Advice from a friend

[Karadagian]

This is a post by a friend from another forum .
It is called "This activity is just an unhealty hobby"
Nothing more, nothing less
After more than 20 years of architectural practice I can tell you without the slightest doubt that in the 90% of the cases:
*If you have an average family, you will not be able to make a decent living on 3D,animations and alike.
*You will have to make your bucks drafting lousy 2D windows schedules, truss connectors details and wonders alike in some colleague's office.
*Only you will get is a divorce and not granting quality time to your children.
*If you buy new hardware and/or software, don't think it is an investment,pass it onto your loss list immediately, you will never recover anything!
when you earn some dollars with them, new releases are coming out and the perverse circle goes on!
*No Architect is going to pay for any 3D or Animation out of his pocket.
*No client is going to pay for any 3D or Animation more than a couple of hundreds,on the other hand will pay thousands on a new whirlpool,a sculpture for the livingroom or an exotic plant.
I could follow for hours, but I have to go to see the new fRender Stage 1!!!!

--------------------
DannyK
International man of Architecture

[shytigercp]

re

All good points....and I know you're not bitter. What's the economy like in Armenia?

[J_Bug]

Ouch...

DannyK needs a hug

--Jon

[Dynedain]

*No Architect is going to pay for any 3D or Animation out of his pocket.
*No client is going to pay for any 3D or Animation more than a couple of hundreds,on the other hand will pay thousands on a new whirlpool,a sculpture for the livingroom or an exotic plant.


They haven't dealt with our firm then. Granted, if the budget's that tight, then its the wrong people to be marketing to. That and 3D shouldn't be in addition to making models, watercolors, etc....it should serve as a replacement usefull through the entire design process. We've billed clients of our architecture parent firm thousands for animations and stills, and they love it. We've had developers come to us willing to pay almost anything. You cant just do 3D because its 'cool', it has to be usefull, and marketed as such.

[RErender]

LOL, I make a living, I am divorced though ...

[Psy]

Sounds like I need to move to the west coast to do what I love.

[J_Bug]

There is a very thought provoking short produced for BMW Films by Anonymous Content called "Follow". It's directed by Wong Kar-Wai and written by Andrew Kevin Walker.

The last narrative line is:
"There's always something waiting at the end of the road. If you're not willing to see what it is, you probably shouldn't be out there in the first place."

--Jon

[Da_elf]

any responce from the zerofractal team?
www.zerofractal.com

[natty]

sorry guys but that is complete crap.
in the uk you get paid big buks for producing 3D Visuals..... i get paid £50..($80)? an hour for the work i produce.
the architects i work for get paid £700 a day for the work that they do in conjuction with architects like HLW and Pringal Brandon.....

in other words you all produce wonderfull work .....dont under sell yourselfs....... you charge the amount of work you put in,not what the client thinks he or she should pay. we have all been doing 3D for years now, let your hobby pay you back.
i put in at least 14 hours a day at work and at home and i think you get back what you put in....... AND PEOPLE WILL PAY.......BELIEVE ME..

[J_Bug]

But you've got square eyes... people probably feel bad for you :P

Just kidding natty, good points from an apparently good, hard worker

Not to say that DannyK isn't a hard worker. It just seems that it could have been other factors affecting his life rather than just his work environment and experiences.

--Jon

[natty]

Im just saying that we all put in so much to what we love, its like an addiction (3D).....we all deserve to demand from our clients....because they are getting the best and not the crap that you see elswhere.....
lolololol.......we should all join aliance and be a world wide 3D producing awsome network ...... sorry but im a bit pissed ...and this subject has always been close to home ..

[Dynedain]

the problem natty, is most construction in the US is done by developers, not designers....good design is normally considered a luxury or an extravagence, and the extra cost doesn't increase the bottom line sufficiently

this, however, is gernally not the case in the UK and the rest of Europe from what I have seen. People are willing to pay more there for something that is well designed. In the US, thats considered a nice perk, but rarely considered justification for the extra cost.

[natty]

Here our Building councils demand 3D work for planning permission .......perhaps you architect guys should push for that ?

[Psy]

fat chance. america, land of the free and home of the simple.

[RErender]

who ya calling simple :P