I have a potential job doing architectural rendering in Bryce for an engineering company. The problem is, I have no idea how to charge for such work or how much to charge. If anyone has done professional Bryce work, could you give me a rough idea what is normally done in these situations, I would appreciate any advice. Thanks, Andrian

Well that depends. Every artist has a price in mind when doing works, but usualy you should consider things as the size of the image, dpi, time, effort etc. I always consider these things and then come up with a suitable price for the employer.

$5 per pixel. >:)

lol@vile

Vile..hilarious..I wish we cld do that. :) :) I normally charge as per photographer rate.. in terms of per day charge..since in fact..you are giving them an image..add in your time, effort,expenses, size, etc. Also take into consideration this.. the rights you giving them.. How will they use it? Are they outright buying the image? Was it comissioned to you? If they buying it as a Tiff file..for how long you giving it to them..if foreveer..hike up your price since you lose all rights over it..it's no longer yours. If for 6 mnths..go to a site called www.fpg.com (it will change itno something called getty something)...and try carting a digital image..that sort of gives you an idea how much you ought to charge.. If you can spend.. buy fotoquote..it's a program that lets you judge what you shd price it as..think it's in US$ though! Also..plz make sure you get credits in whatever or however they use it!!:)

Almost all my stuff (from Max rather Bryce tho) ends up as selling the copyright, I don't even tend to keep the rights to post on my own website. Never sold anything from Bryce, the stuff I've sold has tended to be technical animations.

Andrian, the highest paid artists in the world are Tattoo artists. A good tat artist should charge $100 an hour, minimum. If you are into art for just the money, switch industries immediately and start tracing stuff all the time! Of course, nobody can feel sane charging that much for RENDER time alone, that would be robbery. But consider how many hours you will actually put into it, and I would START at $100 an hour, and work backwards in negotiations. Render fees should also be considered, but think of those as "drying storage" fees, like one would with oils or somet other medium. Trying to explain rendering to certain clients might backfire, but you should earn SOMETHING for your downtime. Maybe $20 an hour or some such thing. Either way, make sure it's all up-front. And don't hesitate to charge outrageously, architectural work isn't cheap, and if they are a company they can probably afford to have it done right! Good luck!

Good point Shadow, I always go for a minimum of 50% up front, I've been stung for that one, a weeks work that the client changed their mind on (in my early days :-( )

I'd bill per hour. But you have to remember to keep a clock/timer going. I seem to remember that Sams3d record times automatically every minute they spend on a project. I'n my business, bespoke stationary/graphic design, I agree a price with the client first before starting work. That works for both of us because I can never tell how much time I'm gonna spend on a particular job. Some guys charge for 'setting up' which I think is an excuse for a rip-off. My clients pay for the product he/she receives at the end of the project. The Bryster

The Bryster.. this happened to me..think i asked you guys about it..if you don't charge for setting up.. what happens if a client and you decide on an image.. and then you create it..then he turns around and says that you have to adjust this and this and that, and then, well..it didn't happen in my case..but suppose the client flakes on you?? says he found something else? You've done all that work..and then get paid nothing for it......

erosiaart: Good point. But I have an advantage here. I don't advertise. ALL my clients are recommended by previous clients. And none of them have stiffed me yet. In fact, I stopped dealing with 'strangers' years ago. I only rarly get commissions for bryce work. My main business is the stationary/graphics, all printed and in your hand kinda stuff. A client knows that he will get EXACTLY what he asked for and gets to approve everything I do by way of proofs. I then ask him that a: He approves the final proof and tell him b: I am 'going to print' and that he is committed to the project once I have actually started to print the stuff out. If a client was stupid enough to go back on the deal and not pay, he won't get the product and I will blacklist him and tell the guy who recommened him exactly what happened. This means that throughout our community the guy who stiffed me will have a hard time getting anyone to do a deal with him. I had one client who moved out of the area. When I asked about him, the guy who recommened him to me was terrified that I was owed money (I wasn't) and offered to pay any outstanding bill. It works for me.

Thank you for all the replies. It gave me some important and valuable things to think about. The actual situation is this. I interview with this company for a job as an architectural drafter. During the interview I showed them some of my Bryce work to show what I can do with Autocad since I do all my modeling in Autocad. They ended up hiring a temp for the drafting job, but want to use me for renders when they get the need. I'm not positive at this time exactly what they want in terms of rights, but I do know they would put a copy on their office wall and have a few copies to show to a client so the client can see what the building would look like once it is built. Currently they use an artist who works in watercolor but they saw the advantage of having the scene in digital format from the start. Once again, thank you for the thoughtful and informative responses. Andrian

intresting read

In doing some freelance graphic work in the past Ive learned a few things. First is that most artists undersell themselves. An experienced top notch artist can charge anywhere from $300/hr. to $500/hr. Most graphic artists I know charge from $35/hr. to $100/hr. because they feel comfortable at this price range (depending on their experience) and dont feel like theyre soaking the client and keeps their quilt in check. But imagine this; in charging $35/hr. and you put in 10 hours worth of work into the project, your final price comes to $350. At $50/hr., come to a $500 pay. If you should go over the 10-hour limit, will you eat the down time? After some experience, the artist can tell, more or less, how long each project should take him or her. Things to consider; is the project being handed to you, that is, is the client telling you exactly what he needs or do you have to come up with the final interpretation yourself? If this is the case, how long will it take you to come up with a concept that the client will accept or will he continuously change his mind? Isnt concept time part of the job? It sure is! Also, once youve decided to on a straight price, you should explain to the client that if they should change their mind and want the piece reworked, there will be an added charge. Always take a setup fee (down payment usually anywhere from 25% to 50% of price) upfront incase youve already gotten started on a project and the client changes his mind and decides he doesnt want the work. The setup charge kind of forces the client to see the project through to the end and also alleviates any distrust you may have that the client will walk out on the project. This by the same token forces you to be more professional by placing yourself at the clients service. Offering both home phone number and cell phone number to the client where he can reach you at any time helps to instill trust and confidence between both of you. Most artists can estimate from experience how long a particular size job will take them, give or take a few hours. If you know you have all the required materials for the job and dont have to go off in search of materials then based on your hourly rate, you can give the client a good estimate of cost. The best way is to give a potential client a flat charge up front but leave yourself some wiggle room in case things dont go as planned. As for copyright, when you are commissioned by someone or a company to do a job for them, you must realize that you will more than likely be giving up most if not all of your rights to that work unless you provide your own copyright legal forms and place your own conditions such as artist recognition, artist limited use of work (exhibitions and such) clients compliance of tasteful use of the work. Any royalty clauses usually based on percentages of commissions from the use or sale of the piece. And so on. Treat the job as a regular job where you have start hours and quitting hours with time in between for coffee breaks and lunches. If you know a job is going to take you about 20 hours, break it up into 3, 7hour days at say $35/hr. comes to $735 pay for 3 days work. Sounds reasonable to me.

Over here, any one working on a pc is supposed to get a mandatory 10mins break in every hour AWAY from the pc........