Source Filmmaker

From Team Fortress Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search
Source Filmmaker

Source Filmmaker (SFM for short) is a tool used to create most of the videos running the Source Engine. Source Filmmaker is a video capture and editing application that works from inside the Source engine. It allows users to record themselves many times over in the same scene, creating the illusion of many participants, as well as supporting a wide range of cinematographic effects and techniques such as motion blur, Tyndall effects, Dynamic Lighting, and depth of field. (Motion blur has now been added to the games themselves, though only when the view is moving at high speeds – not per-object as in the filmmaker. Per-object motion blur is in the replay system of Team Fortress 2 Beta.

The tool was leaked in the original Team Fortress 2 Beta release. Following the discovery of the program's files inside Team Fortress 2 Beta, the community succeeded in creating a (mostly) stable version. Since then, many fan videos have been created with the tool. Valve officially released a closed beta version of the program on June 27, 2012, following the release of Meet the Pyro. On July 11th, the Source Filmmaker beta became public.

Contents

Features

Example of a single frame.

SFM allows you to:

Recording with other games

By importing files from other Source Engine games, it is possible to use Source Filmmaker with games beyond Team Fortress 2. However, due to the complicated nature of the program, many problems may be experienced by users attempting to film with other games.

Public release

Source Filmmaker's public release was officially announced on June 27, 2012 as part of Day 3 of the Pyromania update[1]. A closed beta began on the same day, allowing select users who completed a survey access to the program. The initial release features an updated UI in comparison to the version of Source Filmmaker leaked years prior, and also allows users editing access to Meet the Heavy's assets. An open beta began on July 11, with Meet the Engineer assets added.

Official Valve productions

Valve has used Source Filmmaker for their own game trailers and short films, most significantly the Meet the Team series of videos, and the intro videos for Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. It is mostly used when the film contains something outside of the game's capabilities, like new facial expressions and cinematic animations. Besides Team Fortress 2 videos, Valve has used Source Filmmaker with Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, Day of Defeat: Source, Portal 2 as well as Half-Life 2 for announcing the game's arrival on the Macintosh.

Gallery

References

  1. Pyromania release page

External links

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox
Languages
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress Classic
Valve Wiki Network