ahhh I need pricing help QUICK please - Simply Maya User Community

# 1 02-04-2007 , 09:49 PM

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need pricing help from you industry guys please

hi

I've come into a strange situation. Quite a big studio has asked me how much I would charge them to create an animation similar to the citroen dancing robot add. (not as high quality and no compositing into life footage involved) Basically something like a robot bull running on a black background and transforming into a racing car. 20sec long.
Unfortunately I have no idea how much one would charge for something like that.

!!!please help!!!

note: saying give me their contact and I'll do the job for you is not help user added image

ok found something that looks similar to what they want. A little less detail, hostility and a bit more organic, but that's the look.

Last edited by farbtopf; 02-04-2007 at 09:55 PM.

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# 2 02-04-2007 , 09:55 PM

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here:

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# 3 02-04-2007 , 10:29 PM

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Is that the APU?

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# 4 03-04-2007 , 12:34 AM

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This is freelancing and there is no set costs around, you have to under cut your competition.

I would look it as:

Q. How important is your time?
A. Well everyone's time is important, you just need to price it.
Q. Will you spend a full day (8Hrs+) working on it?
A. this would effect if you charged an hourly rate.
Q. The complexity of the animation?
A. Key really, the complex, the longer it takes
Q. What is the deadline?
A. If you don't have a lot of time then, up goes the price.
Q. How long have you been animating?
A. Your skills have price, new guys charge less and the more experienced

Lotsa questions to base your price from.

Look at other freelancers websites to see if they have pricing online, and then make a comparison. It's really your choice. Maybe if the site has a freelancer working who might help you out.

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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# 5 03-04-2007 , 03:00 AM

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thanks for your input R@nsid, the thing is though I do know very well that I won't have any time to do this project, and I am going to tell them. But I do not want to loose those guys a s a potential client. So I want to give them a realistic estimate of what I would charge if I had time.

I've looked at freelancers websites and they don't actually give set rates or quotes at least not the ones I found. I am just starting out so I cannot afford to be awfully expensive. On the other hand I don't want to price myself down too much because that would just mean I'd get exploited.
I have to find something in the middle but for that It'll e very helpful to know in what price area professionals would put a project like this.

cheers

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# 6 03-04-2007 , 03:42 AM

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Have a look here and maybe this will give you an idea of what type of deals they are looking for:

https://www.contractedwork.com/rt.cfm?p=1&subcatid=53

Also Look here:

https://www.gag.org/
https://www.3dattack.net/forum/showthread.php?p=68338

TBH, if you are starting out, don't be afraid to do some small bits of work for free. But ensure you have a legal agreement in place prior to starting any work. Protect your rights.

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will truely know peace - Jimmy Hendrix

Winner SM VFX Challenge 1

3rd Place SM SteamPunk Challenge (May 2007)

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# 7 04-04-2007 , 10:43 AM

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thanks again,

I've made my pitch, -also managed to get a producer to look at the stuff I should be doing, so I think the price I asked for was not unreasonable or something. Now it's wait and see what they say.

cheers user added image

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# 8 04-04-2007 , 06:04 PM

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goodluck farb if they do intend on choosing you user added image

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# 9 09-04-2007 , 08:22 PM

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would you have to do that project on your own? i mean no helping hands with modeling or rigging and animating? coz that robot seems to be a hell lot of work - not only modeling but finally morph your robot into a car. man! I seen a guy once he did exactly such thing for RedBull Racing. A biomechanic bull was running and transformed into a F1 racing car. He had bout 5-6 week to complete that task. And he did, but for what I can tell this wasn´t too easy men. I don´t want to discurage you but think well how much money you will ask for that. coz this is going to be a pain in the ass, when you get away with something like - oh cool I can pay my rent now and quite a bit of food user added image

I dont know prices so well either, but from what I´ve seen, I´d say you might get minimum 10k $ (maybe 20k $ - depending on quality) right away for this. or you might do this job in some other working context than freelance with hourly prices - like they hire you all inclusive for about a month or two and you might get paid the usual 8-10$ per hour in a firm.

I don´t know how much experience you have with doing jobs like this. but usually we give away our work for food! (that´s me at least...) which others then sell for a big sack of cash I wouldn´t even dream about asking for.

I guess that didn´t help a lot, but the same question is keeping me busy too ever since. so maybe you keep updating..?

kind regards
falott

everything starts and ends in the right place at the right time.

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