Some things to ponder about..

Some excerpts from James Shaw's blog, which covered the recently held State of Art
Academy where some notable personalities like Ronen Bekerman & Peter Guthrie held
workshops on workflows, techniques, & various topics related to our field. These in
particular piqued my interest..

General jist of questions:
- How do we compete with the likes of China and Thailand etc with prices as low as
$35 an image?
- Is there any future in ArchiViz?
- Is there a place for quality?
General answers from panellists:
- Educate the client that what you offer is above what cheaper companies will give
you.
- Is a client who demands low quality a client you would want to work for?
- Sell yourself slightly differently to set yourself apart from others.
- Prices are getting lower, so we have to use tools that are more efficient so we can
supply them cheaper. But in Thailand they produce them at $35US, so we can’t possibly
compete with that. In this case clients will have to experience those services and
will probably come back in frustration with the quality and lack of involvement.
- Companies will compete more and more with one another, but it’s simple business
that the ones that cut it too fine will go out of business. A maturity is coming
through in the industry that we hope will charge more realistically for this type of
work.
- Many of the cheaper firms in Thailand and China etc use pirated software to produce
work, so it is difficult to compete when we have to pay £3-4000 for 3DSMax alone.
- Become friends with the top people in “the chain”. The Architect used to be the
“top dog” in construction, but now the project manager has become the governing body
and the Architect is often brought in as more a consultant. To this extent the
project manager becomes a very good person to know as they will recommend you
(hopefully) on other projects they then manage.
- It’s not just about the Architect you are working for, but their client as well.
Some clients will naturally love cheesy stuff that can easily be produced in China,
but others will require beautiful, more crafted images. It’s a question of
identifying and securing clients that suit the work you want to do.
- Building trust in the client is critical and gaining respect for your company, so
clients will pay more for your product. As nicely quoted from the debate “would you
go to a cheap doctor to heal your sick child, or would you go to the best doctor in
town?”
- Most of us have a passion for it, so to do super cheap images is not enjoyable and
very stressful. To this extend does there seem much point in competing?
- An artist is quite unique. You can teach all technical skills with ease, and many
of us do it online all the time and quite freely. But knowing how to compose an
image, combine materials, use lighting artistically is very unique and rare. So
concentrating your efforts into getting people like this to make beautiful images
gives you an edge of pure technicians that will churn out images almost for free

WHERE ARE WE HEADING
- Cheapness of China. There are problems with communication, in conveying what you
want. These cheaper suppliers care less about what the client wants, the focus is
more on speed and cheapness. In the end clients end up spending more time and money
going backwards and forwards.
- Clients like to liase with people on the ground, this is essential for a satisfied
client and so the client is a part of the process.--Ronen Bekerman


My thoughts: 35$ per image. Wow. Thats like Php1750.00 ?? Somehow, I don't feel so
bad about how much I charge per image. Well, not so much..

Check out http://www.jamesshaw.co.nz/blog/?cat=66 for more stuff..

In general, syempre kung businessman ka, you will always opt for the cheap and good..
pero its still depends on your nature of business..

and for anyone out there interested:
http://www.chinafair.com.sg/

This is a nice read.

Well for local projects..there really is no choice. it's either you take it or just let it pass. Nowadays, i have not been doing 3d images, aside from my busy schedules, there are some other matters that has led me to decide to finally slow down on that area.

very nice read..tfs sir Cloud! dami na kasing visualizer. Dami ng magagaling..also include India, lalo na China..grabe mag bagsak ng presyo! ..imho what they lack nowadays were damn good designer's and planners..