How easy is SFM to use?

[Helene]

I have zero programming knowledge.

I have no experience in animation.

What I do have is lots of free time (2 week vacation), and some serious dedication to learn.
Is this program easy to learn and use?

TY

[Postal Dude of Cykaland]

It is easy, once you watch the official valve turtorials. The only real problem is ideas..... all the best of luck in the futre!

[Helene]

:)

[Postal Dude of Cykaland]

Originally posted by Devious Dominic:

It can be easy, if you're willing to learn. Personally, I found it very hard to use and watched the Valve tutorials atleast four times each. However it does make a difference if you have some sort of filmmaking background in my opinion, it helped me atleast.

The only thing I find difficult is ideas. That is the problem with all medias of film because you need to work out how you want everything to work out. I quess having a background in film would help in that aspect.

[Nethero]

Originally posted by Razor Edge:

The only thing I find difficult is ideas. That is the problem with all medias of film because you need to work out how you want everything to work out. I quess having a background in film would help in that aspect.

I actually come up with way too many ideas which forces me to really prioritize them so that I'm not trying to animate 10 different videos at once. Completely the opposite for me.

[Postal Dude of Cykaland]

Originally posted by Nethero:

Originally posted by Razor Edge:

The only thing I find difficult is ideas. That is the problem with all medias of film because you need to work out how you want everything to work out. I quess having a background in film would help in that aspect.

I actually come up with way too many ideas which forces me to really prioritize them so that I'm not trying to animate 10 different videos at once. Completely the opposite for me.

I meant ideas HOW to animate it. Like, how should the camera and the character move to follow the story I want etc. That is what I meant.

[The Resonte!]

It took me a year on-off to work sfm.

[Helene]

Originally posted by Devious Dominic:

Originally posted by The Resonte!:

It took me a year on-off to work sfm.

Same here.

omg now I wish I didnt ask this

[The Resonte!]

Originally posted by Devious Dominic:

Same here.

you gotta be dedicated man

this is where we filter out the real men with the quitters

[Helene]

ok.
Thanks guys. I'll work hard for this. I guess this year's Saxxy is... beyond my reach.

Maybe next year.
Tnx again.

[raptornx01]

it's not that hard, it just takes time. here watch these


http://www.youtube.com/user/JimerXLins

http://www.youtube.com/user/SourceFilmMaker/videos

http://www.youtube.com/user/PteJack1

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG73r2e2nPQXZ69QGj5l6QstFN3QfANHO

http://www.youtube.com/user/Ronaldthecock/videos?flow=grid&view=1

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmx5NIR6PO5t2vfHIX6GNkpXiFODM_6KJ

http://tohino.tumblr.com/sfm_tut_cams

[kvick]

I would give it a shot, if you've ever used any other 3d program it's free, very powerful, and relatively very easy to use. Don't be discouraged from trying it out, I have experience with Maya and some music/film software and it really only took about 7-8 hours to get aquainted with SFM after watching valve's provided tutorials.

programming has nothing to do animation unless you're building tools or creating custom scripts. If you just have fun with it, honestly how much time it takes to learn will be the last thing on your mind, you'll be too busy creating things :)

if you've got any questions, feel free to message me.
Im no expert in SFM but I do have a fair bit of experience with art in general 2d/3d

[Bowja]

And when you see your creation it is mindblowingly awesome.

[cheatplay]

Originally posted by Pantee:

I have zero programming knowledge.

I have no experience in animation.

What I do have is lots of free time (2 week vacation), and some serious dedication to learn.
Is this program easy to learn and use?

TY

it's easy but you have to go from 1 to 100

what im tryng to say is that you have to start small then go big, begin with posters,then go with animation. it's better to learn the basics that to charge like a demoknight, okay

good luck with your animating and poster making!

[Phil Roy the Noodle Boy]

You will want to kill yourself after 5 hours of research.

[[FL] TheSiphon]

I watched the Valve tutorials, learned from that and made my first animations. It was ♥♥♥♥.
I watched the Tip of the day videos by Jimmerlince and I got better
Now I have 5 videos and I learned what 12 principles of animation is and how to do pose to pose. So now I can make even better video, once I get a idea for story
My point is, you can learn the basics on how to animate in few days, but you learn new things every time if you keep your eyes open and watch more tutorials and tips.