Tips for selling models
polycounter lvl 5
Any tips from people with experience in selling on various sites? I'm thinking of gathering up some assets from a few personal projects and putting them up somewhere (a couple swords and knives).
Artstation, turbosquid, flipped normals, cg trader, sketchfab are the places I know. I suppose gumroad is good if you have an online presence but I cant say I do.
I've got no idea what kind of sales to expect. Its hard to make sense of what the market is. One friend of a friend I know allegedly makes more off models than he does working at cgprojeckt, but I'm guessing his models work for kitbashing and cinematic work, and I think theres more market for assets that are for pre rendered projects over game ready assets. I cant think of why any serious studios would buy models off a marketplace, aside from perhaps prototyping. So I'm really curious about the numbers, if anyone's willing to share.
Artstation, turbosquid, flipped normals, cg trader, sketchfab are the places I know. I suppose gumroad is good if you have an online presence but I cant say I do.
I've got no idea what kind of sales to expect. Its hard to make sense of what the market is. One friend of a friend I know allegedly makes more off models than he does working at cgprojeckt, but I'm guessing his models work for kitbashing and cinematic work, and I think theres more market for assets that are for pre rendered projects over game ready assets. I cant think of why any serious studios would buy models off a marketplace, aside from perhaps prototyping. So I'm really curious about the numbers, if anyone's willing to share.
Replies
best way to go about it is to create content that shows your stuff in action, build an email list and or use paid advertising to build a massive audience over time. it takes time and persistence, and the returns in the beginning will be a lot lower than several years down the road where things will be exponentially more profitable.
They do have some requirements, mostly around providing enough content in the pack, as well as a technical check. I never get it right in the first try, but most issues can be fixed. I had two packs rejected because of lack of content. Usually minimum is 5 totally different models in a pack, or if it's something like a modular car or an airplane they would ask for complete functionality (and maybe more). If you're doing a full, assembled, enviro scene instead of an asset pack, I don't think you'd have this problem. Full scenes like an old mansion, subway, office space, etc (some of the most popular that also got sponsored as free monthly content).
Research the market and see what niches you can fill. Don't go super specific or super generic. That being said, there are some generic themes that sell well like Military and Hospital assets. I attribute that to lots of people wanting to make fps games and more serious games companies (military, medical simulation etc) wanting to cut costs where possible. If you see a certain area is dominated already by a content creator.. i'd put your energy elsewhere. Unless you're sure you can top their work or deliver something they aren't.
If you can get your timing right, you can also sort of preemptively make assets that will fill a demand after a new blockbuster game drops. Like, I'm sure cyberpunk themed asset sales will get a big bump once Cyberpunk 2077 drops (and they probably already did from the hype generated over the past couple years).
Keep your descriptions cleanly organized and well written. Avoid big paragraphs when concise bullet points could work just as well. Dont go crazy with the renders, just a beauty shot or two, a couple different angles with wires. maybe a couple extra if there is certain functionality you want to highlight, like emissives, modularity or animatable parts.
one MAJOR point, make sure your assets were made with commercial licenses. using a student or "other" license could either get your work rejected outright, lead to customer refunds or get you stuck with a massive fine if the software companies are alerted.