non ambiguous details. such as.

1-Your Skill level in 3d modeling, Are you a novice? professional? college grad that majored in it? a hobbist of several years?

2-Your Associates skill level in 3d modeling (I have done ‘some’ dabbling in those area’s and it is almost unavoidable to play in any fabrication field anymore with out using some form of modeling program) If I had to guess they most likely have a degree of mechanical proficiency for machine/structure design, But have not tackled organic like shapes or designed machine parts to be ergonomic? (an art onto its self) That is the only reason I can think of for them outsourcing.

3- What type of fabrication rig does your Associate have? What is its size? Is it a cobbled together from hp printers ( I still use one for etching circuit boards) ? Is it based on the popular adrino cns rig Those are fun toys but calibrating them to scale tends to be an uphill battle that requires a constant input of man-hours, Or is it a more complex design (potentially bought rather then home brewed?) That has several forms of feedback loops built into the control servo’s to ensure faithful and accurate reproduction?

4- What is the end product your Associate is wanting produced? knicknacks for a shelf? classic and outdated automotive replacement parts? Custom enclosures for designer electronics? Or works of display arts for a portfolio?

5- What is the desired quality and details of models?

6-And anything else you think could be useful information to be had. Its is less then productive to ask people for advice, Then correct them as you give them more information. It wastes everyone’s time and makes some speculate on other tangential topics of concern when dealing with anythings in regard to internet communication.

Whoa, Joseph. Hold your horses :smiley:

The guy’s just not sure about the kind of price he could put on his work.

I’d say, if you, gaius, do a nice, neat, and fairly accurate job in modeling the things you listed… You could probably charge the customer ~$200 for each (rifle definitely, helmets I’d get off for ~$150). I’d say, the price range you should give your guy’s ~$100-250 per model.

You’ll get yourself a more exact price once you finished the models (since you can’t really put a definite price on what’s not yet there).

Here’s a totally overpriced helmet I got from google Iron Man Helmet

That’s all imho, of course! I am no expert (not a qualified one at least ;)), and my opinion is open for debate.

Thx, that’s the answer I’ve been looking for :D. No disrespect Joseph but it feels like you go into too much detail. My task is simple - model hi-poly elements such as… helmets, armor parts, sci-fi weapons. I’ve been requested to provide them with specific minimal thickness and that’s it. I don’t know why I should possess any knowledge of his software/hardware, how to calibrate it etc. I’m sorry if it feels like I’m wasting your time but I’m not very talkative + english is not my first language…

BTW the link you shared - that guy stolen those models -.-.I tried to report such stuff to Etsy before but they take it into consideration only if you own rights to that specific model.

i’m not sure how do you even survive on that money, especially coming from your location (US). you can’t look at cgtrader and other 3D selling website to estimate your price. you sell there for quantity and that’s not how it works when you freelance for a client.

also the price you mentioned about lowpoly models not going over 20$, that’s like that maybe on turbosquid, but when you work with a client as a freelancer, it can go well over 1000$.

100-250 per model is ridiculous, mcdonalds employee makes more than you, and he/she doesn’t need any skills. so your googled info is completely wrong and you are underselling yourself which is bad in the long run.

you should change AT LEAST 500 and up. you should charge per hour and estimate the final price, like i said before it depends on the individual how much he needs. i gave you the formula how you gonna estimate your price in my previous post.

in the end it depends how fast you are and how much you need to pay your expenses.

  • A barrel, box or crate, $50+
  • An empty simple warehouse structure, $500+
  • Series of map objects, pillars, arches, doorways, $750+
  • Small empty ‘industrial’ level, no map objects, $2,500+
  • Larger empty ‘industrial’ level, no map objects, $5,000+
  • A ‘city’ scape level, no map objects, $5,000+
  • Large level including terrain and buildings, no map objects, $10,000+
  • Character less than 1000 triangles, rigged, no animation, $800+
  • Character less than 2500 triangles, rigged, no animation, $1,500+
  • Character less than 5000 triangles, rigged no animation, $2,500+
  • Character less than 5000 triangles, rigged with animations, $5,000+
  • Content for small virtual world, $2,500+
  • Content for a large virtual world, $5,000+

Rinoz, I can only agree with your last statement, because that’s pretty much the way the cost of any custom job is calculated: time*expenses.

I’ve only one statement to make in response, so I’ll make it short - the price depends on the customer.

If you’re charging all your clients 10k per scene… you won’t get many clients. Overall, it just doesn’t sound like Gaius’ s guy’s a millionaire, therefore I said what I said. You could, of course, bump up the price to $500-$700, but in the end, it all depends on the customer.

Last, but not least, it’s a bad idea to freelance when you don’t have a regular income, because no matter how high, the income from freelancing will not be able to provide you with enough resources (unless you ‘freelance’ for a regular customer, which is equivalent to employment).

completely disagree. here is why,

i freelance, i can live off that. i charge around 25USD per hour, clients who refuse to work with that price are usually indie studios that have very small budgets and can barely afford any talent.

i’ve never heard from serious studio saying it’s too much, because that’s the norm in this industry. it has nothing to do with client being a millionaire, it’s about you and your skills. it’s not about bumping up your prices, and it doesn’t depend on the customer, it depends on you.

on the topic of “freelance bad idea, if you don’t have regular income” is absolutely ridiculous, and i know A LOT of artists who have been freelancing well over 5 years full time. sometimes you work for client for 15 days, sometimes up to 6 months, after that you look for another client or client finds you. that’s how it works usually.

the way i see it, you don’t have much experience in this, my advice would be to read the article i posted and get a better understanding of salaries – if you don’t know something and you aren’t experienced in that, then don’t advise others.

As I said, I am no expert in the field of art trading. If you know better, go ahead. I’m really in no position to argue. Just expressing my opinion here.

Nice arguments and counters. Actually a healthy discussion brings a lot of knowledge to the table and even though only two of you are chatting, a lot many of us are actually hearing the discussion and making up our minds. Thanks both of you.