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Animating Short Films with Source Filmmaker

Aug 9, 2024

Creating Animated Short Films with Source Filmmaker (SFM)

Introduction

  • Presenter: Bay Raitt
  • Focus: Using Team Fortress 2's 3D world to create an animated short film via Source Filmmaker (SFM)

Getting Started with SFM

  1. Launching SFM:

    • Setup window appears upon first launch.
    • Options to open a recent session, create a new session, or browse for an existing session.
    • Action: Create a new session by clicking "Create."
  2. Initial UI Setup:

    • Three windows displayed:
      • Animation Set Editor
      • Primary viewport
      • Timeline
    • Red text "NO MAP LOADED" indicates no map is currently loaded.
  3. Loading a Map:

    • Right-click in the viewport and choose "Load Map."
    • Filter options available by mod (default: all).
    • Search for a specific map (e.g., type "moun" to find "cp_mountainlab").
    • Click "Open" to load the selected map.
  4. User Interface Elements:

    • Game timer: shows elapsed game time.
    • Memory footprint: current memory usage (e.g., 1300 MB).
    • Frames per second (FPS) display.

Setting Up the Camera

  • Creating a Camera:

    • Default shot has no camera; click "No Camera" button.
    • Choose "Change Scene Camera" > "New Camera."
    • Camera is now labeled as "camera1."
  • Camera Movement Controls:

    • Basic Movement:
      • W, A, S, D for movement (forward, left, backward, right).
      • Z for up, X for down.
      • R key for roll, mouse wheel to zoom in/out.
    • Advanced Movement:
      • Ctrl key to slow down motion, Shift key to accelerate.
      • Alt key with mouse to orbit, pan, and dolly (e.g., Alt+left-drag to orbit).
  • Utilizing the Work Camera:

    • Copy current view to work camera by holding Ctrl and clicking the camera button.
    • Toggle between work camera and scene camera without losing the original view (Ctrl+left-click to copy).

Working with Time

  • Timeline Navigation:

    • Scrub time using the playhead by dragging left or right.
    • Spacebar plays the shot; Ctrl+Spacebar reviews the shot once and returns to current frame.
    • Up arrow to go to the start of the shot; down arrow to go to the end.
    • Click and drag the playhead to pan the view without changing time.
  • Playback Controls:

    • Options for playback, loop, and bounce available in timeline settings.

Final Tips

  • Practice camera movements and timeline controls to get comfortable.
  • Save Work: Remember to hit Ctrl+S to save your progress.

Next Steps

  • In the next tutorial, learn how to add elements into the shot.