Living in America and getting a render job done Locally? Or abroad?
What is the difference and which one works better?
Photo by Waldemar Brandt
This is one of the most commonly asked questions prior to hiring 3D experts. Looking and searching on freelancing websites, there are so many 3D artists providing services, not only in your area but also in a far distance like abroad, but how should we make a decision?
Let’s go through the process now.
Searching and Browsing
[Web search]
You might start with searching in the web engine of your choice, “3D renderings in Toronto”, “3D studios near me”, “3D Freelancers”. You will see so many websites coming up and some of them are probably sponsored Ads that are not even from your local area. Clicking through all the websites, you’ll find a nice rendering company and check their “Contact”, and you’ll find out they are on the other side of the world. Hm… yeah.. It happens. (That is why Upportu.com is very useful to search 3D studios quickly without wasting time. Sorry, we want to promote our platform somehow)
[Freelancer marketplace]
You may want to find someone cost-effectively on a freelancing platform. As a result, there are numerous people who come out with the results and you click through them, one by one for 5 pages and probably end up giving up on going through 40 pages.
There are some artists located abroad, you are not sure if they will responsively communicate with you or not. It could be a time sensitive project and you have to make sure whether the person is reliable or not.
Getting quotes and prices
*please check article “how much do renderings cost?” for reference*
[Web search]
You have sent 10 emails to 10 different studios after spending 3 hours researching. In 2days, you’ll receive 1 email. In 4 days, you’ll receive 2 more emails. In 7days, you will receive another 4 emails. It is so slow and time consuming to get quotes. (That is why Upportu.com provides a free project posting to get plural quotes in 24hrs for Free. Again, we want to promote our service)
Maybe after many back and forth emails, you figure out some of them do not reply back quickly. You are waiting to get an answer for a few days.
There are 5 studios you found in search engines. 3 are in the same country, 2 are from abroad. Prices are very different, you have no idea if there is even a set criteria for these quotes. No there is not. Prices are charged based on their experiences, required time, number of participating artists, currency, project scale, etc. That is why it will be very different.
[Freelancer marketplace]
There are so many different prices from $10-$80/hr. Maybe it could be $50-2,000/image. This is because there are a lot of artists living in different countries, they give quotes based on their standards.
Local vs Abroad pros and cons
Local
Pros
-Geographically speaking, you are close to the studio, meaning you can visit them when you are available and have an offline meeting with presentation, being able to communicate more closely easily.
-Locals know the locals the best. Studios will know the area well, they can easily access your needs, for example, getting street photographs and drone shots easily in any season.
-They are part of local business, it is good to support the local economy.
-Sending payment will be much more accessible and convenient.
-When there are some samples to hand in, it will be cheaper, quicker, more convenient to deliver and receive.
-If something goes wrong, you can still find them.
Cons
-When you are living in the UK, getting rendering in local is more expensive than getting it from Vietnam or Ukraine (only used as exemples).
Abroad
Pros
-There are so many talented artists abroad as well. It could be a great chance to try different tastes of art. Each continent has different aspects of art vision, this is based on their local marketing trends. That brings a more interesting point of view to look at your project and express it in another version. It is just like food. Every country has their own local food, different ingredients, smells, recipes and chefs. We highly recommend trying out various studios in the world, just like you should try all kinds of food.
-It possibly could be cheaper. You can easily find great 3D visualisers in India, Vietnam, Ukraine, Poland, China, Brazil, Argentina, Bulgaria and Egypt etc. The cost may be half of North America and UK or western Europe artists.
-Even Though it is not an English based country, there are alot of studios providing services in English as well.
Cons
-Time difference could cause potential discrepancy prior to the deadline. It will be better to keep that in my mind. You May need to do some research to figure out their reputation. Unlike your local business, it is a challenge to figure it out.
-It might be a bit more lengthy process to send the payment. There are many fund transfer systems you can do online or at the bank. However, when it comes to a larger amount of transferring, there might be some inconvenience.
-Since two different cultures collaborate in a project, it will need a lot of communication in terms of discussing the site etc.
-Communication could be an obstacle in certain cases.
