#Which deck is better
29 messages in this thread
Merlin G. Farmer,
I have seen you and Bailey Brown in several threads. I am
also starting up an Animation business. I was just curious as to
where you two quys were located.
Welcome to "It's a Mad Mad Animated World". I do not know
Bailey, only thru discussion here on the forum. Not sure where he is
located though I thought I saw that mentioned once. I myself am
located in the big city of Carterville, Il., that is a spot at near
equal distance between Evansville Ind. and St. Louis Mo. Nearest
civilization would be Carbondale where SIU Campus is located, but
civilized is relative when it comes to campususus. (note. if you try
to move in on my territory, I know lots of rednecks and coalminers
with access to dynamite <G>).
Hope you do well in the business, it is very hard to get started,
as well as costly as you probably know by now. I am just now begining
to pick up on a few paying projects, and so far, its not enough to
pay for the equipment, but I have my fingers crossed. Perhaps in the
future if either one of us land a large account with a deadline that
cannot be met, we can farm each other bits and pieces of work to make
the deadline. Keep in touch,
rots of ruck,
Merlin
G. Farmer
Crysta
Cave Computers
"Anima
ix"
103
Barr Street
Carter
ille, Il. 62918
VOICE(618)985-8154
merlin,
I haven't gotten any paying jobs yet. I have made some very
promising contacts. I have been busy working on a Demo Real. Luckily
I have managed to pay for most of my equipment as I go ( 2-486-66s
w/32mb, 500mb HD, Viper; ILL Pro 4/CND/M/A; AG-7750……). Its a
good thing that my day job with Lockheed pay OK. The past year has
been a very busy learning process. The 20 to 40 hours a week after
my reg. job is getting old. I am ready to spend all of my time on my
own endeavors. I am hoping to get a Demo Real done this month. I am
still working on material and trying to ge the soundtrack together. I
can see that I will be needing help when jobs start coming in. Gotta
go, work to do!
I lived in Houston off and on over the years. Crazy place
man. "Too close to New Orleans" too. I worked the ship channel when I
was there as a subcontractor refueling and bunkering the ships at
dock, etc.
I have all but my deck paid for, so I am not in a real bad
way as of yet, though I do have a payment coming up soon. I too am
'trying' to get a demo together. I have almost enough material for a
descent run, however, I ended up with two paying jobs both due out
this month so I haven't had time to work on the demo. Kinda funny eh?
I imagine if and when the work starts rolling in, I too will need to
send bits and pieces out in order to meet a timely deadline. I really
need a couple more machines in house but that is simply not in the
budget. I've got you on file here and will let ya know if and when.
I hope to be in Austin within the next year. My wife should
be finishing her Doctorate this Dec. I would would helpfull for her
career to do a post-doc in California, but that would be to far from
her family. Austin is her next choice, sounds like a good place to
live. I don't know what the Animation business opportunities are in
Austin.
I think that that is they way to get started, paying for your
equipment as you go. (little or no borrowing) As far as jobs
interrupting your demo preparation, I just consider these jobs as
more demo material. I am working on a logo that I will trade for
time on an editing suite. I would like to see some of your work
sometime.
I bet you'll like Austin. It is more advanced than Houston in many
ways, particularly in the computer field. Yes indeed, I do look at
the jobs interfering with my demo as more material. I ended up with
2000 frames on one job and I will be able to use the majority of it
on the demo.
We'll have to swap demos sometime after we get 'em
finished eh? BTW I too prefer to pay as you go but the two projects
I have going this month would have cost me almost 1/3 of a deck in
$$$ to have layed to tape by a service bureau
I think that you told me were you are located, but I negleted
to write it down. I would like to include that bit of info. in your
directory discription entry. I'm sorry I don't remember. I am off
to work on my animation skills. Keep in touch.
Located in Southern Illinois near SIU at Carbondale,
address
Crystal Cave Animagix
103 Barr street
Carterville, Il.
