Features.
Everything producers and artists need to quote, schedule, and invoice picture and sound work — production and post, freelance or studio, from a quick ballpark to a detailed formal bid.
Ballpark estimates
When a client asks "roughly what would this cost?" you need an answer in minutes, not days. Costfield's ballpark mode gives you a credible, shareable estimate before a full brief even exists.
Ready in minutes
Answer a few high-level questions — job type, scope, rough duration — and Costfield builds a credible estimate on the spot. No shot breakdowns, no rate tables.
Start the conversation
Give clients a realistic cost range before a full brief even exists. Set expectations early and avoid sticker shock when the formal quote arrives.
Budget ceiling mode
Enter the client's target budget and let the ballpark work backwards, flagging straight away whether the scope is viable before you spend hours detailing it.
Upgrade to a formal quote
When the project gets the green light, convert your ballpark into a full line-item quote in one click. All the core details carry over automatically.
Shareable link
Send clients a direct link to view the ballpark online — no PDF attachment required. They see a clean, professional layout branded with your company details.
Pre-built task intelligence
Costfield draws on a curated library of picture and sound tasks to suggest realistic hour ranges, so your rough estimate is grounded in real-world data from the start.
How it works
- 1Select "New ballpark" from your dashboard.
- 2Choose the job category — VFX, colour grade, audio mix, or a combination.
- 3Describe the scope at a high level: number of scenes, expected complexity, and delivery format.
- 4Optionally set a budget ceiling to sense-check viability.
- 5Review the generated estimate and share it with your client via link or PDF.
- 6When the job is confirmed, convert to a formal quote with a single click.
AI Quote Builder
The fastest path from a client email to a working quote. Give Costfield the brief in any form and it drafts the line items for you — flagged, editable, and priced from your rates.
Paste, upload, or dictate
Drop in an email brief, upload a PDF or text file, or simply dictate the job out loud. Costfield reads whatever you have.
Drafted line items
The AI maps your brief onto real picture and sound tasks from the Costfield catalogue, with suggested hours and quantities for each.
Confidence flags
Anything the AI was unsure about is flagged "Review this" — nothing slips into a quote unchecked. Edit a value or confirm it to clear the flag.
Priced off your rate card
Suggested items are priced from your own per-task rates, not generic numbers — so the draft lands close to your real quote.
You stay in control
The AI drafts; you decide. Add, remove, and adjust every line before anything is saved as a quote.
Brief to draft in seconds
What used to be an hour of reading and typing becomes a reviewable draft in under a minute.
How it works
- 1Open "AI Quote Builder" in the sidebar.
- 2Paste the brief text, upload a PDF or .txt, or dictate it with the microphone.
- 3Costfield parses the brief and suggests shots, tasks, and hours from the task catalogue.
- 4Review the draft — items the AI was unsure about carry a "Review this" flag.
- 5Adjust hours and quantities; confirm or remove flagged items.
- 6Save as a quote and continue in the full editor.
Formal quotes
A formal quote is the document that closes the deal. Costfield gives you a structured, detailed bidding environment built for picture and sound work — production and post alike.
Shot-by-shot breakdown
Structure your quote around individual shots or deliverables, each with its own task list and hour allocations. Clients see exactly what they are paying for.
Granular task control
Add, remove, and reorder tasks within each shot. Set actual hours per task and let Costfield calculate labour costs automatically against your rates.
Your own rate card
Set per-task rates once in Settings and every new quote prices itself from them. Override any rate per quote, and quote in USD, AUD, GBP, EUR, and more.
Production fee & usage
Apply a percentage-based production fee, add usage and licensing line items, cut-downs, and custom costs. Costfield rolls everything into the grand total automatically.
GST & tax support
Toggle GST on AUD quotes and Costfield adds the 10% tax line to the summary, keeping your Australian invoicing compliant without manual calculations.
PO numbers & expiry dates
Attach client PO numbers and payment terms, and set a quote expiry date — Costfield flags quotes that are about to lapse so follow-ups happen on time.
Anatomy of a Costfield quote
Every formal quote is built from the same consistent structure, so nothing gets missed.
Project details
Name, client, category, currency, and kick-off date.
Budget ceiling
Optional target budget to keep scope in check from day one.
Shots / deliverables
One entry per shot, each containing its own task list.
Task hours & rates
Hours per task, priced from your rate card.
Production fee
Percentage applied on top of the labour subtotal.
Usage & custom costs
Licensing terms, cut-downs, and any bespoke line items.
PO & payment terms
Client purchase order number and your payment terms.
GST / tax
Optional 10% GST line for AUD quotes.
Quote templates
Stop rebuilding the same quote from nothing every time a new job comes in. Costfield's template library gives you a production-ready starting point for any job type, so you can go from brief to bid in a fraction of the time.
Instant quote scaffolding
Pick a template and Costfield pre-populates your new quote with the right shots, tasks, and suggested hour ranges. You start editing, not typing from scratch.
Curated task libraries
Templates cover a wide range of VFX disciplines — compositing, CG, colour grading, motion graphics — as well as audio: sound design, mixing, ADR, and more.
Fully customisable
Every template is a starting point, not a straitjacket. Add tasks, remove shots, change rates, and adjust hours to match the specifics of each new project.
