What is Source Filmmaker?
Source Filmmaker (commonly abbreviated to SFM) is a 3D rendering and animation program developed by Valve that allows users to create 3D animations and render still images. It was originally developed and used by Valve to create animated cinematics or short films, the well known examples being the "Meet The Team" series of shorts as a tie-in to Team Fortress 2.
As its name implies, the software runs on a modified variation of the 'Source' engine, sharing the same 3D rendering engine as many of Valve's internally developed games, such as Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Half Life 2.
Between sharing the same rendering engine, SFM is purpose-built to use the same assets from said other games with minimal porting barriers, immediately exposing the software to a extensive library of assets from maps, characters, props, sounds and visual effects that can be used to create animations or renders.
Since 2012, Valve has offered Source Filmmaker as free software to anyone with a Steam account, along with a 'Steam Workshop' library so that users could access, create and publish custom addons for others to use. Users are not strictly tied to the workshop, however, as users can also install external content with the use of a 'usermod' folder that users can manually add to.
Read Further
