Beginner questions about how this works.

Hi and welcome. As you have noticed by yourself, there is no straightforward answers to some of your questions, but let's try to answer them anyway :]

#1. i sold my first model after 3 days when i published it. Then there was month without any sales, then couple sales followed by empty month or two. More or less regular started to appear after i published 50 models or so.

#2. price alone doesn't tell a lot about model's liquidity. If those 50 models will be similar like your sole published model, then i can tell that you will have a hard time to sell anything. Having four dozens of models can earn you anywhere between 0 and $1000+ per month. It really depends on what kind of models they are.

#3. you cannot apply texture without material to a model. So yeah, if model has texture, it automatically has material(-s). On the other hand, model can perfectly have materials without textures.

#4. n-gons are not that bad if you know when to use them. UV maps or even unwraps are essential for one kind of models and are not needed for another. Of course it never will hurt if model has UV coordinates, even when it's not needed.

#5. object groups are perfectly fine, just don't leave every little piece as separate object. Try to logically attach similar pieces to one object.

#6. i take for fact that it's virtually impossible to ensure same look in export formats as in native formats, unless you're doing full unwrapp and using PBR texturing to conform industry standards. Usually i just publish export formats without materials and leave look developement to the buyer. Just make sure to clearly mention this in product description, otherwise you risk to have refund on "not as described" basis.

#7. actually there is: go to your menu and search for analytics section. There you'll find extensive graphs about overall marketplace statistics, as well as info about your own models. True gold mine when you want to know what's hot and what's not.

#8. always try to search for similar models and price accordingly. If you found already existing model like yours, don't try to undercut it with lower price, try to think if you can improve your models quality and or presentation and price it at the same or even slightly bigger price. Try to compete with the quality not with the price - it's the only lasting strategy.

Good luck and happy selling. Don't forget to buy me a nice beer when you'll earn your first million :]

Thanks for the answers, so as for the 6.th question, if I have a non-texturized model, should I put on some materials for prettier renderings, then take out all materials and leave it for the customer to put his own? I tried rendering the model I'm currently making without materials, but it looks really bad compared to the version with glossy materials, at least in the Cycles rendered. Also, since I'm using Blender, if I export the Blend file, will that file have materials (and textures?) set up already for the costumer or not?

If I understood correctly, you can export/import textures for all formats, but you can only have materials for the Blend/Max/C4d format or for whatever program you're using, correct?

Also, if I make a house with textures, a house that has windows with glass materials on them, what do I do then, same as above, export the Blend file with both materials and textures and then export fbx, obj and 3ds as only textures with materials taken out?

Another question btw, 9. as I'm still learning the way 3d modeling works, what should I make my learning goal or what should I make my "standard" in order to make all of my future models be worth at least 20, 30 dollars?

I suppose the following:

- remove ngon's

- remove doubles if present

- make a non overlapping uv unwrap (if there's no texture and materials alone do a good job on the model, should I do uv unwrapping then too or is it pointless in that case?)

- diffuse, specular and normal textures (should I put bump and some others as well?)

- the bigger the percent of quads, the better

- some decent looking renderings

Anything I missed?

10. What is the model price range that makes up the most sales? In the start I thought that the cheapest models sell the best, but now I think that 20-70 dollar models sell more often.

Q: if I have a non-texturized model, should I put on some materials for prettier renderings, then take out all materials and leave it for the customer to put his own?
A: no, that would be really bad move. Customers should be able to download native files (in your case .blend) and render exactly as in your preview images. Only exchange formats such as FBX or OBJ could be without materials, or with very basic materials.

Q: If I understood correctly, you can export/import textures for all formats, but you can only have materials for the Blend/Max/C4d format or for whatever program you're using, correct?
A: not exactly. Exchange formats can have materials too, but they are much more limited and you don't have much control on how they gonna translate into customer's software of choise.

#9. yes, something like that. If you're beginner, then try to get firm basic knowledge about 3d and then with time you will learn how to know what knowledge you're missing and how to find answers to your questions :]

#10. it's not the price that drives sales, it's the model. Don't think that setting price at some magic number will propell your sales. High quality model high demand model will sell well for a high price, as long as it's reasonable.On the other hand, low value, bad quality model won't generate much views, let alone sales, even if it's priced at $2.

I have much less experience in selling models than i have in making them, but i can tell you that this is extremelly competetive business. For newcomer, who don't have much experience in making good models it will be very tough to compete agains old dogs with years and years of experience. Even toughest veterans feels increasing pressure from endless river of new models that appears every single day in the market. If it's only desire to make some money from selling 3d models that drives you, then you may soon find that you're starting to loose your motivation as your first steps will be very hard. It's very tedious and time consuming process and reward may come much too late :]

I'd keep the materials in the .blend format, but should I take them off for the fbx, obj and 3ds format options? So if I have a house model as an example, I'd give people the choice to download the house in:

1. .blend format file which has both textures and materials (in this case for the glass on the windows)
and
2. fbx, obj and 3ds format files which just have textures, but without the materials

Would that be ok? I think that I actually saw someone's model here that is sold like that, max or c4d format with materials and a fbx option without them.