Need custom 3d art?

I'm considering making some 3d artwork, including textures, and selling it as packs or as single models. I was thinking about making some of these packs: space ships and space stations, medival buildings, futuristic buildings or some vehicles model packs. But i can't decide.

What would be a good way to figure out what people need?

I was also considering making something very custom for a specific project and then selling it to others online as a pack as well.

Any advice?
Or does anyone want cheap specific models without exclusive rights?

Yes, cheap. It's your chance to exploit a modeler just entering the market and working at promotional prices.

Oh no, now i'm going into "selfpromotion". Someone needs a portfolio? Dont have one. Recently i finished this nice house tho:
http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=53555

This is all more like suggestions than definite stuff.

Well, ask. That's what I did. If you don't get any answers, just produce random stuff and hope it sells.

I've stopped adding stuff to the3dstudio.com mainly 'cause nobody buys from there, so mostly I just show people what I do and offer to make them some unique assets for a low price or if they like something I've already made I negotiate terms of use with them. Works well, I get paid, and the client is happy (well, usually, it's never guaranteed). Plus, it's fun.

And yeah, that is a quite nice house you did.

People like free stuff. Why not offer to do a free pack - people are going to be more vocal about what they want if they know they won't be paying for anything.

I would think a great business model would be to release some great free content and sell expansions; get people comfortable using your stuff and drooling for more, then take their money.

People like free stuff, but you're not going to make any money off of it.

Thanks Noel.

I do plan on releasing a few models for free, like most artists do, for promotional purposes. That also lets people see at what level of quality the actual products are. And then if it suits them they can buy the whole pack.

Ok then, anyone want a free custom made 3d model for their project?

puki, need a bridge? A boat?
Vordeman, need some scenery buildings? Or do you want a boat as well, for scenery? Or a nice chick to start the race?

lol

I could use a free scale model of the entire state of alabama... all details... tell me when it is done ;)

I'm not into 3D stuff... But If I was.. I would be in need of not buildings... but -parts- of buildings... fence, awnings, gates, bricks, various textures such as brick shingles and siding... lamps, street lights, signs, windows, doors, and tables chairs and all that junk...

whole building fasades wouldn't be very usefull to me... a whole range of assets to stick onto big square buildings that I made would be great...

wagon wheels, stones, plants, ambient life like birds and such..... Thats what I would need...

More ninjas! Nobody ever makes ninja models.

Shareware has been known to turn a profit in the past.

Shareware isn't free.

Plus you can't really do shareware with assets

I had this idea as well Dampe, making parts of stuff and allowing people to combine it on their own.

I think i'll make a spaceship pack, and also have a look around other "gamedev" communities or wherever people might be interested.

Flameduck, what did i ever do to you to give me such harmful advice? :P

I must have been drunk. I meant software that has free demo versions and pesters you to upgrade.

Ninjas are super cool!

Seriously everyone makes boring fantasy packs or boring WWII packs. The spaceship pack thing is probably the only one that you mentioned that might have personal interest, but I'd need exlusive rights, and need it to be to specification.

Other than that, I think most people are looking for flexible "Poser" type models.

Lenn, how may I contact you directly?

AlexZ, You have the email in my profile! edit: oh i got your mail, replied.


FlameDuck, i'm not sure how much people are prepared to pay for exclusive rights and specification models? Twice the rate for nonexclusive? Three times? I mean on average, you know...

octo, what am i supposed to do, make everything animated and have "Please register" pop up from the model? haha

Here is an idea that I think would benefit the artists as well as developers.

1. Artists create their great artwork.
2. Create screenshots of the final work
3. Reduce poly count by 4 times... i.e. 1000 poly count comes out to 250
4. Reduce the texture res by 4 times, 512 becomes 128
5. Retain all the animations in it
6. Make those free models

Now, as a developer, I can find what I want, download the low res version, put it in my engine, key in the animations, etc. When I am ready to release the product, I purchaes your work. Replace the files, and that is it.

This would also drive a LOT of traffic to your site because you have "free" artwork. And traffic is what will sell your product. Plus, you can put ads up and everything else.

This is just my 2 cents. Of course, I'm a developer, not a modeler. But, in my defence, I am creating a business app that will follow MS lead on the "Express" model where you get a pretty much powerful free software just to drive traffic and posibility to entice the customers to purchase "Enterprise" level version as well as other products and services.

I disagree on the grounds that if they make the high poly version and then reduce it, it's more work than it is to just sell the first one up front for less.

And no, if people come to your site looking for free stuff, they are not going to go "Oh, hey, he's selling stuff, why don't I buy it instead of get the free stuff I came for?"

You can't market assets the same way as with software, it just doesn't work.

Noodle, I respectfully disagree.

The time used to produce lower quality artwork for free distribution must be considered as a marketing or advertising cost.

People visit sites that offer free stuff all the time, in this case, I would point to turbosquid.com. But, if you want a better version, you buy a better model.

Also, the fact it doesn't work is based on what? No one has done it? Are there example to which I can look at where it failed?

In my opinion, I think it is because people think in the terms you describe. "Why should I spend my time making a lower poly free model? I am not being paid for it.". But that is wrong. That is time invested into your craft AND your company. It is a business expense that is not quantified by cash but your efforts. And it will pay you back. You must invest into your business, marketing, and advertising. If not money, then your time.

Your idea isn't unique, trust me. All the sites/businesses that have tried your idea either discontinued it or went under -- mine included.



Unfortunately, there's no way for you to predict whether or not it will, but taking past examples of this into account you can make the assumption your idea won't work.

The problem isn't with artists thinking it's not worth their time -- it usually is if you can make decent sales. It's with the people you're marketing to. Art assets aren't easy to make without a good deal of experience, which is why people buy these models. With independent developers, however, you have a new breed of cheapskate that works primarily with open source software and gets a lot of stuff done for them from free to extremely low prices.

Because of this, they aren't going to pay $50 for an animated, rigged, textured, high quality model, they're going to want to pay $10 and have exclusive rights.

And, the biggest problem with releasing assets for a low price is that those who do buy it will have the same asset. A lot of developers will not want to see other games sharing the assets that their game uses because of how their games will look similar.

If you're going to give something away for free, it should be extremely limited legally (place it under a far more viral GPL license for example) or some other method (e.g., no textures, no animations, etc.)



Last, but not least, small and independent developers can't write these things off as business expenses because we aren't corporations with $50,000,000,000 yearly budgets -- granted, I wish I had that kind of money (would probably buy BRL). If I did this I would only lose money.

I don't think there is such a thing as an average factor for that, since there are too many variables to consider. I was thinking more like 5-10.

Hmm, well, since you have experience at this, I'll trust your opinion. Just a thought. Good to know though in case I ever make assets such as models.

Why does not having 50 billion dollar annual budgets prevent you writing things off as a business expense? Is there a law in the US that states that only large multi billion dollar corporations can have tax writeoffs?