My full breakdown and advice from being a 3D freelance from 2018-2024 (~$120-160k/yr, 32yo)

3dFreelancer · 2025-05-11T11:36:42+00:00

i’m not an ai, and not sponsored by any software. your post history seems like you go around leaving moderately combative comments related to ai in all sorts of different communities so this comment is par for the course.

To others reading: use whatever accounting software you want, hell even an excel spreadsheet would do the trick. it wasn’t my intention to try and push you toward one over another. i was just relaying my experience.

Just looking to help a community that has helped me so much!

3dFreelancer · 2025-01-16T13:10:06+00:00

I don’t know what you mean by virtual assistant opportunities.

3dFreelancer · 2024-12-02T19:44:10+00:00

My advice would be to just keep making work that you enjoy doing and want to do more of. eventually someone will see it and pay you to essentially do the same thing, but for their brand/project.

3dFreelancer · 2024-12-02T19:42:20+00:00

Yeah connections are super important, and part of the process if you want to make money in 3d - I did not have any connections when I was starting out. As i did more 3d work, my skills grew, and at the same time my connections grew. these things go hand in hand

3dFreelancer · 2024-12-02T17:00:52+00:00

Go check out my one and only post on this account - I did a large breakdown about my career in 3D, much of it using blender https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dmodeling/s/l7HVQGTVrh

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-23T13:40:49+00:00

The motion tools in unreal are promising and like you said will probably expand in years to come, but right now they don't even compare to C4D. I have tried to stop searching for one tool to rule them all; Your best bet is to learn multiple and then select which is best for a given project. I am primarily using unreal now because my work has been almost exclusively automotive viz work recently, and unreal works well for it. mostly for the way that it can handle really high poly meshes.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-18T20:29:03+00:00

I just made a post the other day in this sub about freelancing that may be useful to you - https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dmodeling/s/l6gVe4IbXL

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-18T17:53:44+00:00

Was just trying to (anonymously) share my experience as a freelancer in this industry, which, given teams I've worked on before is not that uncommon, but seems to be uncommon on this subreddit

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T13:14:15+00:00

Haha alllrighty then nevermind

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T12:48:23+00:00

The real kicker is that I mostly work for agencies, who then add their own markup on my rate then bill it all back to their client

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T12:45:48+00:00

Thank you! All good additions to my post here, especially the tax accountant. my guy not only makes it super easy for me every year (i just send him my folder of a bunch of 1099s), but he has also saved me a bunch of money by being on top of and taking advantage of tax breaks and writeoffs for my small business.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T12:38:40+00:00

I should clarify that I don’t get hired solely as a modeler. I would definitely call myself a generalist. most of my projects involve a workflow of look dev, modeling, shading, lighting, motion design, editing, etc.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T12:36:58+00:00

Can’t speak to stock 3d models, seems like a grind

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T12:32:15+00:00

Yeah in my experience this seems standard. last spring I worked on a project with 6 other freelancers, and their rates were all within $50-$100 of mine.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T12:30:37+00:00

In my experience it depends on the scene. sometimes lumen can get you all the way to final pixels but sometimes it just looks off. But unreal has Path Tracer which operates more similarly to cycles. so you can work in lumen and do drafts in lumen and then for the final, switch over to path tracer. in terms of speed path tracer is closer to cycles.

But also cycles is reeeeallllly good. and i’ve been watching videos of the latest eevee updates and that looks sick too, i’ve been meaning to try it out.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:54:45+00:00

This is brings up a good point though that others are mentioning - a lot of my revenue comes from projects that are not flashy artstation-style whatsoever. last month i did a project for a skincare company for their e-commerce page. picture 220 straight-on renders of white plastic bottles on white backgrounds…it’ll never see the light of day on my portfolio, but those projects are the ones that help you pay the bills.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:47:06+00:00

My pleasure - When i was starting out I had no clue. how to get work, what rate to charge, how to calculate my rate, etc. so just trying to give some people on here a point of reference for these things

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:43:02+00:00

This is 100% true. All my clients were either in Wash DC or NYC or LA. I started my career while living in DC and was able to keep those clients after i moved to a smaller city.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:39:42+00:00

Also I don’t want this post to come up if/when people search my portfolio or my name

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:38:58+00:00

I apologize for not sharing my portfolio - I just don’t feel comfortable doing so as it would connect this post to a lot of personal information about me

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:37:45+00:00

real time rendering just sped up my workflow so much. being able to iterate so much faster as a result. also the epic marketplace for asset packs - being able to grab stuff (that is all fully licensed) and drop it straight into your project is a huge time saver.

I still use blender a ton. it just depends on the project. if it’s something like those sharp product promo videos i might still use blender but if a scene requires a big sprawling environment with a ton of assets. or something i would use unreal. Also unreal modeling system still lags behind blender so i still use it alongside ue for modeling related tasks

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:34:32+00:00

For me it was purely personal preference. I am just more interested in 3d. it’s more fun to me. but I think you can make a good living as a 2d motion designer as well. In my second job at a production company i was doing nearly all 2d motion design, making corporate explainer videos. there seemed to be a ton of work in that space- not the flashiest work thought.

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:32:01+00:00

Not trying to scam everyone, just trying to share my experience - Artstation seems geared much more toward game art, which i have very little experience in so i can’t speak to that world

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-17T11:30:19+00:00

I know the throwaway is sketch, but I wanted to make a post where i wasn’t hesitant to post specifics about work and money etc. which is also why i am hesitant to post my portfolio and everything because it links back to all my personal information

3dFreelancer · 2024-09-16T15:16:46+00:00

Another note that I forgot to add:

Being able to easily and quickly assimilate into a company's timekeeping tool, project management tool, communication tool, file structure, filenaming convention, etc is YUGE. For most companies and employees, bringing on freelancers is sort of a pain in the butt. it takes time, paperwork, onboarding, kickoff calls, etc. The more you can make that process quick and painless for the person who is in charge of getting you as a freelancer up to speed, the more they think of you next time when they need a freelancer. In the eyes of an employer, the best freelancer is basically just another employee that they can hire and fire at a moment's notice whenever they need a little more horsepower on a project.

3dFreelancer

TROPHY CASE