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Billing for Render Time
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Thank you for all your feedback,
After reading everyones post it seems that billing for rendering time is discretionary. And the factors seem to be the facilities and if you even tell the client that they are paying for render time. I am of the one man one system variety, and always set up my queue before I get some ZZZZ. After reading your posts it seem my decision would be, to charge an for rendering by the hour. And that hour would be half of the hourly rate. In the past I’ve just added a couple hours to the total hours to the job to justify cost of rendering. I just wanted to know if it was common to charge for rendering time. Thanks
What are the going hourly rates for After Effects and encoding these days?
Kino Pravda
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Even more obvious in this thread is also the confusion of exactly what “rendering” means and what it consists of. If Rick is only talking about NLE renders that is one thing. To me “encoding” and “rendering” are the same type of process which I also bill for. The original poster is talking about AE renders, which are (usually) quite different in complexity and time than FCP renders done only to optimize and output a timeline project. And then there are Lightwave, 3DSMax, and Maya renders with radiosity, hair and cloth simulations etc. that can take weeks or months. That is why many 3D artists I know still stick to the “$1,000.00 per finished second” rule on high quality work. Again if you structure your pricing right, rendering is and should be factored in as an expense you must cover to keep a healthy business going.
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[Rick Dolishny] ”
Interesting because I always bill for encoding.”I’ll chime in with a me too on this one. But we don’t list it as encoding on the invoices. It’s all part of the DVD authoring process.
As to rendering, the stuff we’re doing in After Effects is usually so simple that the renders can be churned out during breaks or during short breaks created for the purpose of getting a few quick renders done so stuff can be added to the NLE.
BTW, if you do anything at all with After Effects your life will be GREATLY improved by adding the Nucleo Pro plug-in. Not only does it make renders faster, it does background renders and background previews so while you’re working the part of the timeline you’re not changing is rendering. An unbelievable timesaver that can easily pay for itself in a session or two, making getting it essentially a no brainer.
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Our rates are posted at http://www.tiltmedia.com but basically AE work is $150/hr Authoring is $125 and Encoding is $80. NLE SD editing is $175 and HD Editing is $225.
All posted conveniently on our website so producers can make a quick estimate without a phone call checking on our rates.
Rich Rubasch
Tilt MediaEditing since 1992
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We often (not always) do charge for rendering, otherwise it’s difficult to pay for all those machine and software upgrades to stay current.
It’s interesting too- when one guy says he charges $80 an hour for rendering it initially sounds like a lot to charge. Until you realize that he may have 10 octomacs running in his render farm. Then it’s a bargain compared to the one guy with a single G4.
I humbly put forth that if one wants to use an online render farm (say, for a big Lightwave project), that the render farm companies don’t offer the time on their systems for free.
🙂
Just my datapoint of the day…
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http://www.geniusmonkeys.com
(818) 653-9144 -
[Patrick Ortman] “I humbly put forth that if one wants to use an online render farm (say, for a big Lightwave project), that the render farm companies don’t offer the time on their systems for free.”
That’s a really good point.
Although the original post was an hourly question, I have no idea what my “hourly” rate is for a big 3D job. It’s more in line with that $x/second quote.
I guess my first response was a bit short sighted. I do make money on my machines rendering. But I have never indicated “rendering” on an invoice.
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Rick Dolishny
Discrete Editors COW Leader
http://www.thecreativeprocess.ca -
One other consideration: if you bill consistently for render time at whatever rate you set, occasionally “comping” the render time as “added value” under special circumstances can be a powerful tool in dealing with a client that’s on the fence, without dropping your regular rate and billing.
I come from an analog linear background initially, where machine time of any sort ties up the next customer in line, preventing more profit opportunities. So I would always bill *something* for renders or encodes, though it would not be the same rate as active editing work.
“Oh, you wanted to RECORD that?”
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There’s no such thing as added value. I learned that a few years ago. If it’s worth something to someone, they’ll be willing to pay for it. I worked in radio and the sales gerbils always wanted me to throw ads on the website as added value. BS. It took work…layout, upload time, ISP rates and so on.
I charge my hourly rate for rendering, but I normally cut the time in half. Most times I try to render on the fly so it’s built into the hours I’m working on a project anyway, but then I don’t really do a lot of heavy compositing or 3-D work, either. If I’m rendering overnight I’ll normally only charge for one or two hours.
$175 per hour? Jeez – I need to move to where you all are! I can’t get more than $85 per hour most of the time, and even then I get the raised eyebrow when the bill goes out. Even at $85 an hour I get outbid all the time. It’s frustrating. But, it’s Ohio, not Los Angeles.
KC Allen
Allen Film & Video“Who’s the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows?”
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I’m getting $150/hr in Northeast PA. Unfortunately its been $150/hr for 20 years now, right through the paradigm shift from tape-to-tape to non-linear, which we switched to in 1994.
I have less work than I could, but I get paid more when I am working.
Mike Gorga, Producer/Director
MEGCOMM Film & Video Prod.
800.816.1884
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