62918
Voice (618) 985-8154
likewise, I'd like to get your address and number for later reference.
I will be curtailing my Cserve usage as my phone bills are starting
to stack up.
Hey! I saw your message directed at Merlin in which you asked about
me.
I'm in Huntsville, AL. I'm a computer engineer by training, and I'm
currently doing low-level C programming for a big company. When I
first started working there, all I did was programming, but now it
seems that I spend most of my time in meetings about programming.
I have a 486DX2/66 with 32MB, 877MB SCSI-2 HD, a doublespeed CD, 4mm
DAT, an NDI Volante Warp10LB (s3 805) w/ 2MB,a Targa64+ and an
evo-9650. It's all paid for.
I've made three demos of 3, 3, and 4 minutes each. The third was
mostly a improved rehash of the second with a couple of new
animations. I put music soundtracks on the first two but decided the
royalty-free music I have is really either two slow for the animation
or too upbeat to play behind people getting hurt.
I'm working with my first paying client now. He sent me a letter and
I've talked with him on the phone. I'm meeting with him next week.
I hope to get a Pentium machine or a Pentium motherboard for the
machine I have now soon and another deck (S-VHS) so I can do editing.
I bought OS/2 2.1 yesterday. I hope to get it installed soon so it
will be ready when 3DSr3 gets here. It will be nice to be able to do
two things on the same machine at the same time again.
>>I have a 486DX2/66 with 32MB, 877MB SCSI-2 HD, a doublespeed CD, 4mm
DAT, an NDI Volante Warp10LB (s3 805) w/ 2MB,a Targa64+ and an
evo-9650. It's all paid for.—–I'm working with my first paying
client now. He sent me a letter and I've talked with him on the
phone. I'm meeting with him next week.
I need a lesson in business economics, Bailey. I've been in business
since 1985 and it took me 7 years to pay down the debt load of the
first five years of start up purchases. I still buy upgrades but I
am just now able to buy from cash flow. How does one pay off all
that equipment before getting your first paying client? Even seed
money is usually handled as a debt for good accounting prudence.
>> I need a lesson in business economics
First of all, you need to get a computer engineering degree. This
will put your brain in geek mode and limit your social activities.
Then you need to get a job at a big engineering company that hires
only married women. And it's even better if it's in a medium-sized
town in the deep south where all the women outside the company are
into country music and pickup trucks or they are married or both.
Then you need to stop taking Colorado skiing vacations because your
skiing buddies have all gotten married and you've lost contact with
them. Now you have nothing to with you salary but buy hardware!
In May, I realized that if I bought 3DS, a Targa+, a deck, and
SoftVTR, I could start animating. I had enough savings to cover 3DS
and SoftVTR, and the other two were purchased with credit cards.
As far as accounting goes, I'm talking to an accountant for the first
time today.
If I remember correctly, Don, you are into both animation and
underwater videography. I bet your startup costs (especially in
1985-90) were alot more than mine.
Considering an A/B roll multiformat editing suite, 4 computers, and a
load of underwater video stuff, it did cost a bundle. The point I
was trying to make was the seed money you put into a business, no
matter where it came from (personal savings, personal charge cards,
etc.) should be handled as a loan to that business. You pay yourself
interest on the loan to establish the legality of the loan and then
when things start to go well you pay the principal back to yourself
rather than take a salary from the company. To not consider the debt
of your business to the seed source will cloud the reality of your
prosperity and be a dumb tax move over the long haul. I certainly
don't need a degree in computer engineering to loose my social life.
after all, I spend most of my time doing upgrades to software, and
underwater decompressing nitrogen and helium.<g>
Don,
It was my impression that, in a sole-proprietership, you are the business, and
you cannot lend money to yourself. On the otherhand, if you start an
S-corporation where you are the sole stockholder, then you can do this because
the corporation is a separate entity. I will be starting an S-corporation as
soon as I get enough receipts to pay for the overhead of incorporation. Please
tell me if I am wrong, I really don't know a whole lot about business
practices. I finally contacted a CPA this morning who was recommended to me
and she basically told me to hold onto all receipts, make a list of all the
stuff I've bought for the business, do as much of the business as posible using
my commercial checking account, and meet with her around the first of December.
