CompuServe Thread

Glenn, I don't understand the percentage method. Percentage of what? Anyway, most people don't like to talk about it but I don't mind giving some general ideas. Animation is often quoted by the finished second, that is to BetacamSP tape. The range is typically $50-$1000 per finished second depending on complexity and your overhead. The low-end might be just a simple text based logo doing very little and the high-end might be lots of intense keyframing, human or animal characters; and/or lots of special effects. However, it all boils down to what the market will bear. The Yost Group gives a sampling of rates in their IPAS boutique brochure which you can probably get ahold of if you are interested in buying any of their fine routines. I believe the rates are for comparable effects on workstation based software (e.g. Wavefront) layed frame-by-frame to BetaSP tape.

These are good questions you bring up and ones I been contemplating for some time. It really bothers me when I see ads for animation at x$ per rendered second. I wonder if this includes modeling, mapping, and keyframing? To answer this I have proposed a three tiered approach. 1. X$ per hour for modeling, mapping, keyframing. 2. Y$ per hour for rendering to disk. 3. Z$ per hour for recording files to tape. Then, 1. can vary depending on the talent, 2. Varies as the speed and investment of the hardware. and 3. varies as the format of the tape. A rate card can be set up very easily to reflect these amounts and would show the client exactly what he is paying for. As far as requesting ball park figures I would have to bow out on that one because a simple $ amount is dependent on too many variables. Only you can determine what YOUR time and technology is worth. If you're too low you won't be able to pay your bills and will be out of business, not to mention that clients might think you don't think much of your own work. If you're too high nobody will be able to afford you and without income you will be out of business.

Glenn, It sounds like you've gotten an earful from me lately. I usually give a talk to my architect clients that they should sell the rendering and animation services as a % of the total construction cost of the project. If sold correctly, the services make so much sence to the customer, that they sell themselves. One approach (in general .. not going to give away all my secrets) is: 2% of construction costs -> still renderings at 2 different times in the design phase. One image for each 5,000-10,000 sq ft. 5% of construction costs -> an animation with again the number of seconds tied to the sq footage in some way. This is something that the client can understand and the deliverables are then well defined. Ang