So rather than rendering a 3D animation using one program and then editing the video in another, for example, an entire animated video can be constructed with just the Source Filmmaker. Where the Source Filmmaker differs from most animation tools is that it acts as an all-in-one package for rendering, video editing, sound editing, motion capture, etc. People will then be able to position objects and choose their shots as if it were a real-world location - even lighting and visual effects can be adjusted on the fly. New assets can even be created from scratch using the Source SDK and imported into a video project. This means that users will have almost any element from a recent Valve game at their disposal, including characters, locations, props, particles, textures, and sounds. The new tool will allow gamers to make their own movies using the acclaimed Source game engine directly. With the Source Filmmaker, gamers will be able to direct, animate, and record their own videos as if they were shooting on location inside a video game.
Valve source filmmaker free#
But now the developer is turning the tables and handing over its own video-making tools to fans free of charge. It's brilliant for marketing campaigns, storyboarding, pre-vis, reenactments, etc.Valve has gained a reputation over the years not just for consistently putting out great games, but also for the slick trailers and promo videos that go along with them.
You get to put your video together, change it up on the fly and see exactly what it's going to look like in real time, and then when you're ready to share it YouTube or whatever, render it out to a video.
Valve source filmmaker skin#
Models, textures, bones, skin weighting, wrap coordinates & polygon/edge/face/vertex normals, etc.īlender already has a built in animation component, but it's not geared for real-time rendering/playback (nor should it be), and that's where SFM is going to really shine. I can see this going over very well with the Blender community who will probably be the first to add the ability to save directly from Blender into whatever format SFM uses natively. Sure, it's not going to be ultra-high quality, millions of polys / character, Pixar-esque masterpieces, but most people that just want to play around with animation don't want that anyway (particularly the time involved rendering those types of projects out). But once it's out of beta, I'd be surprised if they don't have a way to import your own models and textures. It sounds to me like it's using the Source engine to power the real time rendering, lighting, effects, etc. Machinema is a pretty big genre and a lot of people spend hours and hours "filming" short clips that they then spend hours and hours later stringing together into a 5 minute video.īut I saw nothing in the announcement or video that definitively said "you can't use your own assets". Promoted Commentsĭon't understand the appeal of using pre-made characters unless your story doesn't need to take character design, modeling style, textures or personality into account (in which case.eh). Once you click the button on SFM's site, Steam will perform a check on the specs of your system, so make sure you request from your finest rig. The beta signup opens today, and requires a Steam account. This is not Valve's first time sharing animation tools, either earlier in June, the company announced it was sharing its Source engine to power an upcoming 3D animated film, Deep. Of course, SFM has a much smaller toolset to draw from-most, if not all, of the characters in the demo video are of the square-jawed TF2 variety. Reduction of rendering time has been cited as a major advantage of Unreal Engine 4, so its use in a consumer-level industry tool is very impressive. The voiceover points out that the tool allows animators to pause the videos they create, implement changes in the 3D frame, and then start the animation again, without having to re-render the scene. Users can work with or modify pre-animated clips, or create animations of their own using a separate tool to work the joints and limbs of characters. The announcement is accompanied by a demo video that shows some of the flexibility of SFM.
The company notes that all its own video shorts are made with the tool, and its release will allow others to create animation with "the rendering power of a modern gaming PC." Valve has officially announced the beta release of its Source Filmmaker, a free tool that lets users create animated movies using assets from Team Fortress 2.
0 kommentar(er)
