I started with poser 5 YEARS ago. I didn't do much with it I am afraid but found an intrest so I bought poser 6 a few years back. It sat in dust a long time until the last few months. I thought I would try it and found out I love 3d art and animation. I have been learning all I can with poser 6, wings3d, a little bit of blender, and now learning vue.

I think I have come a long way in a short time...I have been focused on learning instead of actually posting things though. Anyway, I am curious as to if anyone here makes money from all of this. If so how do you do it and does it "pay the bills"?

Not being a vendor, I guess it is a hit or miss depending on your specialty.  I have seen many succeed, I have seen others completely disappear within a short time.  I'm pretty sure the old timers will chime in at some point.

I occasionally, about once every 3 months, get a comission request through one avenue or another. Do I get paid for that? Yes. Does it pay the bills? No. But I do use that money to purchase additional props and stuff now instead of using my own money... most of the time anyway. :P

Define "making money." I am a vendor at RDNA and I earn a little spending money every few months, but it certainly wouldn't pay the bills or even cover my Poser expenses. ;)

It depends on skill level, platform and if you're filling a need with a product. Doesn't happen overnight and takes a lot of patience. This is more of a side job to me (real job gives me benefits and international travel), although I've been paying my bills and setting aside money for my yearly vacation with the money from sales.

Male_M3dia   : What's the most sells ya ever gotten from your highest selling item ?

My losses to folks sharing my store items over the years exceeds $1,000,000 so if only one in a thousand actually purchase your stuff you can do the maths.

I was thinking about becoming a vendor.

Philc's reason is why I will give away what I make.

When you put an item up for sale on the internet?
Might as well make it free, as it is up for grabs anyway.

Protected by law? What a joke.
What law?
Yours or mine?
Or Asian law?
Or Russian law?
Or African law?
What about North Pole law?

"Law"" is "vapor" on the WWW Internet.

All we have is "self" control.
Some have it, others not so much.

Quote - I started with poser 5 YEARS ago. I didn't do much with it I am afraid but found an intrest so I bought poser 6 a few years back. It sat in dust a long time until the last few months. I thought I would try it and found out I love 3d art and animation. I have been learning all I can with poser 6, wings3d, a little bit of blender, and now learning vue.

I think I have come a long way in a short time...I have been focused on learning instead of actually posting things though. Anyway, I am curious as to if anyone here makes money from all of this. If so how do you do it and does it "pay the bills"?

The two best money makers are:

1. Designing excellent slut wear

2. Rendering top quality adult renders if you get my drift.

You forget point "3" for easy and FAST money. LOL

3; It has to be for V4.

LOL

Quote - You forget point "3" for easy and FAST money. LOL

3; It has to be for V4.

LOL

lol yes this is true.  V4 is extremely popular.

Quote - I started with poser 5 YEARS ago. I didn't do much with it I am afraid but found an intrest so I bought poser 6 a few years back. It sat in dust a long time until the last few months. I thought I would try it and found out I love 3d art and animation. I have been learning all I can with poser 6, wings3d, a little bit of blender, and now learning vue.

I think I have come a long way in a short time...I have been focused on learning instead of actually posting things though. Anyway, I am curious as to if anyone here makes money from all of this. If so how do you do it and does it "pay the bills"?

It can pay the bills, and quite easily. However a lot depends on reputation (something you have to build), what you create, where you sell, and how you market a product, yourself and what apps & figures you decide to support.

Also when you decide to release an product is extremely important. Is it in the middle of a huge sale? Is there a similar product on offer that can eat into sales? Does a similar product exist? Is my product better than what is already on offer? What is happening on other sites that might take away from the attention of my release? All these aspects have to be taken into consideration for a better chance of success.

Lots and lots of research has to be done. You can either enter vending like a headless chicken, or enter it with a gameplan:) So you can make decent money doing this, but it depends on how much effort you are willing to put into it.

Zev0 : are certain months better then others ?
Winter months are better then summer months ,right ?
you sell a lot at xmas ?
How many sells did you have in December vs July ?
for exsample
1000 sells in December
10 sells July

Yes, some months are definately better than others. EG to most, Feb is normally considered a slow month in general. With regards to sales data, I will not make that public. That is private information.

Is there a public list of good and bad months ?
Since Febs a cold month ,Thought it would have done better then July.

Nope no list that I know of. We just pick up bits and pieces on sale trends. E.G. when it's summertime in the U.S., sales do take a slight dip as this market is mainly U.S. based. Most people there are doing outdoor activities than sitting infront of their pc's.

Quote - ...Anyway, I am curious as to if anyone here makes money from all of this. If so how do you do it and does it "pay the bills"?

Yup. I do. I'm one of the few guys on the content team at Smith Micro. It's a steady paycheck doing what I love (usually) - making models. So yeah, it pays the bills.

Most I've made on 1 model alone was several K in a few months and it sold stacks. Sounds great until you read I've been selling for years. To be straight plain truth is a lucky few can do really well, for most folks it might just cover your costs, either way don't plan to retire anytime some. Plus as many makers know, a lot of the time making moola isn't really the aim. It's the for the "love of creation" or seeing how the community enjoys your stuff and what they do with it.

Obviously, where you sell makes a huge difference too. I sold at Renderosity for 4 years.   In those 4 years I built up a catelogue of 26 items and made a bit under $11,000 total.  Like others have said, extra spending money, nothing you could live off of.

Last year, my first year selling exlusively through Daz, I had only 8 items in my catelogue plus an additional 3 I sold outright to the company. What Daz paid me for a single item was more than I made my first two years selling at Renderosity combined.

All said and done, what I was able to make in one year with Daz with only 11 total items far exceeded what I made in all 4 years at Rendo with 26 products in my store.  So the differences in what you can earn between one store and the next are pretty staggering.