I'm supposed to meet with my first real live paying customer Wednesday. Wish me
luck!
Bailey
I think you can loan a business venture money in a Sch. C activity and claim
it. I also think you can claim all the interest as "investment interest
expense" This would be a tax advantage if you borrowed on your charge cards
or other to obtain the money. Also, you have to apply the "at risk limitation"
rule. If you loaned the business venture money from your own stash then I
doubt if there is any advantage. My company is an S corp which does have
certain advantages over the sole proprietor business. One of the problems of
conducting business as a sole proprietor is that you must contract as yourself.
In most states it's not legal to contract for work as a business unless you
incorporate. There are many others but in our line of work the need to
contract as a business is a definite advantage. Of course there are many other
advantages as well. In 1985 the cost to form a corporation was, I think less
than $150. And most of that went to my atty. Today, I would do the paperwork
and search myself. Save about a hundred bucks or more.
Hey, good luck on landing that account. Don't give away the store. I found
that you work harder on the nickel- dime stuff than a well budgeted project.
Thanks to the advice of Paul Lind and others I have raised my rates
considerable and I am motivated to to better quality work and I don't worry
about the check book balance so much anymore.
Bailey,
I'd talk to another CPA if I were you (particularly one from
another firm) as I beleive you have been slightly misguided. S-Corps are good,
but they are not always neccessary. This of course is dependant upon where you
live, the state laws there, and how you manage your business, naturally. The
tax break is not all that much greater for a sole proprietary business that is
incorportated as opposed to one that is not. In Illinois, I can operate as a
contracter (self employed) and get almost all the tax breaks everyone else
does. EVERYTHING is practically tax deductable. From Gasoline and car
maintnance to the electricity that my business uses out of my house, ( 18% of
my morgage and utilities ) I even hired a guy to mow my grass this year cuz I
didn't have the time, this too is deductable, there are certain guidlines and
limitations to adhere to. Goto the library. Laws are different for every state.
And there are a few tricks involved to lessen the chance of an audit, for
instance, here, I can claim 20% of morgage, etc as a home business, but
anything over 18% gets flagged for an audit! I am not incorporated but I will
be by May. The ONLY reason to incorporate as a sole proprietor is to seperate
you from your business for liablility purposes. This is the ONLY reason I will
be getting incorporated, to protect my family from my business debts and any
possible law suits that I may get to enjoy with all my luck. If I was single, I
would not consider getting incorporated because if I got sued or too far in
debt I could always drop off the planet, ( I know how to do that) however, I am
responsible and need to protect my family. Besides that, my wife is a staff
account for a CPA firm and she says I have too. (g)
I would get a second opinion if I were you. Also, it
should not cost you more than $300 to incorporate. You can also do it all
yourself. Check a few months back in a Compuserve issue for an ad for mail
order incorporating. There is a firm in Delaware that will FAX you your legal
corps stuff and in a matter of hours you can be incorporated for 25 to 50
bucks, depends on what state you live in. Do your books yourself and save a
bundle, you'll be able to buy another deck.
Merlin G.
Farmer
In California you have to pay $945.00 to incorporate. That does not include
legal fees. I still think it's a way better deal than sole-proprietorship, and
three CPA's (one is a childhood friend and Sr. partner in the accounting firm
that handles the Coca-Cola headquarters account) agree.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)
Good Grief man! thats alot of moola for a corp!. There are times that I am
grateful for living in Illinois. Particularly when it comes to issues such as
housing, insurance, smog, guns, crime, and obviousily corporating. Thanks for
that info, I feel much more fortunate after hearing that.
