The only problem is you can not mix animation time with modeling work in an estimate. I mean you can try and cost it out that way. I have tried to work that law of averages but it is a poor way to calculate. Experience and tens of thousands of US Dollars of clients money and several years later I have learned it does not work. Not to either party’s benefit.
And since this thread is really about, “How much something should cost?”, then I think it is worth mentioning.
The only way to do a budget is to itemize. It is absolutely the only way. This is how all budgeting is done in professional circles. Film and animation is no different.
There is no way to toss out figures in a blanket way, or to try and estimate averages per second.
You can say, well, the budget is X.
But if you are going to do that you then have to work it backwards and itemize.
However with that said, there are some things you can not itemize. Just impossible. And a classic example is dynamics and in some ways rendering even. Particle effects and other dynamics are almost always experimental in nature, at least to some degree, regardless of your experience.
But other things like modeling and textures and animation can and should be itemized based on complexity.
So you can have a complexity rating for modeling and animation, you know maybe 3 stages.
One artist who works in my studio on an average can do a very complex robotic character in say 3-4 weeks start to finish with sculpting retopo and textures. So I’d have a different rate for that of course than a simple cartoon character.
But regardless of how you come about a price. You have to itemize and put a cost to everything. Every prop, character, set etc. It all has to have a price. And the client needs to agree up front or you are headed for disaster.
And then animation can be rated by complexity and an average per second is fine, per level of complexity.
But here is the catch. You have to have years of experience doing this. Or you will fail at itemizing.
You don’t have to do this working for clients. You could do it on your own. But you have to be disciplined and time yourself. Then you have to put a figure on what your time is worth. Some people only work by the hour.
But there is a problem with that. Very few clients will just hire you and accept your hourly rate without some kind of idea of an overall budget. That is just a poor way to do business and you won’t find a client who is willing to pay your wage who is not also diligent about money and also not concerned about an overall deadline or per item budget. I had a client paying me by the hour but we did it and calculated it it once through on a model. After that it was determined that my rate and speed was adequate and we continued on in that way because there were several things that needed modeling. And they were all at varying degrees of complexity and thus final cost. And the range of complexity was fairly wide from model to model.
And after doing that for several months I had a record of cost and could evaluate the models by complexity and could then just simply give them a flat rate for the work by looking at the model.
But that was with a lot of experience.
So unless you have a track record. And/or are keeping track like I do with my modelers in the studio, now, there is no way to actually itemize.
You can’t do it truthfully and honestly. And in my case I have a tendency to underestimate. I think a lot of people have that flaw. And well. I am one of them… lol
But anyways, for all of the above reasons and more, I always advocate that people get out there and just get going.
And experience is invaluable. You can not put a price on that. Mistakes and screw ups are even more invaluable as places to gain knowledge. You can’t screw up if you are so careful that you never do anything.
It is the usual mistake of experienced professionals to give out advice based on their level of experience and years on the job. Usually they forget how they got there. Or at least don’t take that into account when advising.
The bottom line is that only you can have the experiences you have and learn from them. And only you can determine what something is worth. And only you can value your time. Is it worth experience? Or is it worth money?
It is a huge miscalculation and almost a sign of competition I expect, when people advise on money alone. And try to say that charging less than a certain amount somehow taints the field. I think the translation to that is. “Back off buddy! You are my competition!”
In reality the only thing that changes the marketplace are factors larger than what individual artists are willing to charge or not charge or willing to put a value on their time. This has little to no effect on the market.
Things that change the market are larger factors to do with banks, economies, exchange rates, supply and demand, technology and so on.
Additionally there are many levels of markets. Some companies are only going to hire from a selected pool of artists that have a preset level of qualification as well as outstanding portfolios. And it is a razor sharp competitive field.
So you are either in that labor pool or you are not. What you do and don’t do will not effect the pricing in that pool anyway.
But there are a wide plethora of markets and industry and use of 3D. And therefore also a fairly wide plethora of potential workforce sources.
And again competition is stiff here. Clients foolish enough to take lower bids from artists who claim they can do it on the cheap and price you out of a job. That fails pretty much most of the time. I have seen it. And I have gotten clients back tail between the legs after.
But the other side of it is if you need to advance and you can take a job that pays less, and you need the experience you can take it knowing well that you are not taking work from another artist because frankly the client won’t pay them. They’ll just find a fool to do it… lol. But you can be a “fool” and learn from it too. If you need that. But do excellent work for your portfolio.
So it is safe to say that you as an artist can choose your path, and charge whatever you feel you need to at any given stage of your career and also to evaluate experience against money and the value of your time.
The factual truth of the matter is if you don’t evaluate that, you will never advance, or if you reach a level and stop doing that, you will stagnate. You will stay at the level you are. To me, staying at a certain level is like dying a slow death. If nothing else inflation and other market factors will get you eventually. So you have to constantly advance. And to do that you have to take risks, you have to be willing to pick and choose when is the right time to sacrifice. And when is the right time to hold the line.
The choice is yours.
