This is a two page article I wrote for a prospective client to review. Based on the refered google searches in the server logs most people are looking for the calculation at the bottom of the page on how to charge for computer processing. The rest of you I believe are students looking for general information about computer animation?

Everything on this page is still mostly accurate if you are looking for a freelancer.

 

Lights, Camera, Render

 

Computer animation without a doubt has been part of mainstream media for many years. With the dropping price and improved speed of computer hardware as well as software that make computer animation possible, whole movies can now be made with computers and without a single camera. It is because of this price drop that I am here.

For simplicity, computer animation can be broken into 4 parts:

Object Design

This is the first step in creating an animation. Objects and characters need to be created in a three dimensional matrix.

Texturing

To be precise: how light will have an effect on the object. Should it have bumps, what color is it, should the object be reflective?



Scene Setup

This is arguably the most complex step. Physics of movement need to be applied to everything from the “camera” to the bounce in a bowl of jelly.

Rendering

This is more of a process than a step. Every pixel on each frame of an animation needs to be calculated from all of the figures that have been entered. This can be the most time consuming process where often hundreds of computers are set to compile a work in what is often called a “render farm.”

Compositing

The final step involved, and the one that you may be the most familiar with. Individual pictures are combined to form the “final” video, or are superimposed or blended with already existing video to form the production.

As an individual I have limits for each step in the process of creating an animation. I don’t have a 3 million dollar Pixar™ photorealistic render farm (though I would like to get started on building one immediately). Unless they are short, high definition renders are extremely complex and too time consuming to be completed in a reasonable amount of time. At this time, DVD quality NTSC frames/video in 720x486 is a capable frame size for me.

Although I don’t have the combined talent of a team of people, I am proactive in expanding my knowledge in this field. For example, I know the basics of character animation but I have not yet taken that knowledge and applied it as a skill. Hence, if a proposed animation requires a walking talking dog, I will be happy to take the project to learn a new skill. This would inversely affect my estimate but at the same time adversely affect any deadline.

Compositing would probably be best done in production as my knowledge of compositing is to “put the frames together.” I can, if provided with the video, generically produce overlaid video and “blue screen” on the video. At this time, I am mostly limited by software for final production.


A short word on deadlines


If there is media that is required for a project, I need it as soon as possible. Most importantly, I need a time stamp or frame count for the scene(s) that I’m hired to produce. Also, I can’t make a bear dance without the music, and can’t lip-sync it without the lyrics. If there is a storyboard, I need it. If someone has made an abstract drawing of a character on a bar napkin, I would like to see a photo copy of it. The client needs to know what font is being used for their logo before they support the project, at this point I would provide examples for them to choose from ASAP. Lack of communication, I think everyone can agree, is a killer of deadlines.

Basis for Bid

$25 per Hour Creative Work

This is well beneath the average pay rate for one starting in the CG field with a studio. As a freelance this seems a fair amount as I will have to buy my own equipment, insurance, etc. For example, the computer I’m using now is two years old and no longer seems sufficient.

For any proposed project I will place a bid based upon complexity, and the number of hours that I think that it will take to make. The exception to this rule would be learning a new skill and I would not be able to guess exactly when the project will near completion. If such a situation arises I will give my best guess as to the time that it can be done and adjust my rate accordingly.

Before final rendering will take place I expect payment in full for any project. Full size picture previews of scenes and important actions will be provided in digital format along with a full preview that is either low quality or watermarked. Before payment I will have calculations for cost of rendering. At the time of completion a client needs to make a decision to pay me for rendering, or the scene and object files will be provided to be rendered elsewhere.

$2 per GHz Hour Rendering

This requires some amount of calculation. Basically put, if I had a 1 gigahertz computer, the render time per frame is 1 minute, and the scene is 20 seconds in NTSC format (599 frames):


Fair warnings with having a commercial “render farm” complete a project. They often have additional hidden costs for adding textures, adding plug-ins, and charges of $50.00/Hr “debugging” are regularly applied. If this path is decided upon by anyone, I advise that person to make their research meticulous.