Merlin G. Farmer
Crystal Cave
Animagix
Merlin, some good points you made for and against corps. From experience,
though, incorporation doesn't seem to limit ones liability in debt. I found it
very difficult to get financing unless I personally co-signed the papers for
the corp. These money lenders wern't born yesterday. The real reason my atty.
suggested corp. was for the isolation of job contracts from personal liability.
As far as S-corp goes, it depends on your own situation and primarily whether
you have other income or not. Agreed on the CPA stulff. Take a course in
doing your own taxes and make a study of it to keep up.
Don,
The corp stuff reall differs greatly from one place to another, even
moreso than what I thought. After reading a few messages in that regard, I was
suprised at some of the differences. In Illinois, we can do a DBA which is
'Doing Business As' and it only cost 60 bucks to do it. I am able to secure
loans, (with proper collateral) and what, in my company name with out involving
my wife or entire household income. Private loans on the other hand do require
both my wifes' and my income as statements or whatever. As a DBA however, if I
default on the loan they can nab my house and my wifes car, even though she had
nothing to do with the loan. Of course I would be castorated in my sleep if I
let anyone repo the wifes car due to a business misjudment, but they can reo,
nevertheless. If in fact that I was incorporated, then this would not be
bothersome as they could not have the wifes car no matter how far I got my
company under water. In Illinois, when you are operating a company under the
DBA (Doing Business As) then your name and your company name are one in the
same and the corporation thing distinctly makes that legal separation. Well,
that is about all of my business knowledge in a nutshell, and I only know that
because my wife is a CPA and she is constantly badgering me with this kinda of
stuff because she fears I will loose her car for her (g)
Merlin G. Farmer
Crystal Cave Animagix
Good luck on you client meeting.
I am in the process of setting up an S corporation, and have researched the
pro's and con's fairly recently. I'm going into it mainly for tax purposes.
The first thing I did was collect all the reciepts that have to do with my
buisness. Some task! But I've added things up, and it's really going to pay
off for me, tax wise.
If you want we can exchange tips/horror stories as you move along in the
S-corp. saga.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)
John:
>> S-corp. saga.
After some thorough investigation, our tax accountant and attorney
actually agreed with each other (a first!), and we went with a full 'C'
corporation instead of an 'S'.
A major advantage is that a C corp can shift it's fiscal year (ours is
January 31st) from the calandar year, an S cannot. This means that I can
give myself a big bonus in January (well, I can dream, can't I?), deduct it
from the company's books right at the end of the year (good timing) and not
have to pay tax on it personally for another full year!
There were no other major differences for us that I can remember.
Greg Pyros
The main reason I'm not going with a "C" corporation YET is that in an S corp,
the taxes are passed through directly to me, rather than hitting the company,
THEN me. As soon as my buisness grows large enough employee/income wise where
that won't be an advantage, I'll shift to a C corp.
Thanks for the little bonus tip. Something to dream about late at night, when
I'm supposed to be sleeping.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)
I am also a Computer Engineer, I went to Texas A&M. I am
currently working for Lockheed supporting the Crew and Thermal
Systems Division at NASA Johnson Space Center, I spend a lot of time
in meetings myself. My duties include systems and network managment
for about 200 Macs, 30 PCs and 10 VAX mainframes. I get to evaulate
and purchase new hardware/software. I recomended the purchase of 3DS
for creating training videos for the manned testing that this
division does. I became interested in producing animated productions
about a year ago. I began seriously pursuing the startup of an
animation business about 9 month ago. I have managed to aquire 2
486-66s both have 32 megs, Diamond Viper 2mb VLB, Ultrastor 34F, 4mm
DAT; —The first machine has has 2-250meg HDs, Matrox ILL-Pro CND/4,
Turtle Beach MultiSound board, Texel CD-Rom, EISA bus Etherlink III;
—The other has one 250 meg HD, ISA bus Etherlink III. I am using
using an AG-7750 to do my recording. I am using a consumer 20" S-in
monitor to monitor my frame buffer. I only have 1 17" computer
monitor for now. (my equip. is also payed for) I am planning to use
the second machine for network rendering when my 3DSr3 upgrade comes
in. I have been needing another deck for editing also, but I found a
customer who is willing to trade some logo work for time on his
editing suite. I am hoping to get my first Demo Real finished by the
end of the month.
