Value your work!

[glorybound]

value your work! Put a price on your time, talent, and target
market. And stick to it! Consider dropping clients that cheapen your work
by forcing standards downward.

This was taken from a thread I follow on Linkedin... how true!

[Da_elf]

if this forum had a "like" button like facebook id click it hehehe. good post

[glorybound]

That would eliminate almost all my clients .

[glorybound]

I googled "How much does a 3d rendering cost?" and got this, which is a good little read. Some typos, but good.

Above all, the most important thing to remember when hiring a 3d visualisation studio is that generally – YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR!

http://jironomo.com/architectural-vi...endering-cost/

[lukx]

I googled "How much does a 3d rendering cost?" and got this, which is a good little read. Some typos, but good.

http://jironomo.com/architectural-vi...endering-cost/

I'm starving already but with those prices that are in the article I wouldn't have a single client !!! Where the hell guys took it from? Which planet he's living on I will go there right now !

And this is also that pisses me off (the whole off shoring concept) : http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthre...?f=2&t=1000745

[glorybound]

I have been doing this for a long time. Thanks to this forum, I have gotten pretty good over the past several years, but things still take a time. Simple economics, for the most part, should factor into what we charge. If you look back at my "three story apartment" render, over in the gallery forum, you'll see 2 weeks of my blood, sweat, and tears. How much is 3 weeks worth? If you factor in rent, insurance, retirement; you have to charge what it is worth. I see some nice stuff on the internet, but when I find out that the beautiful bedroom render took 3 months I roll my eyes. One room, and one view, took three months?

[Neilg]

when I find out that the beautiful bedroom render took 3 months I roll my eyes. One room, and one view, took three months?

Where has anyone actually done this, and not meant 3 months spare time with a couple hours here or there?

[glorybound]

Even 3 months, spare time here and there, isn't realistic. A factitious project, without iterations and deadlines, is not the same as a real-world project. I know because I continue to tweak images, far after the job is done, to make it as close to perfect as I can. Having said that; a realistic deadline, that you can actually invest time perfecting things, helps. For me, this is all an iterative process, that takes time. I enjoy design changes because it allows me a chance to fix what I didn't get the first time. I guess we should always show our best work, but it should be an example of what the client should expect. The light house render I posted was great for me because the deadline was flexible. The deadline was flexible; because he wasn't charging the yacht club so, they were patient and I wasn't charging the architect so, he was patient. The more transparent we are with out clients the better, but sometimes we just want the job, so we say what it takes to get the job, but ultimately they will not be happy and will not return.

[glorybound]

I was following the V-Ray Guide (until he got a little late-night infomercial-ish), and he mentioned that the image he uses to sell his skills took him 3 months. Once I heard this I started asking people, via web forums, how long it took them to complete the image(s) they are showing. Typically I hear, and they are usually fictitious images, months to complete, and they are not paid jobs. I guess if I were advising someone, who is looking for illustration services, to inquire how long it took to complete specific works. But, now that I think about it, this is some peoples hobby, and they do not make a living. anyway... good conversation

[Da_elf]

i juuuuuuuuuuust had a client this morning try to sweet talk me down in price this morning. HA! i'm already ridiculously cheap in my opinion

[Neilg]

Even 3 months, spare time here and there, isn't realistic.

During those 3 months it could have been only 40-60 hours. How is that not realistic? A good 5 hour session once a week for 3 months is less than 2 solid weeks work.

Nobody is going to spend 40 hour weeks working on personal work.

[Sawyer]

I work at a diff sort of office. I ran my own company for years but in 08 I went to work at a firm. After I had been hired on it was made clear to me that the office will not charge the client for renderings so all the work I do is basically at a cost to the company. Needless to say it was also made clear that I wasnt to make the images perfect. Basically when I was hired the position and the work had little perceived value. Now I think I have proven the works value but I still find myself backing down on image quality a bit more than I would have in my own work. Once I was told that it didnt matter how much I actually worked on a project as long as it didnt look like I spent a lot of time on an image. It was actually odd when I started working here I would hear the designers surprised by how much value the client put into the images. The designers were so used to just giving cad files and the client cant understand cad...

[glorybound]

don't do it!