Here's my humble opinion on the subject. I work professionally in video, graphics and editing. I receive a salary for my work and am pretty comfortable with that. When I'm approached to do outside work, I charge fair market value for my work (pretty much what Mark described, although I'd guess he's in a bigger market than I am, so his prices are a bit higher than mine.) (Also bear in mind that I'm not really comfortable charging that rate for 3D work yet; I do charge pro rates for AfterEffects and such.) I think you have to gauge the client; if it's a buddy of yours who has a few extra bucks and wants to make sure you're not being taken advantage of, it's fine to do the job for beer and a resume piece. If the client is a new web-site that has investors and is about to go with its IPO for billions of dollars, charge accordingly. I really like Mark's suggestion about setting goal-specific prices; I did exactly that when I did a 3D animation for a local commercial; I wanted to get RD Studio, so my rate was the price for Studio at the time. (I wound up finding a much cheaper copy, so I pocketed the difference.) One more thing to consider. Just because you have fun doing a job, it doesn't make it any less a job; I love the work I do, and a few years ago, I might have done this job for much less than I'm paid now. Now, though, I realize it's a job -- even if I have a whole lot of fun doing it -- it's a job. Don't feel bad for charging people for your time and skill. I'll stop rambling now.... Good luck. - Chip