Rendering...not sure what to do.

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#1

Hello everybody,

soooo, i have a pretty simple question. i am working as a freelancer in 3d modeling with blender for some time now.
I had an animation made for a client in the past, but just the camera movement and the movement of the object in the scene. He didn’t need the render that time, so i just got payed for my job. So now he contacted me so i can render his file. My question is this, (forgive me if i say something wrong but i am still new at this), first of all should i even charge for the rendering, and if the answer is yes, how much should i charge?

The animation is about 4500 frames, about 55 sec per frame with my Gtx 1060 6gb in total is about 40-50 hours i think.

Thanks in advance
Leo

#2

Before I try to answer your question it should be noted that I have zero experience in freelance work and have been doing 3d work merely as a hobby for about three years now. My answer is merely my own personal opinion on the matter, and can be completely disregarded if you so desire.

To answer your first question, about whether or not he should pay you, I would say yes he should pay you. Because, from what I understand, when you accepted the job from him he told you that he did not need it rendered and only needed the raw animation. You then completed your job and he paid you just for the Animation and not the rendered animation. So at this point he would paying you to use your computer to render out his animation. Adding in the fact that rendering the 4500 frames of the animation would take more than two days straight, and the manual labor of organizing the files afterwords, I would say that if he did not already pay you to do these things then he should definitely pay you something.

Basing off of the cost estimation Fox Render Farm, the cost of rendering your animation on their render farm would cost about $60. Taking into consideration that rendering it on your computer would take more than two days straight, I would say that charging him maybe $70 is a fair place to start based on what he’s asking.

#3

Excuse me?

May I ask, leonidasnik, how many machines do you have at your disposal?
If your answer is one, then taking this render job will mean that you effectively can’t do any other serious work on your only workstation for about two days…

I’m not sure in what part of the world you’re living in or what you usually charge as a freelancer per day, but you should take into consideration that whatever price you call for this render job should be able to cover your losses for not being able to work on other assignments for the said timeframe.

If your customer is not willing to pay that, you can always refer him to a render farm of his choice.
If he is willing to pay, well, then you can charge him the full two days, pass the job on to a render farm yourself, work on other assignments in the meantime and still deliver the rendered animation in time…:wink:

#4

Simply put, decide an hourly rate and times by the amount of hours needed. You are using your resources and time, that costs, simply as that.