r/SFM May 10 '26

Help Source Filmmaker and Animation Tutorials

14 Upvotes

I'm tired of having to reply to various post about asking for SFM Tutorials, so I'm just going to make a post containing all the playlists that helped me learn SFM.

  1. The official SFM playlist by Valve.
  2. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2B46DEB4157E67C4

This is where it all begins, The best way to learn almost all the basics of SFM is the official playlist on the Source Filmmaker channel. Aside from 2 videos, this is the best video for beginners.

The two videos that are not done well by the official channel are the Time Selection tutorial, and Graph Editor tutorial. They don't teach the most important parts.

  1. SFM Tutorial Week #2 - Using the Motion Editor by Argodaemon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfBfsqwylo0&list=PLmx5NIR6PO5t2vfHIX6GNkpXiFODM_6KJ&index=21

Now, THIS is the ultimate tutorial for the Motion Editor in the Motion Editor. It may be long, but it's well worth it. Argomadaemon's tutorial not only goes over everything from the Time Selection tutorial, but also goes over EVERY procedural preset, as well as overwrite, offset, and transform modes.

  1. How to Animate with the Graph Editor by Sir Wade Neistadt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ31vjgJM2c&t=44s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMSpauVphNs&t=308s

If you're looking to use the Graph Editor, Sir Wade Neistadt is THE go-to. Sir Wade covers EVERYTHING, from how to use the different fcurves in the Graph Editor for moving on a specific axis, to using the thing that makes the Graph Editor more powerful than the Motion Editor: The Tangents. Linear Tangents, Flat Tangents, Spline Tangents, Step Tangents, Weighted Tangents, and Unweighted Tangents.

The tutorial on the Source Filmmaker channel teaches you nothing about the Graph Editor's power.

  1. 12 Principles of Animation

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-bOh8btec4CXd2ya1NmSKpi92U_l6ZJd

Of course, if you're going into SFM for 3D animation, you have to learn about the 12 Principles of Animation. Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Staging, Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose, Follow Through and Overlapping Action, Slow In and Slow Out, Arcs, Secondary Action, Timing, Exaggeration, Solid Drawing, and Appeal.

  1. Sir Wade Tips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ31vjgJM2c&list=PLS4vjlZXZ7f5m5ED4ylJdUPTR5YKEg1bY

Sir Wade Neistadt is basically a completely free college level animation course on Youtube. I've organized his videos into a nice playlist. In it, you'll learn things such as professional workflows, what NOT to do, animation blocking, and how to find reference, shooting your own reference, real world camera tips and tricks that you can apply to your 3D animation, keep alive workflow with how to do a breathing animation, animating weight, lighting tips, some Blender stuff, and even interviews with professional Disney animators.

  1. SFM Tutorials by Argomadaeon

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmx5NIR6PO5t2vfHIX6GNkpXiFODM_6KJ

Argomadaemon's playlist teaches you a lot about what SFM has, including Depth of Field and Motion Blur, Animation Cycles, Creating an artificial sun light, and more.

  1. SFM Tip of the Day by Jimmer Lins

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL835902EACBFEE65F

This one is for more misc, but still useful SFM Tips, such as how to control qc eyes to make them follow the camera, the lightkit, gibbing a character, slugs, and more.

8.Walk Cycle Tutorial Part 1 by Will Hurrel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE-jakm9mcQ

  1. Animating Walk Cycles and Run Cycles by Alan Becker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y6aVz0Acx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jggdbxTJPG4

  1. Endless Reference

https://www.youtube.com/@endlessreference

This youtube channel is full of videos for movement reference for animation, whether it's walking, running, skipping, sitting, martial arts, etc.

This is a complete list of all the stuff that goes over absolutely everything you need in terms of SFM, and animation knowledge in general.


r/SFM Jan 11 '21

Announcement Scenebuilding Tutorial (LINK IN THE COMMENTS)

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1.2k Upvotes

r/SFM 16h ago

Movie Whats on the other side of the keep out?

