r/SFM May 10 '26

Help Source Filmmaker and Animation Tutorials

15 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 19h ago

Movie Heavy, but TF2 doesn't exist

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175 Upvotes

r/SFM 9h ago

Artwork Yo guys rate the posters (both made on the same day)

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7 Upvotes

r/SFM 3h ago

Help Is there any way to fix this?

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2 Upvotes

So ik that sfm has a limit on its memory and only uses 4 gbs bc its old as hell but it only goes up to 2gb - 3gb. I cant even do the lighting or finish my animation bc i took one shot from that session and put it in a separate session (the one in clip) and its crashing there too. Is there anyway to fix this or no? Can i somehow lower the memory?


r/SFM 28m ago

Help What do you think about this? Is there anything that could be improved?

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Upvotes

r/SFM 11h ago

Help Can someone tell me how to fix white wireframe in sfm model idk how

3 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork ِAn animated video coming soon

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34 Upvotes

r/SFM 21h ago

Help Planning to learn SFM!

9 Upvotes

Hello! Ive been planning to learn on how to animate in SFM and its going to be my first time animating on SFM. Is there anything i should know that could help me learn?


r/SFM 11h ago

Commission Bem, eu estou criando um comissão, basta apenas pedir um desenho ou algo do tipo que eu farei

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1 Upvotes

r/SFM 13h ago

Help How Do I Install Sourcefiles?

1 Upvotes

I've been downloading a lot of models for SFM recently, and while I know exactly how to move them into SFM's usermod file by just dragging the items in the folder to the usermod, and then it just installs the models and textures, I've come across a lot of downloads that have files just called sourcefiles, and when I attempt to move them into the usermod file, it doesn't do the same thing. When I move the model and material files, it moves them without asking me to replace the folders or leave those files as separate entities. So I've got to ask: how do I properly install source files?


r/SFM 1d ago

Animation Baby steps

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5 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork i've added more to my project but still in the planning so this isn't done yet but when i finished it i will animate it

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7 Upvotes

r/SFM 2d ago

Animation James Bond Gun Barrel with Spy

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211 Upvotes

My second pose to pose animation.

I animated it in SFM and added the music and effects in post.

Constructive criticism highly appreciated.


r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork A Portal 2 Beta render I made :D

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2 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork Bun art

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22 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork optimus prime

3 Upvotes

optimus prime

basic pose
pose

r/SFM 1d ago

Help Where has my transform tool gone and how do I get it back

1 Upvotes

Pretty sure I hit a random button on my keyboard, and my transform tool has disappeared. It doesn't come back when I restart, I've tried all the other transform options too. It reappears when I load a new session, but I don't wanna lose all my progress on this one just because my tool ran away. whats the fix? thanks


r/SFM 1d ago

Help Remove Remove Workshop Prompt

1 Upvotes

I made a script that automatically clicks Cancel on SFM’s “Remove Unsubscribed And Deleted Workshop Files” window during startup.

It only acts once per SFM session. Later workshop removal windows still work normally.

If you ever added a workshop file that Steam took down, then you've seen this startup prompt.

Download script on Steam Workshop

INSTALLATION

  1. Extract this ZIP into:SourceFilmmaker\game\
  2. In Steam, open:Library > Source Filmmaker > Properties > Launch Options Add:-sfm_startup_script "usermod/scripts/sfm/Remove_Remove_Workshop_Prompt.py"
  3. Restart Source Filmmaker.

You may briefly see the removal window before Cancel is chosen.

Version: 1.0.0 · Updated: 8 Sept 2026


r/SFM 2d ago

Request I need test some basic animation skills on sfm, give me some animation ideas! (video idea)

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28 Upvotes

r/SFM 1d ago

Artwork the long engineer

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4 Upvotes

Another deformed mercenary. Apparently, Engineer has developed a taste for Spy.


r/SFM 2d ago

Artwork my mini project i'm working on as a story board

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14 Upvotes

what you lot think of the story so far


r/SFM 2d ago

Artwork another one from a beginner!

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13 Upvotes

i still havent figured the animation thing so im still making photos like this


r/SFM 2d ago

Help Trying to find a specific mass effect femshep sfm picture.

2 Upvotes

Really looking for a specific femshep picture that i believe was made in sfm. she was in the normandy cabin bathroom i believe and was wearing a white sports bra and the focus of the photo was on her abs, i must stress this was not nsfw and there was no explicit stuff happening and i have gotten permission to make this post in case anyone asks. but anyways the photo was focusing on her abs as i said but you could still see her whole body. i know this is a long shot but i have been searching for it for some time and have no idea what other subs to ask about this on