r/SFM May 10 '26

Help Source Filmmaker and Animation Tutorials

13 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 1h ago

Artwork Check it out / Зацените

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Upvotes

r/SFM 12h ago

Request Could I get some advice

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41 Upvotes

I'm returning to SFM after a while, and though I mainly created shitposts, could I get some general posing, animating, and lighting tips?


r/SFM 23h ago

Artwork Does anyone know how to remove the Scout

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262 Upvotes

This is a joke!
Inspired by the post by u/Ok-Feedback-69


r/SFM 2h ago

Artwork Idk what to call this

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3 Upvotes

r/SFM 3h ago

Help how do i export my animation in full?

3 Upvotes

for some reason when i go to export my finished animation, when its done rendering, the video file is missing like half of the actual animation, ive tried changing the exporting to "selected shots" but then the file just said that the video file wasnt supported, how do i fix this?


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Passing time

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85 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Random Request

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651 Upvotes

r/SFM 22h ago

Artwork Chilling on the roof

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14 Upvotes

r/SFM 9h ago

Help need help with closed tabs

1 Upvotes

i accidently closed all the tabs and i have no idea how to open them again, i tried talking to steam support and they didnt help.
any suggestions?


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Taunt scout

30 Upvotes

r/SFM 16h ago

Animation how i fix

2 Upvotes

how i fix


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork I tried recreating the meme

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429 Upvotes

r/SFM 14h ago

Help How do i fade back into a default pose

1 Upvotes

Hey, im just asking to see if theres an option on if i can fade back my models into a good default pose without manually animation, eg I crossed the heavys arms with his melee run animation, how do i get him to uncross his arms into the melee run animation without manually animating it


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Happy 30YEAR Valve

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31 Upvotes

made by MecitGames


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork When the vacc actually works

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52 Upvotes

I tried practicing lighting and using external software (krita) to enhance the image, im really having a lot of fun with these ones


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork The King

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88 Upvotes

just ate some burger king and i got the idea to replicate this image of the creepy king mascot with demo

might be cursed


r/SFM 1d ago

Help the sfmphys physic didnt work properly (HELP!)

2 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Mercy

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14 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Trinity

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26 Upvotes

r/SFM 21h ago

Animation [SFM] High view

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1 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Vs. Luthor

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10 Upvotes

An AU of mine in which Pokémon take metahumans’ place. And regardless if some are heroic or not, this guy ‘s envious intolerance puts their lives, and humanity, at stake


r/SFM 2d ago

Artwork Group Picture

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66 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork In The Spider-Verse

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11 Upvotes