Help:Unusual and Killstreak renders

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This Unusual & Killstreak renders tutorial will show you how to render images of Unusual effects, Killstreak Sheens, and Killstreaker effects in Source Filmmaker, for use in update, Unusual, and/or Killstreak related pages. Only minimal Source Filmmaker knowledge is required.

Getting Started

The following process will provide you with all of the tools you need to open the original project file use for renders from late 2019 and onward. Vanilla SFM is missing a lot of files required for the project to work, and also uses incorrect versions of other files. Following these instructions should fix all of that.

  1. First off, download SFM if you haven't already.
  2. Download this ZIP file. (Version 19; last updated 21/10/2022)
  3. Open and extract it. You should have a folder called game.
  4. Drag this folder into the SourceFilmmaker folder, your main SFM folder. Say yes to replacing duplicate files.
  5. Open SFM, and load up the file named unusualdemo.dmx. This should have been included in the ZIP file you downloaded above, and it should be easily accessible as the most recent session.
  6. Once you have loaded the project, right click on your viewport window. Select Render Settings, and turn off Motion Blur and Ambient Occlusion.
View when opening SFM after successfully installing the zip file with the new content. A new session called unusualdemo.dmx will be available to open.

Congratulations! You're now ready for rendering rendering Unusual effects, Killstreak Sheens, and Killstreaker effects.

Rendering Unusual effects

Below is the tutorial for rendering Unusual effects.

Adding the particle

  1. Set your camera to cam_cosmetic, cam_taunt, or cam_weapon, depending on the type.
  2. Click the + icon in the animation set editor. Create an animation set for a new particle system.
    • NOTE: If the above ZIP file has not been updated since new unusual effects were added to the game, it will not contain all of the correct resources needed to follow this guide. You will need to manually locate the relevant .pcf file for the latest group of particles yourself, which can be found within your local TF2 files. Additionally, you must extract materials and textures from the game's .vpk files using an external tool such as GCFScape.
    • The full process is not documented here, and may prove to be complex for those lacking any prior experience. If you are unfamiliar with the general structure of TF2/SFM local installation files, it is highly recommended that you wait for somebody else to update the version of the download link above before proceeding.
  3. There will be a few fields for you to fill out.
    • Set Particle System Definition File to the .pcf of your Unusual effect set.
    • We'll ignore Particle System Definition for now.
    • Set Start Time to 0.
    • Set all other fields to something big, like 999.
Adding a new animation set to SFM, in order to import the .pcf file of the new particle set.

Positioning the particle

  1. Switch to the motion editor in the timeline window.
  2. Next, this will branch off depending on what you're trying to render:
    • FOR COSMETIC UNUSUAL EFFECTS:
      • Find the pyro_cosmetic model, near the top of the animation set list. Expand it, expand Body, and select bip_head. Now, go to your particle animation set. Expand it, expand all, and select transform. Drag the Pyro's bip_head into the particle's transform. Now, select the entire particle, enter the Motion Editor, and drag the Zero slider all the way to the right.
      • Ensure that visibility has been toggled off for the REGULAR particle animation set - otherwise, there will be a burning flames particle effect rendered in addition to your chosen cosmetic particle effect.
    • FOR TAUNT UNUSUAL EFFECTS:
      • Find the pyro_taunt model, near the middle of the animation set list. Expand it, expand Body, and select rootTransform. Now, go to your particle animation set. Expand it, expand all, and select transform. Drag the Pyro's rootTransform into the particle's transform. Now, select the entire particle, enter the Motion Editor , and drag the Zero slider all the way to the right.
      • Ensure that visibility has been toggled off for the REGULAR_TAUNT particle animation set - otherwise, there will be a '72 particle effect rendered in addition to your chosen taunt particle effect.
    • FOR WEAPON UNUSUAL EFFECTS WITH 1 CONTROL POINT:
      • Find the transform - pos field of your particle system. In respective order, change each 0 to 50 20 -23. Under this, find transform - rot. In respective order, change each 0 to 0 0 -125. It should now be in the same position and rotation as the particle system named WEP_COOL. If not, manually move your particle system to be as close to WEP_COOL as possible and round your numbers.
      • Ensure that visibility has been toggled off for the WEP_COOL particle animation set - otherwise, the 'cool' particle effect will be rendered in addition to your chosen weapon particle effect.
    • FOR WEAPON UNUSUAL EFFECTS WITH MORE THAN 1 CONTROL POINT:
      • Find the transform - pos field of your particle system. In respective order, change each 0 to 50 20 -23. Now, the controlPoint4 - pos field of your particle system. In respective order, change each 0 to 15 20 0. It should now be in the same position and rotation as the particle system named WEP_ISOTOPE. If not, manually move your particle system to be as close to WEP_ISOTOPE as possible and round your numbers.
      • Ensure that visibility has been toggled off for the WEP_COOL particle animation set - otherwise, the 'cool' particle effect will be rendered in addition to your chosen weapon particle effect.
  3. In the timeline window, move your current frame to anything below 0, and then to 10 in that exact order.
    • You can get to 10 on the exact frame by using your arrow keys to navigate frame-by-frame through the timeline.
    • 10 is the most used frame for images, but can be adjusted as needed if 10 isn't the best frame for your render.


