For those who don’t know the tool: DBSONIC LABS builds focused utilities for professional post-production workflows. PostPro Analytics sits around the creative applications rather than processing media itself, collecting project and activity metadata locally from editing, compositing, design and 3D tools before turning it into dashboards, reports and billing-oriented production records.
Your timesheet has witnesses
PostPro Analytics, or PPA, tackles one of the less glamorous mysteries of post-production: where exactly did all those hours go? Rather than processing pictures or creating another interchange format, PPA records workflow metadata from supported applications. DBSONIC documents integrations with DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Capture One, Blender and Cinema 4D.
It can track information including projects, timelines, application state, working context, session duration, workstation and user identifiers. The developer says it does not record project contents, media, documents, screenshots, screen recordings, keyboard input, mouse movements or communications. So the output is operational metadata, not a complete documentary about how long someone stared at a node graph.
Local data, studio-sized curiosity
Single User keeps tracking and reporting on one Mac. Studio expands the same idea across a local Pipeline, with workstation loggers feeding a PPA Studio Host. DBSONIC says the Studio Host can collect workflow data from up to 20 workstations into one searchable database. The resulting views cover sessions, applications, projects, users and workload, with filtering and CSV export for reporting, customer communication and invoice preparation.
That distinction is important. PPA is not a cloud analytics service, collection happens across the facility’s local network, which may appeal to facilities that would rather keep client names and production metadata inside the building.
Nine apps, different plumbing
Not every integration necessarily produces identical context. PPA’s real value depends on what each host makes available and how deeply DBSONIC can connect to it. The public support guidance specifically requires DaVinci Resolve Studio and says Resolve External Scripting must be set to Local.
App tracking
The deepest integration is with Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere and After Effects. Across its supported applications, PostPro Analytics records production context such as the current project and timeline or equivalent working context, application state, session duration and, depending on configuration, workstation and user identifiers.
Resolve exposes the richest detail: DBSONIC says PPA can distinguish work by project and timeline and also record the active Resolve page, allowing time to be broken down between areas such as Edit, Color and Fusion.
More generally, PPA distinguishes active work, idle periods and rendering where the integration exposes that state. Premiere Pro and After Effects contribute their project and sequence or composition context to the same session database, so editorial and motion-graphics work can be analysed alongside Resolve rather than becoming separate timesheets. The current information has tracking of edit, colour, render and idle time, although DBSONIC does not publish an equally detailed per-field matrix for every host.
The same workflow tracking now extends to Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Capture One, Blender and Cinema 4D. DBSONIC says these applications provide project names and workflow metadata through automated background logging, and all nine applications can be tracked simultaneously.
The resulting sessions can be analysed by application, project, timeline, user, workstation, activity state and date, while the Studio Dashboard can show current apps, project context, active and idle patterns, render time and overall application usage. Importantly, PPA records metadata about the work rather than the work itself: it does not capture media or document contents, screenshots, screen recordings, keyboard input, mouse movements or communications. For Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Capture One, Blender and Cinema 4D, doesnt have info on metadata fields separately, so it would be unsafe to claim granular tracking.
The Mac is the workstation
Current public requirements specify Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or newer. Windows and Intel Mac support are not part of the currently documented public requirements. DBSONIC calls the experience “Native macOS”. Mac users may simply call that work.
For mixed-platform facilities, however, the restriction is substantial. A reporting system is most useful when it can see the whole production floor rather than the fashionable half of it. And yes, LightWave is absent from the current supported-app list. We will therefore wait to deploy it ourselves until LightWave gets invited. There is no published promise of LightWave integration, so this is our damn stubbornness, not DBSONIC’s roadmap.
Privacy is not invisibility
PPA includes a Privacy Mode intended to anonymize user names and computer identities before activity data is stored or synchronized. DBSONIC also says the product is not designed as an employee-surveillance system. That does not remove the facility’s responsibility for deployment. Project and workflow analytics can still become sensitive operational data, particularly where production activity can be associated with individual staff or schedules. DBSONIC places responsibility for legal compliance, privacy rules, internal policy and applicable works council agreements on the customer or system operator.
For European studios, that is not merely paperwork with a nicer font. Production telemetry needs the same deployment conversation as any other system that records user-associated operational data.
One purchase, many clocks
The commercial model is unusually uncomplicated by current software standards. Single User costs 79€ / USD as a one-time purchase with no subscription. Studio costs 279€ / USD, also as a one-time purchase, and includes five seats: one Host and four Clients. Additional Studio seats cost 49 € / USD each, with support for up to 20 workstations. There is also a fully functional 14-day trial at 0 €, including Studio functionality and Demo Mode. DBSONIC says workflow data logged during the trial remains available after upgrading.
| Product | PostPro Analytics |
| Developer | DBSONIC LABS |
| Release status | Public Release V1.0 |
| Operating systems | Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 14 or newer |
| Integrated applications | DaVinci Resolve Studio, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Capture One, Blender, Cinema 4D |
| Studio deployment | Local Studio Host, up to 20 workstations |
| Export | CSV |
| Trial | 14 days, 0 €, fully functional, includes Studio testing and Demo Mode |
| Licence models | Single User and Studio, one-time purchase, no subscription |
| Pricing | Single User 79€ / USD; Studio 279€ / USD including five seats; additional Studio seat 49 € / USD |
| Support | DBSONIC LABS Support |
