How much is a 3dsMax scene worth?

[marcellabbe]

Here's the situation:

my old boss, whom i'm in good terms with despite now being competitors, had to go away for personal reasons and i've been helping with a few projects in his absence.

He already had modelised a project (condo tower) and done the renders and left it to his Photoshop guy to finish it. Meanwhile, the client (an architects firm) have hired a communication agency to promote their projects. The person from the agency responsible for this project decided that she doesn't like what's being done and wants to change 3D providers because the main guy is not there to redo another render. She has asked for the Max file so she can use it with another cie. My friend's girlfriend, who has been holding the fort administratively, refused to give it to her.

If she decided to agree in exchange for a compensation, how do you calculate that?

 

P.S. Please 3D gods, give me strength; i might inherit this project (to help my friend) and this new marketing person is said to be hard to work with. Even the architects who hired her said so but they're stuck with her because there's a contract!

[Francisco Penaloza]

Model price is relative, what always should apply is, if you will give your model, it should be without materials or shaders. If we all go along the legal lines, you are not allowed not re sale your purchased materials or pre-made models. unless otherwise specified

If you already charged 1 dollar for the rendering, it would silly charge 30 for the model, some ratio should still apply.

as a simple rule of thumb I guess can be, your time + office cost *2 + Taxes. if they do not apply because it was delivered on digital medial, the government still charge that income so you should put it there as your office cost

 

My two cents.

[marcellabbe]

Model price is relative, what always should apply is, if you will give your model, it should be without materials or shaders. If we all go along the legal lines, you are not allowed not re sale your purchased materials or pre-made models. unless otherwise specified

If you already charged 1 dollar for the rendering, it would silly charge 30 for the model, some ratio should still apply.

as a simple rule of thumb I guess can be, your time + office cost *2 + Taxes. if they do not apply because it was delivered on digital medial, the government still charge that income so you should put it there as your office cost

 

My two cents.

 

Of course no premade trees or patio furniture included, just the new building.

I always consider the modelisation part for a small project is about half the price. Other half is texture creation, post-production(Photoshop), use of equipment and administration.

So you're 2 cents are to double that and ask for about what the project cost to start with?

As good a way to look at it as any. That's why i asked here; first time i've had to consider that question in 4 years in the business.

And of course, this project is not small but thank god i'm not the one who has to decide; just curious and wanted to give some sort of guideline to my friend's girlfriend.

My friend is due to come back next week so the problem might solve itself.

 

But thanks for your input , it's something that might arise in the future.

[SkylineArch]

I always consider the modelisation part for a small project is about half the price. Other half is texture creation, post-production(Photoshop), use of equipment and administration.

 

I do as well. If someone wants a study model "white" rendering, it's about 60 percent of the total cost of a full render. The reason they want the model is to save time for the next set of renderings, so they will have to be willing to pay for that time savings.

[Justin Hunt]

In this situation I would not give the model, the only ones who will score is the next company. Unless stated in the contract you are under no obligation to hand over the model. If you do get to inherit the project then you strike a deal with your friend.

 

If she still insists then go above her head a go to the client and negotiate with them.

[Chris MacDonald]

I'd agree with Justin.

[Peter M. Gruhn]

They're stuck with her because there's a contract.... Hm.. I wonder if there's a contract for the renderings. Is it for the renderings? Then that's what she gets. If she wants to back out, is there a back out clause in the contract? Who made the agreement? Did she make the agreement? Who is working for whom? Is the agreement with the company or the missing man? Was there an understanding that the company would provide the renders or the missing man? I'd also wonder if this is SOP for the person in question.

 

Kudos to the person who did not turn over the data.

[Peter M. Gruhn]

I think some of the reason (in general) is people want the model to save money, not just time. Sure, it will be done faster, but IMO it's even more likely that they want to be able to say "here's the model, please press the render button. Textures? Oh, just slap on some pictures of bricks, it can't be that hard, here's a few quid."

[marcellabbe]

Wanted to give a post-mortem soon, it's as good a time as any.

What finally happened is:

-all the time i advised her to not give the scene even if they pay but she was considering it to escape possibly being sued, hence my questioning here for decent compensation if it had come to that.

-i did end up with the scene and contracted directly with the client with the condition to deal with only one person, him.

-i did the job and sent the final image yesterday and the bill one hour ago.

-can't show the result yet; i never show images before the client has made it public on his site or elsewhere.

 

I still think this question needs being debated. During a contract, it's complicated. But it could happen in the future that a client will ask for the scene to be included in the contract; i'm more open in that scenario.

But again, not quit sure how much to charge.

[marcellabbe]

I think some of the reason (in general) is people want the model to save money, not just time. Sure, it will be done faster, but IMO it's even more likely that they want to be able to say "here's the model, please press the render button. Textures? Oh, just slap on some pictures of bricks, it can't be that hard, here's a few quid."

 

In this precise situation, it wasn't to save money. And i've never been asked for a scene before.

What does SOP mean from your previous post? (english is not my first language).

Thanks for your input.

[Justin Hunt]

SOP = Standard Operating Procedure

 

Now that it is becoming more and more standard practice for Revit models to be shared, there is an assumption that we should be willing to share out Max (or what ever package you use) too. And this is where it gets tricky. I have no issue with sharing my model if its going into be part of the Revit model or part of a collaboration and is agreed to in the contracts.