Just while it's a curiosity in my mind I thought I'd ask all those people selling poser and other props and models how do you set your costs... Time based; Quality based; What others are charging.? Any set rules to what people go by when deciding if the things they've done are destined for archiving at home, deletion, the free goods or sale goods lines.?

Time and quality, yep.....what others are charging, no, because there arent very many people doing stuff like us....also, weighing off wether to make more per sale, but fewer sales, or less per sale, and more sales.

Different merchants have different styles when it comes to costing. I don't model stuff for Poser figures for two simple reasons (a) there's a lot of it out there already, and (b) I wouldn't know enough to create a product good enough to compete with existing products. Have you considered attacking the problem for a different angle? On average a product will cost anywhere from US$ 5.00 to about US$ 40.00. Most props do not exceed the US$ 20.00 mark and most figures don't go over the US$ 35.00 mark. That seems to be the maximum price ceiling that buyers here are willing to spend on a single product. There are exceptions of course... and all merchants love these exceptional members who melt down their credit cards in the marketplace. :o) I'd suggest creating a product that you know you will be comfortable selling at that US$ 20.00 range. Keeping this in mind... I'd temper efforts on giving the buyer the most "bang-for-buck". But that suggestion only covers the quality aspect... or in some cases the "level of detail" you put into your product. Some of the most exceptional products I've seen include a figure, several textures, poses, lights and props. All for a reasonable price... makes you kinda wonder how they can manage to offer them up for sale. Another thing to consider is the flexibility of your product. Figures, specially human figures are perhaps the most flexible of all. Unique figures or creatures are uncharted territory for me. I don't know how well they would sell because of the additional geometry and hard disk space they eat up as a consequence. This kinda explains why figure and facial morphs are so popular same geometry, new look. Clothing/Outfits tend to be more context specific, (like suits of armor tend to be either medieval or fantasy based, while spacesuits are more in keeping with a sci-fi theme). Props are even more context specific... but this is where a lot of artists can get really creative (or crazy). Environments are the most difficult ones to place... because they tend to be the context of most renders. Is that making any sense? You can always model stuff that people want... lingerie has and always will be something that will sell far better than an accurately modeled astrolabe or sextant. The final decision on what to create really depends on what you enjoy creating. Another thing you need to consider is your production time. If it takes too long to get it out the door and into the Marketplace... and you aren't sure if it will sell... forget it. Another angle you might want to consider is your product life cycle... but that's a whole different rant. :oP Andix (and the rest of the gentlemen of 3DModelz) have an enormous store here on Renderosity and elsewhere on the web. They've got the right mix... reasonable cost, good quality, and despite the specificity of some of their products their product range more than compensates for this. And, their production turn around is inhuman. These guys get something like three of four new products up each week. (Don't worry, I don't get a commission for buttering them up). I'll shaddup now. :o) Cheers! M

Mind Over Matter
"If you don't mind, then it don't matter."

Ah, but....it's been a long and painful learning curve :-) Another of the benefits we have, is that between us, we have well over 20 years experience, and all three of us have differant areas we're good at. This provides a much larger resource pool that we can dip into without having to ask anyone else. In addition, we spent over a year creating 3dmodelz, before the public ever saw it. Our record is 5 new products released in one week Moe ;-) but an average would be 2 or 3, that being said, we normally have over a dozen projects on the go at any one time, so releases depend on how many come together at roughly the same time.