I was involved in the NT beta testing and have recieved my
copy of the final release. I will probably use it on my second
machine so I will be able to mulitask again also.
As far as music goes you should read the article in AV Video
about Music Libraries. I contacted about 20 of the 60+ library
companies listed. I am waiting for the demo CDs that they are
sending. There sounds like there is a lot of good music available
for reasonable rates (needle drop and buyout licenseing). You might
want to wait awhile before you buy a Pentium machine. The best bus
for the Pentium machines is going to be the PCI bus, but Intel has
some serious performance bugs with the PCI chipset for the Pentium.
They are working on the fix now.
I would like to see some of your work some time. Have you
thought about doing any IPAS programming.
I don't get to recommend anything, just write code and go to
meetings.
I have the the 34F too. I got the PAS-16 instead. I got it for
games, not multimedia, so Soundblaster compatibility was a must.
I really wish I had two powerful computers. I have a spare 386sx
machine but it mostly gathers dust. I use it when my big dog machine
is doing a long rendering job, but otherwise it's too much of a
hassle to use such a slow computer.
I've wanted to do IPAS programming for a long time, but I've decided
to wait until I quit my day job and the R3 IPAS toolkit is out. I
really don't have time for it now.
I too am waiting for the R3 IPAS toolkit to ship. There is a
real shortage of time for me also. There is also a not so minor
investement involved in setting up to do any IPAS programming.
Besides the IPAS toolkit you need a compatable compiler (dos
extension). I would like to start developing some IPAS functions to
use in house. Who knows I might even be able to market them to
recoup some of the developement costs. Of course I will not be able
to get very far on my own. I am currently doing as much as I can and
watching out for the right person/people to hook up with. It is a
shame that you don't live a little closer. I think there is a very
large market for animation opening up. I think that the next step
will be realtime rendering that will be usefull in virtual reality
applications. With the nearly logrithmic increase in computing
performance I don't think that we have long to wait. I have to go
back to work now (I better get the cloths washed before my wife gets
home). Good luck!
I'm also get the PAS16 for games only. Good card! As you, I'm not
very interested electronic music. I just prefer the classic way
(synths no, thnaks! :). Regarding games, anyone looking for a sound
card (for games or music composition) should check the Orchid
SoundWave 32. It use a RISC DSP processor (no FM) at 20MHz, 16bit
sound and dual CD-ROM SCSI. As sound standards, it supports General
MIDI, Roland MPU-401 Interface, MT-32, Soundblaster and Adlib. All
in one for $200. Hey! That's nearly the price of the ASP16 without
General MIDI. It sounds like a Turtle Beach killer, but haven't seen
any tech specs so far.
Scott: I saw your message to Bailey Brown and thought that I would
jump in for a minute. I'm at NASA Lewis in Cleveland. I've been using
3DS and Ani Pro to make animated illustrations of how some of our
hardware works. We've had people complain that people can't read
drawings, so I've ended up making animations that show some of our
furnaces disassembing themselves, with transparent walls, etc. all in
an effort to get people to understand how it all works.
I don't have the time to do the work myself, but I am trying to get
one of our CAD personel up to speed on 3DS. We have several vacuum
chambers that we can pull down to a hard vacuum. We use these for
Suit testing, Equipment testing and personel training. The idea is
to use animation to help visualize construction and setup of tests
and related space hardware. I need to spend less time on Cserve, so
I must go. Good hearing from you, stay in touch.
Scott: I've done a series of animations on a furnace prototype that we've been
working on in my old branch. It is so modular that it is difficult to visualize
what the 24 zone stack looks like by looking at a single zone.
They just asked me to model the two competing designs for our new lab space so
that people can look at the alternates and we can try to come to a decision on
where the walls are! <g>
Chris