Hello folks!
This one is for you guys who take computer graphics as business, how much the average 3d cg Artist (lets keep the superstars off)charges for a complete piece? (Model, texture, rig). Thanks in advance!
This is a very broad question…
-
First i would ask is where are you from or where do u intend to sell. (Prices around the world vary significantly)
-
What kind of model, rig and textures? (quality)
You can make a random rigged human with the help of Makehuman and Blender in half a hour. Or custom made model and rig in few days.
Really cant give a definitive answer here.
Try to find a picture of a model you want to price and leave as many details about the (can be hipotetic) project and pricing.
And still pricess will vary from person to person.
Take care.
Ok, let’s suppose our customer is an Indie Gamedev Studio from US or Europe, who’s looking for a complete and very accurate piece, an original lowpoly character(Non photorrealistic) Of good quality for their game. The entire world of the game is already set, but they couldn’t provide you with artworks, wich means you’ll have to do them yourself, and make sure everything fits correctly. How much would you charge for something like that? Would you charge by hour or by model?
Obs.: Let’s use USD as currency
Always- always charge by model. I have never charged hourly, and I have never had a reason to do so. When you do that, your client is going to want you to finish sooner (particularly if they’re indie devs as they likely don’t have any money to spare.) The idea is to avoid as many surprises for either party as possible.
If they’re indie, I highly doubt they have much money to pay you, so asking too much is going to make you lose the job- which doesn’t work out for anybody, because then they’ll go off to find an artist who will work for a small income, but most likely won’t be able to deliver a product of the same quality as you (assuming that you’re an experienced artist).
So it’s very important to balance between the profit you want (keep in mind costs like time + electricity) and what they feel they are comfortable with delivering.
Also while I’m at it, please, for your own sake and theirs, make them sign a contract. I can’t tell you how much it has cost me because I (foolishly) used a trust based system only to find a client say, “so here’s the thing.”
To answer your question- instead of rambling- unless it’s a really low poly style they’re looking for, (say, WoW) never drop below $200 for the bare model, no rig, no textures. If they offer you less than that, you know they are not going to commit to paying you at all, and you should walk away as fast as possible.
I see your point, charging hourly would definitely lead to unrealistic deadlines, specially if working with Indie Devs without a lot of money to spend in 3d models. The contract is also an important aspect of service, do you have any that would serve this purpose that you could share with us? I’m still curious, how did you get at that price of $200? And how much profit a freelancer can get without being abusive? You know, once I’ve pitched a professional(superstar) freelancer, and he told me he could get around 10k/mo (about three years ago). Let’s suppose he was really fast and could get a complete (and complex) model every three days, we know that:
!!!Warning Hyphotetical values below!!!
Monthly: 10 models
Monthly Profit: $10,000.00
Average $1,000.00/model (Contribution Margin)
Which means:
1000 = Selling Price - (costs)
1000 + costs = Selling Price
Supposing his costs were $50…
How absurd $1050/model is?
A lot I guess, but let’s see with your Seling Price of $200:
Monthly: ?? models
Monthly Profit: ???
Average ??? (Contribution Margin)
??? = 200 - (costs)
??? + costs = 200
How much/montlhy a Freelance 3d Artist(not superstar/not starving artist) can make?
Really you’re only options regarding freelancing (until you have a high quality portfolio) are:
Have someone else pay for your living (probably your parents)
Have another job as you’re primary source of income
Or live in a second world country.
I am currently using the first option (at least until I get out of college) but most people aren’t as fortunate. Until you’re a reputable artist bringing in jobs reliably (through a vendor is probably safest) from big companies, you cannot expect to make a living. Assuming that the pro you talked to is taking jobs for companies that need 3d graphics like Sony or some other, it’s not surprising to me that the lovely $10,000/month comes from just one job. But like you said, this guy is a cut above the rest.
I say the bare minimum I’ll take is $200 because I found that anything less than that and the client isn’t going to follow up. So it’s not a base price for what you can accept, but rather, if you accept anything less, you might as well go to the volunteer section of BA instead.
Personally, more than anything I have found that I just really enjoy being in a situation where I am able to help small game developers with some (not to blow my own whistle) pretty high quality models. Of course, it also helps that it builds up a good portfolio for when I actually get into the game industry.
But I’m done rambling. Before I forget- contracts. I’m just using one I saw from Wiki How. I print it, photocopy it, sent it to my client, he signs it, photocopies it again, sends it back, I print it again. That’s usually more than enough to make sure they commit to a payment. If you’re feeling really loose about it, as long as you have a recording of it, I think in the US you can actually have verbal contracts, but I don’t get into the legal bits. Just make sure they know they have to pay you.
Well that’s a good starting point, thank you for your feedback SilentRainstar.
$10K is very reasonable.
It comes down to ‘how much is your time and effort worth to you’? I don’t see any problem charging the maximum amount possible for a model you’ve invested your time into, if these “indie devs” don’t want to pay the price for the convenience of not having to model it themselves then maybe they shouldn’t have taken on the project before they took costs into account.
That’s what budgeting and accounting is for, to estimate the costs BEFORE starting the project. If their estimates are that far off that they’re considering paying $10K for a model then they either need a better budgeting department, are really desperate, or just don’t want to do it themselves.
One possibility is maybe they spent to much money on overpriced software (3DS MAX, MODO, etc) so they could strut around like the big boys, and are trying to get ‘off the hook’ by cheaping out on everybody else’s work. Who’s to say.
