Rendering

[craigmonroe1]

What's the best way to determine my hourly rate for modeling, lighting, and rendering a project? I like the idea of it being based on my cost of living but It seems like that may not be ideal for all situations.

 

http://www.lunarlog.com/what-prices-to-charge-as-a-freelancer-or-artist/

 

Ultimately, I'd like to have a "formula" for pricing that everything can be based on. Of course there will be anomalies every once and a while and the rules are bent.

[Devin Johnston]

Take all your yearly expenses + a reasonable profit margin and divide by 50, this will give you a starting point. If it turns out you need to do 5 renderings a week to meet your needs then you should consider charging more. The odds are that you won't be busy 100% of the time, in fact you may go several weeks or months without a single project. To compensate for that consider dividing by a smaller number of weeks, this will increase the cost of your images but will give you the cushion you'll need to survive.

[Scott Schroeder]

How is basing your hourly rate on your cost of living not ideal? I'd think charging such a low wage that you can't even afford Mac and Cheese isn't an ideal situation at all. However, if you feel your cost of living includes a 50,000 sq ft mansion then you are on the other side of the spectrum.

 

It's a hard number to figure out since, as in the article, you will compete with people who can charge less based on where the live and what type of home you have. Obviously home owners will have more expenses than apartment dwellers. People with families will have higher expenses that single folk, and so on. If you get a client that wants to shortchange you, then forget them.

 

When starting out, it also helps to have another job (even a McJob) to supplement your income so you don't be so desperate to take that $200 rendering job.

[RyderSK]

 

http://www.lunarlog.com/what-prices-to-charge-as-a-freelancer-or-artist/

 

 

That's some good writting, I like a lot his way of argumenting in discussion below (it's the very usual discussion with bitter undertone of current situation).

The work on that company's site is oddly outdated but the bussiness advice is good. Glad to come across this link

 

 

I don't see much reason for coming up with obscure formula for how much you should be charging. What does it matter if client won't give you that much or if he will, but he was willing to give you much more ? I believe in charging as much as possible but being flexible depending on the type of work is more reasonable. "Freelancing" is almost like stigma in most people's eyes now, it should be about benefit of ultimate freedom, not about being poor man's bussiness solution.

[CliveG]

As I've mentioned previously in other posts, when I had occasion to put my rates up a chunk, to try and reduce the amount of work I received from a difficult client, I got more work and better treatment. So whatever you do, there is no point in selling yourself short.

 

I think there is only so far you can extrapolate the "internet" analogy for levelling prices though, I'm guessing that few in the US or other 1st world economies are charging the same as companies in 2nd or 3rd world economies, because we can't. If we want to eat, we charge a similar rate to our close peers, both in geographic terms but also in skill and quality terms. So you probably want to do your research closer to home.

 

And I think you need a bit of flexibility, don't go looking for a - one size fit's all formula - you'll find it will tie your hands.