Hi everyone,

I pursue 3D as a hobby but have recently been asked to make a landscape scene or two for a commercial product. It will be a looping animation. My question is how much to charge. I have no idea. Do I charge a flat fee or try to get a percentage of all sales of the product that uses my landscape scene?

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

Usually folk charge a flat fee, like hm $10 to $100 /hour needed ot make it or such (no idea on current costs but recall such figures from few years back and who was making it/what was being made)

doubt anyone would get % of product ;)

You'll get a flat fee. Don't expect much. It depends a lot on who the client is and what they're used to paying, and what their budget is. As a hobbyist, I don't get more than about $100 a day. If I were a pro, I'd charge rather more ...

hey buddy

i dabble in a spectrum of design. i do ads, animation, promo films, web design, etc. i have my first real 3D freelance gig coming up too, im pretty excited about it. anyhow, i sometimes charge a flat fee but feel most compensated when i charge by the hour. i dont think im hotsh*t so i dont charge a huge hourly wage. if i was awesome and i could get a webpage done in a day i might charge $50 - $60 an hour, but i find i spend alot of time troubleshooting my design, referencing books or the web for tips, basically learning, and i dont think it fair to charge customer for that, so taking that into consideration i usually charge $15 - $25 an hour, assuming a part of every hour will actually be dedicated to their project and part of it will be allocated for my own education.

another factor is, are you doing it for a big company that has money and will just use the check they right to you as a tax right off, or is it for some girl that works down at the coffee shop that you want to bone? i do some ad work every month for a bar i drink at, i charge em $40 bucks a month, sometimes its three ads in a month sometimes its one. i have this other guy who owns a party planning/catering empire. i charge him like $25 - $40 bucks an hour for different things. quite simply, he's got the cash.

i feel quilty and awkward sometimes when it comes to the payment.  good luck with it. i'm sure after a few gigs you'll come into your own idea of what kind of compensation you want/need.

shane

Thanks everyone for the input and advice. And btw circanow73, where's the coffee shop and what does the girl look like"? :biggrin:

What you need to do is spell out EXACTLY what they will get from you (length of animation; basic items in the scene; camera movement, etc.) and charge a flat rate based on how much time you think it will take you. You may have to alter the initial price if they come back to you with a more detailed list of what they expect. Send them the revised estimate based on what they now expect. Then....   when they decide to add and make changes to what you already have, charge an hourly rate that you feel comfortable with - be that $10/hour or $50/hour or $100/hour or anywhere in between.

This way both parties understand what is expected - you don't work for free and they receive what is spelled out. Inevitably clients request changes, but if you charge one flat rate and they expect changes within that flat rate, you will be shortchanging youself and they will expect the same treatment next time.

This is what we do. We give them the estimated price of the project and our hourly rate is $75 for any changes they require. Oftentimes the changes are minimal and we don't charge, but when they start a list they already know that it will cost them more and we have yet to have a problem after over five years.

I would also recommend you don't charge too low an hourly rate. Why? If this is a respectable company and you charge them $10/hour, they may not think quite as highly of you as someone who charges them $50/hour. Why? "This guy can't be that good if he only charges $10/hour..."  It all depends on who you are dealing with.

Hope this helps.

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