Get in contact with the ‘devs’ and haggle over the price if they really want your model, no one says you can’t always come down on the price if it’s in your best interest or you really believe in the project.
Either way, don’t feel bad about getting the most profit you can from your hard work. Maybe those ‘indie devs’ should have saved money by using Blender in the first place!
@fitz301 Everybody’s gotta get a start somewhere, so you can’t blame them for not being willing to dish out the cash for freelancers. You also can’t really get into freelancing expecting someone to pay you something you can live on before you have a portfolio- that portfolio is only made by taking these crap jobs. Unfortunately, if he tries to put a decent pricetag on his models, he’s not going to find any work at all.
@March0514S Because of this, I would recommend (unless you say something about exclusive use in your contract) posting your model on the Unity asset store or Turbo Squid or some other once the job is done.
If there is seriously someone interested in one of his models, no matter the price, the matter of a “portfolio” becomes irrelevent it becomes a matter of “if you want it, that’s the price or maybe we can work something out” because these hypothetical “indie devs” are most likely in the same position the freelancer is or they wouldn’t be “indie” devs.
If that’s the case, then they had better produce they’re “portfolio” as well just to make sure who you’re dealing with.
Besides, his scenario is all HYPOTHETICAL and apparently you didn’t read the part about working with the potential buyer so both parties would be satisfied. Having to start with “crap jobs” is a myth perpetuated by those whose work wasn’t good enough in the first place - not everyone started with “crap jobs”.
independent developers are not hypothetical people, so you don’t need to put quotations around them, nor state that they are such. How is a portfolio irrelevant? That is complete unfettered nonsense. An individual would not be able to see his model if he had not made any before, and I don’t know about you, but I would highly recommend using a freelancer who has dealt with clients before over one who has not. You seem to be assuming that someone is going to seek out an individual to say “You! Your work is the work I want!” But that doesn’t happen. You have to actively pursue clients, not the other way around. That’s how a free market works.
But I won’t sit around and debate with you because I have better things to be doing with my time and it’s disrespectful to OP who is actually trying to get some advice, and I assume he would like his ability to do so be unhindered by the rabble that plagues this forum. Plus I just love insults. They make me really confident that those around me are focused on constructive intent.
What insult?
I had no idea we were talking about YOU, or did you just feel the need to make this discussion about you?
I’m sorry if you took it personally, but it’s true that not everyone had to start with “crap jobs” and clearly those of us who didn’t have to do “crap jobs” first or were mature enough to not consider them “crap” jobs had what it takes to do so.
And yes, the $10K dollar figure was given as hypothetical and was clearly labeled as such so apparently you also have reading comprehension problems.
And lastly, don’t refer to me or my posts as “rabble” since you don’t know me or anything about me. It’s posters like you, that need sunshine blown up their backsides constantly lest the feel “insulted” who are the problem.
I strongly suggest that you read some of the books by the late Herman Holtz (nee: Hermann Holz) about “consulting contracts.” This is very important business information that will cover a lot of things that you probably haven’t thought of … things that can easily cost you your shirt.
You need to execute a written blanket contract with your client, and then operate on a work- or task-order system throughout. In the blanket contract, you include everything that you “assumed.” Ownership of work product, exclusivity, payment terms, the work/task order system, default technical parameters (unless otherwise specified in an order), who may issue orders and must they be accepted, down payment, hourly vs. piece work, progress payment, changes and acceptance, warranties, abandonment of contract, conflict resolution. The list goes on.
The first thing that the client may have to buy from you is … your design and specification time. The time you spend on the phone, the drawings you make. To reach the point where the two of you are ready to execute an actual order for the first deliverable to be produced … if one ever actually is.
Keep a “running log” of what you do every day. A scrupulously detailed diary. “Clock in,” recording in detail the time you spend on everything. “Clock out” for lunch and “clock in” thereafter. First of all, this will enable you to recover the cost of the time actually spent, and to improve your forecasting hence your billing. It will provide detailed invoices that will help convince the client that s/he is getting value for price paid … and the price of her indecision. “All the meticulous paper work stuff that you thought you wouldn’t have to do because you’re ‘working for yourself’ … heh.”
Years go by and everything’s smoothie … until one :eek: puts everything of your procedure to the test. One client took me to small claims court just to try to apply pressure. Forgot that he’d signed an eleven-page contract and that I had a copy with his original blue-pen signature on it, along with phone logs, time logs, and the project running-log. Oops. And that was the end of that.
If you think it’s about being offended you are going to be direly disappointed. I care little for someone is offended by words, because offense is a choice- but this is an art forum. And you know what’s really productive for artists? Negative reinforcement from strangers. It also speaks very strongly of the individual if they are incapable of speaking without being rude or belittling others, and these individuals are rarely well equipped enough to actually provide any proper information.
Please also note the incredible hypocrisy of your statement.
“And lastly, don’t refer to me or my posts as “rabble” since you don’t know me or anything about me. It’s posters like you, that need sunshine blown up their backsides constantly lest the feel ‘insulted’ who are the problem.”
But as I have said, enough of my own, and OP’s time has been wasted.
@sundialsvc4 Thank you for the feedback, I was also concerned about the operational aspects, and the excellent book recommendation, i’ll add it to my readlist.
@fitz301 I’m glad to read that, even though I’m just starting out, it’s good to know that this isn’t a cheap Market.
@SilentRainstar I’ve considered selling models at blendermarket, but doing generic stuff is so boring that I’m fighting that option…
I’m actually between starting a portfolio and doing generic models for Blender Market…
Take a look at this article, about the cost of a single game character: