Vray Certification and Global Business

[jujubee]

Recently, I've switched over to archvis because I need to pay the bills. As someone that has been starting out on their own, I've encountered a few disconcerting phone calls that I made to architects and developers alike.

One principal in particular mentioned that he has "someone in Kuala Lampur that can do a rendering for $xx." I've also been personally approached recently via email by various render 'companies' out of Tunisia and India.

My question is "how do you expect to compete with that in a global economy?" I realize that talent goes a long ways - I believe you should be able to work wherever you choose to - that quality and artistic expression ultimately makes or breaks your service. But the fact remains that people in other economies with illegal software can bring down the value of your own work to the point where you can hardly survive.

So in thinking about this, it would be possible to have a business certification for Vray - a tagline that would appear at the bottom of your company/personal email that would state:

"[INSERT COMPANY NAME] is Vray Certified for Intellectual Property Rights in a Global Economy."

This tagline would include an anchored hyperlink to a Chaos Group webpage that would also list your company's/personal name there. While I realize that this may not make a difference in the greater scheme of things, I think if every company followed suit than it would hold more businesses accountable for their decisions. I would gladly add this to my email signatures.

[siliconbauhaus]

I agree with you mate but I dont think having what you mentioned would make that much of a difference.

I think the quality of your work will do more to attract clients than anything else. Once you've done something for a client and theyre happy with it and with you they will more than likely come back. The more that that happens the more clients you'll attract. I dont think dbox / neoscape / amd etc etc are too worried about 3d sweatender houses in other countries.

[jujubee]

Rob, El Presidente of Neoscape told me somewhat worriedly, "it's difficult because we have to compete against other countries." Now, either he was really worried or he's a great actor (or I'm just really stupid.)

[vlado]

At this point, we can only certify that you are a legitimate V-Ray user. I suppose that the V-Ray license agreement can be modified to allow you to put a message similar to the one you suggested. I suppose that an official list on our site is also possible, but it will be optional - you must agree to have your name published there first.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Mathew Everett]

That would be an awesome Idea! like Vray certified! It can be something that you can add to your site, or even resume

[percydaman]

Im not sure Im seeing the threat from the global market. Speaking personally, we dont get every project we bid for, but we get alot. Alot of it is local that our clients would be loathe to have someone who doesnt even know what KC looks like perform the job.

I will tell you that we occasionally take work from other studios (happens to everybody) due to the client not being happy with their work. I wont say who the studios are, but I think at least ONE was overseas.

Also of note, is that we have a dedicated person who scares up a majority of our work. She is a "real estate" type that has contacts with just about everyone in town, and that helps tremendously.

Without sounding trite, quality quality quality. With it, youll prolly be fine regardless. Without it, and it wont matter much how much you charge or where you work. People are demanding higher quality as the average quality rises...

[Dynedain]

Don't worry about some kind of certification, its more effort than will ever be benifited from it.

If your client is saying "I can get this done in SE Asia for $20", then they're trying to negotiate you down. They don't want to send their work there because the last time they did it came back wrong or looking like crap. They want someone more local, who can speak the language, who they can go back and forth on. That kind of interaction is added value, value that we should be charging for, because it is work. Thats why we aren't as cheap as some random low-price shop (oh, and labor costs and legitimate software is obviously more expensive).

If your client is trying to negotiate you agains the price of some one man pirated software shop in Malaysia, odds are, you don't want the client becuase they will be making lots of changes and trying to get them for free.

Be professional, and don't let them screw you over.

[flino2004]

there is room for everybody....some clients want make bussiness face to face, even if they are in the same city and the communication is by email they want to be able to once in a while personal meetings for important projects.
At the end you can work with these people....specially if they are 7 or more hours far from you...when your are sleeping, they are working and when you are working...they also are working
maybe I'll hire somebody out of USA, just for modeling so the final product will be mine and I'll still have the control about the finished

[jujubee]

I have no problems with working with foreigners or other countries. In some ways there are great benefits for working this way.

I do however, believe that if you're in business and you are making a profit than you should make a concerted effort to pay for the software you use. It's not fair to people who worked hard that they should be cheated by lower rates which lower standards overall while they get wealthy in their own country There is a great need to protect this industry in more expensive economies from falling the way web/Flash design rates did.

All a certification would do is inform your clients that they are not using a sweatshop and that they are protecting intellectual property by supporting slightly higher rates.

[yeohyip]

If your client is trying to negotiate you agains the price of some one man pirated software shop in Malaysia, odds are, you don't want the client becuase they will be making lots of changes and trying to get them for free.

I agree. Even here, two digits is way to low a price for any work of quality. Although, truth be told though I must have no idea what the arch-viz market here is like... people get excited when I show my work, then strangely dissapear after I send a quotation.

Piracy *is* a problem, and it is slowly being cleaned up by the government. However, I see the lower cost of living (and taxes) in the developing world as the main reason for low rates. For example, a new graduate with a professional degree here would have a starting pay of USD$473/month. And that's enough to live in reasonable comfort. To top it off, the tax rate is VERY low, 7% for that income bracket. The maximum tax rate is 28%. This let's people charge a lot less in almost any line of work.

Unfortunately, certification will not really help much in this situation. I'm an idealist who thinks good work should speak for itself, but really the best way to get projects is through building and maintaining contacts in the industry.