So I was reading this guy makes $50,000 a year making 3D models and selling them on sites to companies that need 3D resources. Any idea if that's even remotely possible? Making $50,000 a year selling 3D models
yup that's pretty much possible. 3d entertainment is really hitting the waves and as much as possible a lot of agencies are trying to adapt this kind of demand. people nowadays are self-learning 3d and building their portfolio online wherein they just sell a lot of models and rigs either for the public or on exclusive deals. i personally have friends who easily make over $1000 each model mainly because their models are well structured. More value if the models already have built in rigs that are made properly Oh and if you're wondering, they're using Maya. Blender is an alternative although not recognized as an industry standard.
Like with any job, you must work on it. To make living from it you must build portfolio of popular 3d models. Depending on the quality and prices of your product it is possible to make decent revenue from 200 - 500 models. The main problem with this industry is that online shops take high commissions from artists (60% - 40% from each sale is taken). After illogical IRS taxes on top, artist get only 15% - 30%. One new interesting platform http://www.cgtrader.com introduced flat-fee system. Artists get 100% straight to their paypal account and then activate for a small $5 fee. This shop has many advantages over the commission based ones, the most obvious is when artists sell high priced 3d models. I hope the will succeed and grow large enough to provide steady flow of customers.
woow .its so cool to hear... i think its possible, if he have many yaer of experience and gud quality in the model details. he will get that much... as far as i know experience is everything...
Yeah I tried it. Try this open source (free) software some have even made films in it blender.org (sorry I can't post links yet) at least that way your get an idea if 3D modelling is right for you before spending money on software (although people make fantastic models in it so perhaps you wouldn't have to spend much on other software I guess it depends on what you want to do with it). Making these is extremely hard and I failed epically I just started for fun then gave up for a while and had to learn everything again if I decided to play around with it. Good luck.
$50k is nothing... based on the portfolio and the quality of his models I'm surprised he doesn't make a lot more.
I also know that 3D models get high money reward, but everything depends on the region where you work (i mean the country)
Its possible....and @dimazgyba....hey man don't hate on the photoshop things. Learning and mastering photoshop is almost the same difficult as 3DS max. I know both 3DS and Photoshop...and they both took me a while to get used to and learn it well. 8 Years on photoshop and 2 Years on 3DS currently. My friend makes decent amount of money by selling 3d models also. He is not a professional modeler...he gets basic stuff done such as Toys.