Source Filmmaker (SFM) is a handsome tool for animation, especially for starters. But this abandonware tool based on the Source engine, mainly Team Fortress 2, has a great deal with problems that haven’t yet been solved, and probably will never be.
Yet, there are many workarounds and DIY tricks that can fix almost any issue this software can cause to your headache.
Water in SFM is known to be a chaotic component that would usually rather not work properly: be it missing, untextured or strangely discolored. The causes are many, but the fixes are few. Other issues that arise are the bottleneck of the RAM, since the software is 32-bit, which can be reset without exiting the program.
Particles act strangely and do not work in a simple manner, while sometimes animation just doesn’t want to be controlled by the animator and defies everything you throw at it. Worst of all is when you set your project save at the wrong fps.
In the previous episodes of tips and tricks we learned how to control specular christmas lights, remove shiny bumpmap issues and reset RAM usage and many more.
Today in Source Filmmaker we’ll be doing everything else mentioned in the timestamps below. It’s time to make SFM great, stable and less complex.
Many SFM-ers have met the wall of missing HDR in maps they want to use, and it can feel like there’s no salvation to be found.
Using some tools and Source Filmmaker’s Hammer we’re going to recompile a map with broken HDR into with with sweet and glorious HDR that now enables you to make the craziest disco in Black Mesa. Would you be able to rival the outcomes with Blender? Probably not.
Tools needed
– Java JDK
– BSPsource
– SFM, Hammer
– Patience of steel
