Valve Unveils Source FilmMaker

[Guild McCommunist]

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With Valve's recent release of the final "Meet the..." video for Team Fortress 2, they also unveiled Source FilmMaker, a free tool for creating animation and editing it.

The tool apparently has been used for all of Valve's animated promotional videos, such as those made for Half Life 2's episodes, Team Fortress 2's Meet the X series of videos, Left 4 Dead's intros and commercials, plus more recent projects like Dota 2.

The tool lets you manipulate animations in a 3D environment instantly, as well as capture motion or create new motion. There's also a facial animation feature, that lets users create complex facial animations, as seen in most of Valve's promotional videos.

There's also various tools to adjust lighting and sound, along with a suite of other tools to make for one of the most impressive pieces of animation software available to consumers.

No release date was given, but a beta will be starting soon and it will include a copy of Meet the Heavy to tweak and fool around with. You can see the video above for all the information.

Official Website and Beta Sign Up (Requires Steam)

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I'm curious to see what will come out of this. Maybe a ton of really cool "indie" videos will start popping up.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I'm curious to see what will come out of this. Maybe a ton of really cool "indie" videos will start popping up.

I'm guessing Valve is using it as an electronic talent scout. Valve has slowly been encroaching on the movie market and if they nab some exceptional talent with this, then they'll be able to release anything from shorts to TV to movies.

My mind is just blown by what this can do, all for free. I signed up for the beta.

 

[Gahars]

And in one fell swoop, Valve turned its ambition to the film industry.

If Valve picks up good filmmakers who use the program (like they've picked up talented modders in the past), they could seriously become a formidable film studio comparable to Pixar. If that's the case, I pity the rest of the competition; it's going to be a bloodbath.

 

[Deleted_171835]

I'm going to guess that this has something to do with Valve's Adult Swim partnership.

http://www.adultswim.com/promos/valve/

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I'm going to guess that this has something to do with Valve's Adult Swim partnership.

http://www.adultswim.com/promos/valve/

I would think so. I'm guessing it's either some sort of miniseries or show that uses this, either Valve related (like Left 4 Dead shorts would be good) or not.

 

[raulpica]

Finally no more funny vids (nope.avi-like) made with GMOD, but done instead with a fully fleshed tool!

I can't wait for "Heavy's funny diet adventures" on YT!

 

[AlanJohn]

Woah, this actually looks really awesome.

 

[SifJar]

Looks interesting, will probably try it out (although I'm sure with my creativity, or lack thereof, I won't be creating anything too spectacular any time soon)

 

[SSVAV]

THIS.

IS.

EPIIIIIIIIC.

I'm just out of words to describe its awesomeness. If they release it for free, they could compete with professional tools.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

If they release it for free, they could compete with professional tools.

It is free.

 

[SSVAV]

If they release it for free, they could compete with professional tools.

It is free.

But it's not released yet.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

If they release it for free, they could compete with professional tools.

It is free.

But it's not released yet.

they also unveiled Source FilmMaker, a free tool for creating animation and editing it.

 

[chartube12]

So open source games and indie games could get realist cut scenes.

 

[SSVAV]

they also unveiled Source FilmMaker, a free tool for creating animation and editing it.

My bad.

But it's even more epic now.

 

[Satangel]

Signed up for the beta, to be honest I'm only in it for the items you'll probably get for the beta

 

[notmeanymore]

I guess this means Indie Game the Movie won't be the only film released on Steam.

 

[pistone]

it would be nice if its compatible with kinect

 

[purechaos996]

I've already signed up, I've been looking into Film making for about 2 years and just recently starting playing with 3D Animation so this peaked my interest instantly, Hopefully I get accept I would love to play around with this.

 

[DaggerV]

This is going to be nuts, this will be a huge boost to modders and creators alike.