How does one charge for animation? By the number of frames or duration and/or what else? Is there an industry standard, going rate? What file format does Poser export that is used for Web?

Poser can export to most everything, including DIVX which is becoming the mp3 of movies (technically, its actually mp4). do some reading up on codecs and what Poser is capable of. are you looking for streaming video, or something forpeople to download. Gotta factor those things in, and take a look around. As for charging, I don't think frame or hourly really would do. You'll have to give a rate before starting the job, and then you really can't change the rate afterwards (screwing with clients heads are not good!). Before starting the job, do your best to try and calculate how much time and effort you'll be putting into this, and figure out your own going rate. Also, talk to the client on what his budget is and what he's willing to spend. Also, when you first mention how much you'll be charging, go for 10-20% more than you figured, that way if there's any price haggling, you'll at the very least get the minimum rate you want.

These are the going rates for 2D and 3D animation as listed in The Graphic Artists Guild's Handbook for pricing and ethicalguidelines. (free from the Guild when you join www.gag.org) Computer Animation, Fee per Second: ------------------------2D-------------- 3D Advertising ------- $500 - $1000 ---------- Broadcast--------- $600 -$1,200 --------- Corporate--------- $200-$600 ------$500 -$1000 Educational-------- $150-$500 ----------- Industrial--------- $200-$600---------- - Web, Large Client----$200-$600 ------$450-$1000 Web, Small Client----$150-$500 ------$250-$600 I hope that helps you. Also the PoserProPack can export Poser Movies in Flash format ready for the web. Or you can export standard Quicktime movies from Poser4 and convert them to animated GIF's using GifBuilder.

Thanx, Alleycat!

You're welcome Don. Remember that these are "guidelines". It's okay to charge less if the client doesn't have a huge budget. Or charge more if you feel the project will require more time to complete. Always get some money up front, I prefer 50% in advance and 50% on completion. That includes any rerenders to make sure the client is 100% happy. If you're not sure about the client, get the whole thing up front to be safe. There's nothing worse than doing a good job and then getting stiffed for 50% of it. Also, put everything in writing before you start any work. What was requested, the terms, what you were given, etc... so there can't be any question about it later. Good luck!

one thing I disagree with in that handbook is the different pricing for 2d and 3d. If the company wants a 2d animatin r a ain h charge shoul e tm Havingever RELYworked with 3d animation, I can plesllht ignornce, but I can say that 2d work takes a helluva lot of time,, and theres no 3d software to create the frames inbetween the key ones.

You have the right to disagree, but the fact remains. They are the going rates for 2D and 3D animation as set by professionals in the industry. As for the difference in 2D and 3D prices. If you'll notice, the prices are mostly the same with the exception of corporate and web based clients. From my experience as an animator a key frame is a key frame. It doesn't matter if it is a 2D or a 3D computer program, the "inbetweens" are created automatically on any program. Remember that these are the prices for "Computer Animation" NOT hand painted CELL animation. If you are referring to cell animation, then you are right, you must create every frame manually. (just like we did in the old days) These days, using Adobe After Effects and Photoshop layers you can crank out 2D animation faster than 3D because the render time is a fraction of Ray Trace rendering time. 3D animation requires lighting, posing, camera moves, etc... and is much more time consuming in my opinion. In the old days "Computerized Animation" meant that an old Tandy or IBM machine controlled the servo motors on a big 35MM Oxberry animation stand. You would move the camera through the computer and set the key frames. When you were ready, you would "run" the program you created and hope that the film didn't snap on the 30th pass through the camera. I know, I worked in an animation house in NYC back in '83 and that's how we did it.