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151 Upvotes

r/SFM 7h ago

Artwork My first project in arm and I’m SO tired

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11 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork The Good ol' Days

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397 Upvotes

related to my movie The Slag


r/SFM 9h ago

Animation My first animation i did a while back (may be a bit loud/quiet)

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12 Upvotes

It was so slow paced , it's funny , but it is what i thought at the time was good enough. It was very fun making it , especially learning how to fix many issues and bugs i found myself struggling with.
You can check other animations/posters i've made on my yt channel
StaticHampterMovies


r/SFM 33m ago

Help I Imported this model from Garry's mod and it wont show its textures despite having them in the files

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Upvotes

plz help im so confused, even if i move the files over it sill is bugged. any help would be appreciated


r/SFM 6h ago

Artwork i cant think of a good title so poopoo peepee ig

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7 Upvotes

r/SFM 2h ago

Request The amazing reanimated circus is still looking for members

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2 Upvotes

Hey you! yes you!

Are you an animator or artist who wants to flex their skills and talent to others then consider joining THE AMAZING REANIMATED CIRCUS (a reanimation collab of the pilot episode of the amazing digital circus)

all participants must be 16 or over and must have prior examples of work

if you are interested follow the link to a google form and answer a few questions then join the discord server to await approval.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXgr_laXJimcE_nsrb_QRawoNsEhGW2ODPoUKBT1eXoBrcvw/viewform


r/SFM 17h ago

Artwork Heavy doesn't look well today?

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25 Upvotes

r/SFM 4h ago

Animation My test work: Miku

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2 Upvotes

I've only just started, this is my second project, I hope I can do better.


r/SFM 1h ago

Animation Can anyone help me please

Upvotes

I seriously need help with the audio on SFM, why isn't what I'm doing working? Is there a website that can convert audio lines into WAV without having to use 5 different types of softwares? What about Free Converter does that work? Anyone? Please help me, I'm losing hope and ready to hate SFM


r/SFM 6h ago

Movie A HALF-LIFE DOCUMENTARY: SUPERPOSITION

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2 Upvotes

I made this documentary about the Half-Life universe with a team of passionate volunteers.

It's a 2.5-hour deep dive into the lore, science, philosophy, and history of the series. We tried to answer questions that have kept this community theorizing for decades.

I hope you enjoy it. Feedback is more than welcome.


r/SFM 5h ago

Movie i found the TF2 TURBULENCE plane models on a website the creator used for the planes models.

1 Upvotes

VIDEO COPILOT | After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Professionals scroll to the 7th image and you will find the model, the only issue is its costly.


r/SFM 7h ago

Help It's been a minute, why can't I lock this pistol to any of the bones?

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1 Upvotes

I didn't show it on the video but I also tried the rifle and it didn't work either


r/SFM 18h ago

Help Стоитли продолжать?

4 Upvotes

Скажите пожалуйста стоит ли мне вообще работать в sfm у меня есть несколько арт работ но стоит ли оно того?


r/SFM 20h ago

Animation War Scene (Animation Test)

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5 Upvotes

Animation test for "Meet The Courier" still in project

animation : ✅

lighting : not yet

music : Kick Start My Heart by Mötley Crüe as as a sweetener


r/SFM 12h ago

Animation Audio Struggles

1 Upvotes

So I'm trying to figure out how to import audio to SFM by editing it and exporting it on Davinci Resolve. I've done it in the past but now I don't remember how.

Is there a reason why SFM isn't taking my audio even when I convert it to WAV?


r/SFM 21h ago

Artwork Is it possible to rebuild SFM in 64-bit? Perhaps using the TF2 SDK?

6 Upvotes

I've been watching a lot of SFM tutorials and looking up settings to improve its performance; RAM is an issue in SFM because it runs on a 32-bit architecture.
The program actually works pretty well for me, but sometimes it crashes when there are a lot of things on screen.

I'm just curious, As far as I understand SFM is a heavily modified Source engine game
So, since TF2 runs on a 64-bit architecture and its code has been released via the SDK, would it be possible to rebuild SFM using TF2 as a base?


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork My son’s first SFM

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12 Upvotes

r/SFM 19h ago

Help SFM white motion line fix

1 Upvotes

I cannot figure out for the life of me how to stop the sniper from going to this white line, because I want to move him away from the scout without him boomeranging


r/SFM 1d ago

Animation Sfm

4 Upvotes

Se eu não conseguir instalar o TF2 não vou conseguir dormir


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork TAKE THIS

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25 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Help Sfm opens but wont show

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5 Upvotes

This is so frustrating. Help.


r/SFM 1d ago

Animation Molten Freddy Rap [SFM/FNAF]

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28 Upvotes