Capital Costs
Going freelance has made me think long and hard about the cost of the tools that I use day-to-day. Starting a freelance design business is capital-intensive! Even the most basic realistic setup will run about $8800, and buying a reasonable parametric modeler will bump you up to $12800! Forget about getting a “real” CAD package; those run $10k and up by themselves!
So the basic hardware/software absolutely necessary for an industrial designer costs over 13 G’s: that’s 130 Benjamins, people! It’s no wonder piracy is so rampant in the design world. I am striving for integrity in my business, and therefor am doing everything I can to be 100% legal, but it isn’t easy. I’ve been able to reduce some of my overhead by seeking sponsorships from some of these software companies, and it helps tremendously, but the cost of these things is still a big burden on my Quickbooks!
Bare-bones Setup:
- Decent Computer: $1500
- Wacom Tablet: $500
- Windows Vista: $300
- MS Office: $400
- Adobe CS Design Premium: $1800
- Sketchbook Pro: $100
- Quickbooks Pro: $200
- Rhinoceros: $1000
- SpaceClaim: $1000
- Modo: $1000
SolidWorks, ProE, etc: $4000
Catia V5 or UGNX: $10k-100k, Ouch!
MS Office – are you sure you need it? Open Office might work, or even some of the Cloud alternatives?
Adobe CS Design Premium – is there any way you could qualify for a student discount? It is SO much cheaper that it might be economical to actually enroll in a course just to get the student ID required…
You’re exactly right, Glenn. I do use Open Office, actually. It’s slow performance and clunky interface are a real downer, though (it’s incredibly ironic to be calling something “clunky” next to MS Office!), and most importantly many of my clients require MS file format delivery. Yes, I can export MS files from Open Office, but not reliably enough for comfort. Maybe this has improved since I last checked? As much as I would love to work in the clouds, the confidential nature of my work keeps me from going that route; too risky legally.
As for student discounts, don’t the agreements usually stipulate that you never use a student license for commercial purposes? I’d be using the products for commercial projects, so I assume it’s illegal to use a student license; maybe I’m wrong?
What is this about software sponsorship? Enlighten me…
So you want me to give away all my business secrets, eh? Good luck with that! :)
Let me just say that if you are in a very visible position in your design community, and you like to show off the coolest new features in front of big crowds, sometimes good things happen!