Freelance work

# 1 19-04-2010 , 03:04 PM

Head of 3d Admedia
Join Date: May 2007

Location: nairobi , ken-ya

Posts: 1,340

hi everybody the company i was working for finally went down(a tough couple of years) so unfortunately they let alot of us go now this was 2months ago.....i have been doing alot of free lance work and the thing is i dont know how much i should be charging for my services .

on my portfolio i charge a thousand dollars for a still and a hundred dollars per shot for a vfx shot/animation

do these figures sound fair to you guys or im i shooting myself in the foot
thanks for advice

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# 2 19-04-2010 , 04:01 PM

Moderator
Join Date: May 2005

Location: Manchester Uk

Posts: 6,300

A thousand dollars for a still? That seems high.

I go for an hourly rate which I think that you may be best off doing as with VFX shots there can be a huge amount of work for a single short shot, or not much depending, therefore more or less time.

Cheers

Steve

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 3 19-04-2010 , 04:03 PM

Level 32 pachyderm
Join Date: Dec 2007

Location: England

Posts: 1,859

I have zero personal experience but every article about it in 3D world seems to have said that hourly rates would be best.

https://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/as28g11/

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# 4 19-04-2010 , 04:27 PM

Head of 3d Admedia
Join Date: May 2007

Location: nairobi , ken-ya

Posts: 1,340

the thing is that i work from home so the clients usually give me really short deadlines if i was to charge at hourly rates honestly i would make a whole lot less for a lot of work .I didnt know a thousand dollars was that much my clients havent really complained..........anyway will adjust user added image

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# 5 19-04-2010 , 04:47 PM

Moderator
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Posts: 6,300

Well I think that you should think aobut the actual time it takes you and how much to charge, even if there is a short deadline, its still going to take you time and this is what you should factor.

Hey if you can get $1000 US for a still go for it!

Just that $1000 for a still and $100 per vfx shot (independant of time) dosent add up to me, a good VFX shot would take a lot more rendering than a still as well as the process of animation so the overall work would be more, dont really know how your are going on that.

Again time and how long it takes is the factor.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 6 19-04-2010 , 05:34 PM

Head of 3d Admedia
Join Date: May 2007

Location: nairobi , ken-ya

Posts: 1,340

a good VFX shot would take a lot more rendering than a still as well

Originally Posted by

hey steve i do alot of my vfx in after effects and a little in maya . maya fx take along time to render but afterEffects are much quicker although dont have that much control so rendering time has never been that much of an issue(been working on adverts lately)

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# 7 19-04-2010 , 06:21 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

So if most freelancers work off an hourly rate, what kind of range is out there? Since harder/more complex stuff takes more time obviously, the rates should really only depend on the freelancer's proficiency/experience, right?

-stwert

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# 8 19-04-2010 , 07:30 PM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

i have a daily rate.

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# 9 19-04-2010 , 07:44 PM

Moderator
Join Date: May 2005

Location: Manchester Uk

Posts: 6,300

Yes it depends on how good the artist is.

Still as I said a hourly rate would still give better ideas and more consistancy, the 1000 for a still and 100 for a fx shot.....

I mainly use Maya and Aftereffects too and go for hourly, I can then balance the two, if its all AE or Maya to AE and comping, I can determine the time scale and go from there.

End of the day its up to you.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 10 19-04-2010 , 09:39 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

Yeah Im the same as Hammer, on a daily rate. Us dudes in the London VFX houses have to do it this way all the time.

But having experienced working from home you really need to go by the hour rate, unless the client of course wants a ball park figure for the whole job.

Jeez a thousand for a still??? thats a fair old bit, I'd like to see one if I may, that sure better be one hell of a still.

I would do it the other way round, more like a thousand for a VFX shot, its more involved and the downtime for rendering an animation stops you from working and hundred etc for a still down time is less. So it goes hand in hand if you know what I mean.

The thing is as a freelancer you can charge that extra bit because if you are out of work you have that cash helping you until the next gig.

stwert: Theres no set rate at the end of the day, it boils down to your experience and how good you are. Obviously guys like Tds and Riggers are gonna earn the higher wage. I know of one rigger earning in and around the 70k mark, (they told me its cheap LOL) but its more than me as a modeller and Im pretty happy with what I get

Jay

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# 11 20-04-2010 , 04:24 AM

Head of 3d Admedia
Join Date: May 2007

Location: nairobi , ken-ya

Posts: 1,340

Jeez a thousand for a still??? thats a fair old bit, I'd like to see one if I may, that sure better be one hell of a still

Originally Posted by

haha i thought it was high at first but most architect firms were more than ok with my prices so i even thought it was low hence the thread...........
hmmmmmmmm it just struck me maybe im being abit greedy:bandit:

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# 12 20-04-2010 , 09:19 AM

Registered User
Join Date: May 2006

Location: Hastings UK

Posts: 895

Day rate seems to be best for most big companies although when there is no work about tend to freelance for individuals and small companies on the cheap and just give them a figure for the project.

Doubt I could ever get a thousand for a still though am happy if I get that for an animated piece.

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