Save your own
Turn any finished quote into a personal template with one click — your proven setups become reusable starting points for the next job.
Organised by category
Browse templates by job type — picture or sound, short-form or long-form — so you find the right starting point in seconds rather than building from memory.
Curated library
A managed library of production-ready templates sits alongside your own, kept up to date so every starting point reflects current practice.
Example templates
A sample of what's available in the library — each template is a fully editable starting point.
VFX — compositing package
- Roto / prep
- Compositing
- Colour grade
- QC & deliverables
CG & animation
- Modelling
- Rigging
- Animation
- Lighting & render
- Comp
Audio — full mix
- Sound design
- Dialogue edit
- Music edit
- Mix & master
- Deliverables
Motion graphics
- Design
- Animation
- Sound design
- Export
Approvals & invoicing
The quote is only the start. Costfield carries the job through approval, amendment, invoicing, and payment — with a paper trail at every step.
Private client links
Share a read-only link to any quote. Clients see a clean, branded view — no account, no attachment, no editor clutter.
One-click approvals
Clients approve or decline directly from the shared view, with their name and an optional note recorded against the quote.
Amendments & audit trail
Edit a sent or approved quote and Costfield asks for a reason, logs the change, and keeps every revision — a complete history of what changed and why.
Email & reminders
Email quotes to clients from inside Costfield, and send one-click reminder emails when an invoice goes overdue.
Time tracking
Log hours against quoted tasks while the job runs and compare estimates to actuals — so the next quote is sharper than the last.
Dashboards
Pipeline value, win rate, monthly volume, top clients, and project-type breakdowns — your whole book of work at a glance.
Xero integration
Connect your Xero organisation once and invoicing becomes a single click.
Push as invoice
Convert an approved quote to an invoice and push it to Xero in one click.
Account mappings
Map line items to your Xero account codes and tax rates, per discipline.
Contact sync
Push Costfield clients to your Xero contacts — no re-typing.
Payment status
Track unpaid, partial, and paid invoices; overdue ones are flagged automatically.
Professional exports
A quote is only useful if you can get it into your client's hands looking sharp. Costfield gives you multiple export options — PDF, spreadsheet, and live web link — so you can deliver in whatever format works best for each client.
One-click PDF
Generate a multi-page, print-ready PDF of your quote in seconds, with intelligent page breaks that never split a shot mid-page.
Your brand, your quote
Add your company logo, address, phone, ABN, and payment details in account settings. They appear automatically on every PDF export, making each quote an extension of your brand.
Spreadsheet export
Export to spreadsheet format for clients who prefer to work in sheets, or for your own budget-tracking workflows. All shot and task data is structured for easy analysis.
Shareable web link
Generate a direct link to your quote and send it via email or message. Clients can view a clean, professional online version without needing an account or an attachment.
Client-friendly view
The shared quote view strips away the editor UI, presenting only the information your client needs: project name, scope, breakdown, and totals — nothing more.
Schedule PDF
Export your production Gantt chart as a landscape PDF alongside the quote. Share the full picture — budget and timeline — in a single handover package.
What's in the PDF
The exported PDF is a complete, self-contained document ready to send directly to your client.
Company branding
Your logo, contact details, and ABN at the top of the document.
Project header
Client name, project name, category, and delivery date.
Shot breakdown
Each shot listed with its tasks, hours, and line-item costs.
Subtotal & fees
Labour subtotal, production fee, and usage clearly itemised.
Tax line
GST shown separately where applicable, with total inc. tax.
Payment terms
Your standard payment terms pulled from your account profile.
Automated scheduler
A quote approved is a project started. Costfield automatically converts your approved quote into a production schedule — turning task hours into calendar days and delivering a Gantt chart without a single spreadsheet.
Auto-schedule from your quote
Once a quote is approved, set a kick-off date and Costfield turns every task into a scheduled block — no manual entry required. Hours in the quote become days on the calendar.
Interactive Gantt chart
View the full production schedule as a Gantt chart, broken down by shot and task. Instantly see the critical path from kick-off to delivery.
Hours-to-days conversion
Costfield converts each task's quoted hours into working days (8 hours = 1 day), scheduling them sequentially and carrying the timeline forward automatically.
Deadline tracking
Set a project deadline and Costfield flags any tasks that push past it, so you can rebalance the schedule before production begins rather than scrambling at the end.
One-click rescheduling
Change the kick-off date or adjust hours in the quote and regenerate the schedule instantly. The entire Gantt chart rebuilds from scratch in seconds.
Export as PDF
Export the Gantt chart as a landscape PDF to include in your project handover package. Share the full picture — budget and timeline — in one go.
How scheduling works
- 1Open a quote and navigate to the schedule view.
- 2Set your project kick-off date — the first working day the team starts.
- 3Costfield reads every task's allocated hours from the quote.
- 4Each task is converted to working days (hours ÷ 8, rounded up) and placed sequentially on the calendar.
- 5Tasks within each shot follow one after another, then the next shot begins.
- 6The completed schedule is displayed as an interactive Gantt chart.
- 7Adjust the kick-off date or regenerate at any time to reflect scope changes.
All features are included in every plan — try Costfield free.
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