Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for vFX companies.
A checklist built from how vFX companies work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Shot list and bid breakdown
- Shot pipeline by department
- Review notes by version
- Artist booking and timesheets
- Plates, assets and delivery specs
- Milestone invoicing
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For VFX producers
- For supervisors and leads
- For artists
- For coordinators and the data wrangler
- For the finance team
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Shots by status and department for each show
- Days spent against days bid per shot
- Open client notes by version and age
- Artist booking against available days by week
- Change orders raised, approved and invoiced
- Packages delivered and rejected by client
- Show margin from bid, cost to date and invoices
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Review and dailies tool export
- Render farm usage export
- Accounting export
- Shared storage links
- Single sign-on
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is this shot tracking software or full studio management?
- Can a bid be compared with what a shot really cost?
- How do client notes reach the artist?
- Does it handle change orders?
- Can freelancers use it without seeing other shows?
- Does it replace our review software?
- Will our existing shot sheets move across?
- Who owns the show data?
- What does it cost?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Bids and actual artist days drift apart
- Client notes pile up across versions
- Artists are booked on the wrong shows
- Deliveries miss the client’s spec
- Milestone invoices lag the work
Prefer to talk it through? See the vFX companies page.