View of the SFM interface once a new animation set has been added (in this example - HW2022), key areas have been highlighted. Note that the REGULAR animation set needs to have visibility toggled off (using the eye icon) in order to remove the burning flames effect from this scene.

Finalizing the particle

  1. Right click your particle in the animation set editor. Go to Show in Element Viewer, and then Particle System.
  2. Replace the particleSystemType field with your particle's filename.
  3. Your particle should now be ready to export. Click on File at the top left, and export as a poster. The image size should be 1920x1080.
  4. When your render exports, it can be found in SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\elements\renders. Use your favorite image editing software to crop the width to 1080. The image will now be 1080x1080 and is ready for use on the wiki!
  5. You can repeat these final steps as many times as you would like - exporting a poster, and then changing the particleSystemType field value to your particle's filename before exporting once again.

Note that many particles added to the game will not inherently work with SFM, and as such do not render properly. There are numerous bugs that can cause an array of different issues with each particle's functions. If this is the case, you will need to manually edit the particle systems located within the .pcf file in order to fix them, which is done using the Particle Editor accessed via the -tools launch option for TF2.

Rendering Killstreak Sheens

Below is the tutorial for rendering Killstreak Sheens.

Preparing the Sheen

  1. Set your camera to cam_weapon.
  2. Hide the shotgun model and show the shotgun_sheen model.
  3. Right click shotgun_sheen in the animation set editor. Go to Show in Element Viewer, and then Model.
  4. Scroll down to materials, and expand it.
  5. Change $envmaptint to the color of the Sheen you're rendering.

Finalizing the particle

  1. Your Sheen should now be ready to export. Click on File at the top left, and export as a poster. The image size should be 1920x1080.
  2. When your render exports, it can be found in SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\elements\renders. Use your favorite image editing software to crop the width to 1080. The image will now be 1080x1080 and is ready for use on the wiki!
  3. Due to the nature of Killstreak Sheens, it may take multiple attempts to get a good render. You'll want to use existing images as reference.
  4. You can repeat these final steps as many times as you would like - exporting a poster, and then changing the particleSystemType field value to your particle's filename before exporting once again.

Note that many particles added to the game will not inherently work with SFM, and as such do not render properly. There are numerous bugs that can cause an array of different issues with each particle's functions. If this is the case, you will need to manually edit the particle systems located within the .pcf file in order to fix them, which is done using the Particle Editor accessed via the -tools launch option for TF2.

Rendering Killstreaker effects

Below is the tutorial for rendering a Killstreaker effect.

Adding the particles

  1. Set your camera to cam_cosmetic.
  2. Click the + icon in the animation set editor. Create an animation set for a new particle system.
  3. There will be a few fields for you to fill out.
    • Set Particle System Definition File to the .pcf of your Unusual effect set.
    • We'll ignore Particle System Definition for now.
    • Set Start Time to 0.
    • Set all other fields to something big, like 999.
    • Do this again. This should leave you with 2 particles, one for each eye.

Positioning the particles

  1. Switch to the motion editor in the timeline window.
  2. Next, this will branch off depending on what eye you're adjusting:
    • FOR THE LEFT EYE:
      • Find the transform - pos field of your particle system. In respective order, change each 0 to -6.58228 88.4583 3.20387. Under this, find transform - rot. In respective order, change each 0 to 0 0 -139.361. It should now be in the same position and rotation as the particle system named KS_EYE_L. If not, manually move your particle system to be as close to KS_EYE_L as possible.
    • FOR THE RIGHT EYE:
      • Find the transform - pos field of your particle system. In respective order, change each 0 to -3.38623 86.2521 1.85855. Under this, find transform - rot. In respective order, change each 0 to 0 0 -75.4402. It should now be in the same position and rotation as the particle system named KS_EYE_R. If not, manually move your particle system to be as close to KS_EYE_R as possible.
  3. In the timeline window, move your current frame to anything below 0, and then to 10 in that exact order.
    • You can get to 10 on the exact frame by using your arrow keys to navigate frame-by-frame through the timeline.
    • 10 is the most used frame for images, but can be adjusted as needed if 10 isn't the best frame for your render.

Finalizing the particles

  1. Right click your particles in the animation set editor. Go to Show in Element Viewer, and then Particle System.
  2. Replace the particleSystemType field with your particle's filename.
  3. Your particles should now be ready to export. Click on File at the top left, and export as a poster. The image size should be 1920x1080.
  4. When your render exports, it can be found in SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\elements\renders. Use your favorite image editing software to crop the width to 1080. The image will now be 1080x1080 and is ready for use on the wiki!
  5. You can repeat these final steps as many times as you would like - exporting a poster, and then changing the particleSystemType field value to your particle's filename before exporting once again.

Note that many particles added to the game will not inherently work with SFM, and as such do not render properly. There are numerous bugs that can cause an array of different issues with each particle's functions. If this is the case, you will need to manually edit the particle systems located within the .pcf file in order to fix them, which is done using the Particle Editor accessed via the -tools launch option for TF2.