How to hire a great 3D modeler

Up front I want to disclose I am asking this question to write a blog post to help my audience.

What do you artists that draw projects for people like me want from us. What can people like me that hire all drawings completed do to help artists, get the correct fit in terms of personalities, what questions to ask. Anything that will help us make the process easier for you.

When my audience reads my post, I want them to come here with a clue when they post their jobs or invite artist to work on their projects.

Thanks for your input,

Eric

I do a lot of commissions, so this is from experience.

1. My biggest problem is the client comes without thorough research. They have no idea which material to design for or never even read the material descriptions.

2. No dimensions, just a pic to go from. Research is not the best use of my time and can really drive the price up.

3. Clients often are very slow to answer emails through the design process. I am always waiting for someone to get back on a design question.

4. Clients wanting to know up front what it will cost to have printed before we even start. Often I rough out a similar size shell to get a rough idea, but I never see compensation for that.

5. People need to read and understand the Shapeways process and time-lines including shipping.

6. People should look at the designers work and feedback AND read read the descriptions.

7. Pick a designer that draws the type of item you have in mind. There are sculptors, train, vehicle jewelry and mechanical designers. Choosing a jewelry designer to make a mechanical part and vice versa does not work.

8. Just because it's small does not mean it's takes less time than drawing it for a particular scale.

9. Don't have a designer draw for detail and cheap out and try to have it printed in White material.

10. Keep in mind the Designer and Shapeways are two separate services.

11. RESEARCH< RESEARCH and MORE RESEARCH material ready when approaching a designer. You will get a more accurate idea of cost entailed and address issues early on.

Hope this helps

I also take on a lot of commission work.
The work I do is varied, from jewelery to mechanical/technical with a host of other genres thrown in.
For me, there's a range of hurdles to overcome, however they are different for different genre of model.
I'll try to summarise in general terms.

Specialist subjects - usually there's a lot of terminologly associated with the subject of the model. My preference is to have the terminolgy explained - this saves a lot of time as I don't need to googling for answers.

A clear and consise specification along with good communications for the job is good - the more information there is about the nitty grittys and the end useage of the model, the better - These help me share the same vision as the client, and enables me to recommend a suitable material or range of materials for the project.

Pricing - I'll quote what's fair and reasonable for creating the model. I'm very wary of clients who ask for a reduction, generally, these are the people who at some point along the line ask, 'Oh, could you just add this', the project changes direction and drifts from the original spec - On the other hand, if a client wants me to create several similar model, I'll offer a discout... I suppose this boils down to, please respect the designer's pricing.

Cheers,
Paul
[hr]

stop4stuff Modeller for hireShapeways Shop - Controller PendantTwitterYouTube​

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Before i start to work on anything i ask these questions.

1. what i should do? (how it will be used, what you can provide (picture, non printable 3d model, scanned model etc.) )
2. what will be the final/minimal size?
3. In what material(s) it will be printed?
4. Style of payment? (if he want estimation of price or i will be paid by the hour (second option is only for clients that i worked for before... ), how and when payment will take place and other boring stuff...)


Of course it can be much longer debate as one would expect, but that is usually true only for new people in 3d printing. But these are probably all question (simplified) that needs to be answered every time.

Are there links to a preferred place so people can find you? I would like to give you all credit as contributors if you are not apposed. Email your preferred website etc to rockinhfarmtoys@gmail.com and I would be glad let people know you helped write the post.

My audience is new to 3D printing and I hope this post will clear up many questions and make things easier for folks like you .

Thanks Eric

Hi Eric,

Sure you can use can use my post (change the typos pls)

My email is paul@stop4stuff.com and www.stop4stuff.co.uk forwards to my Shapeways Shop.

Cheers,
Paul King

Hey all, your responses are fantastic and I am grateful.

Some of you responded about pricing. Could you expand on what people should expect on pricing? That is another very common question I receive. Pricing will be a separate post.

Eric

I have the first part very close to complete. I'll send a link to view it.

they can expect anything from 6$ to 50€ per hour of work (i guess). But in the end the final price could be very similar. It depends on location, experience of modeler, if (s)he is freelancer or work for some company etc.

maybe you can find some better answers in 3D modelers for hire section

Hi Eric,

Being freelance, I charge for the complete job, not an hourly rate or day rate. Within my pricing, I'll also guarantee that a model will be printable in the Shapeways material or range of materials that the client would like. The client also retains full rights to the model. Basically I offer a pakage for a price. Sometimes I get my pricing wrong and a model might take me a lot longer to create than I'd originally thought, but that's down to me and I honour my price.

Cheers,
Paul
[hr]

stop4stuff Modeller for hireShapeways Shop - Controller PendantTwitterYouTube​

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hmmm... Was regretting the non useful wall of text full of random ideas I had written here. Would be of much better use if I'd just say: Be sure to prepare a contract and NDA if needed, and agree to work with the payment system that fits both parts (per chunk of work done, in phases, works for me). And agreeing with someone above, actually pick a modeler for your project if you see is specialized in the kind of modeling that your project needs. As well, just like when you buy a new car, it is a great idea to browse well info about the product you want to buy or produce. That is, there are tons of infos about materials in Shapeways' site, and also in these forums. This certainly is one of the keys for a successful and trouble free project. The rest of my writing was total random stuff and bad jokes , so I've just fixed this post. :]

Good luck.

I certainly would not classify myself among the "great 3D modelers" as I am but a lowly hobbyist, but angles I'd reiterate and emphasize are the need for client communication and follow-through.

I am not a professionally-trained, and I only really know how to use Sketchup; so I don't really charge that much...if I even charge anything at all.

That being said, probably a third of the pieces I have uploaded have been requests that the clients never bother to order...and I never hear from the client again. I tend to make these available for public purchase in my shop hoping that someone else might want it, but they usually go unpurchased.