ftrack

What is ftrack?

ftrack is production tracking and media review software for animation, VFX and creative studios. The vendor describes it as a creative project management suite that covers planning, review, task tracking and pipeline automation, and positions it around the tagline "Where Creatives Collaborate."

Key features of ftrack

• Planning and forecasting: forecast resources, budgets and delivery dates for a production.
• Media review: frame-accurate review on high-resolution footage, with notes synced across locations.
• Task management: per-artist task lists that show who is doing what and when.
• Pipeline development: automate hand-offs between tools and connect existing software through an open API.
• Project reports: reporting on production progress, included in the Studio plan.

How ftrack works

Producers set up a project, plan and schedule tasks, and assign them to artists. Artists submit work that reviewers watch and annotate in the browser, with notes visible to everyone on the project. The ftrack API lets studio technical teams connect the tracker to their own pipeline tools and automate repetitive hand-offs. The vendor says a first project can be set up in about 15 minutes.

Who uses ftrack?

ftrack serves animation studios, creative services teams, digital content creators and virtual production teams. The vendor's site cites Cinesite, CBS, Ubisoft and Plarium as examples. It suits studios that need schedule tracking and review in one place rather than separate spreadsheets and video tools.

ftrack pricing

ftrack publishes per-user prices. The Review plan is $10 per user per month billed annually, or $15 on monthly billing. The Studio plan is $25 per user per month billed annually, or $30 monthly. Enterprise is quoted by the vendor and billed annually. Review Pro, an add-on for synced review with 4K playback and watermarking, is $120 per month per workspace on annual billing or $150 monthly. Extra 500GB storage is $25 or $30 per month. The vendor offers a free trial: 7 days for Review and 14 days for Studio, with no credit card required.

ftrack integrations

The ftrack site names Side FX Houdini, Adobe Premiere Pro and Toon Boom Harmony as tools it connects with, and it sells cineSync for synchronized review. The open ftrack API supports custom connections to other pipeline tools.

ftrack alternatives

Kitsu is an open source production tracker for animation and VFX that is free to self-host, while ftrack is a commercial hosted suite with built-in media review. StudioBinder focuses on pre-production for film and video, including scheduling, call sheets and shot lists, whereas ftrack concentrates on tracking artist work through production and review. Celtx is aimed at scriptwriting and pre-production planning rather than tracking and reviewing finished shots.