Use Source Filmmaker

Get ready for the download time and the tutorials. This takes patience.

Saying as how I've been using it since release almost non-stop to become one of the best SFM artists, yeah it's okay.
Just ingnore all the MLP and FNAF cancer that gives the community a bad look.

cool game, nobody on multiplayer, and driving physics are a bit odd but i give it a solid 7/10

TLDR: Good ♥♥♥♥ but you need to be willing to learn how to use it


If you've seen the 'Meet The Class' series that Valve put out as trailers for TF2, you've seen what this software can do at it's peak.

If you've seen the animated gifs of Overwatch characters ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ing, or the animated shorts of the daily life of a citizen from Half-Life, then you've seen what a reasonably skilled user can do.

If you've seen 'poseters' of characters mid-fight, you've seen what someone at a mid-level can do.

If you've seen negative reviews of people claiming SFM is broken, you've seen what someone impatient looks like.

I'll be blunt: Source Filmmaker is a bit like learning how to cook. If you bum-rush it, you can probably make something like what you wanted, but to get good it takes time. If you're willing to take the time, you can make amazing things. If you aren't, prepare for assaches. This isn't Pivot, this isn't Flipnote, this isn't Photoshop, and this sure as hell isn't any kind of drawing program you didn't pay for. This is professional-level software that a company, litterally worth a hundred times- at least- the house you are sitting in, has created. This is VERY high-end content production potentional- as evidenced by the examples I mentioned above. If you aren't willing to donate time to figure out what you're doing, you shouldn't be reading this review in the first place.

Apparently people donate items when you make them ~free~ posters
11/10

This certainly is a great software with a lot of capabilities.
It is a great tool if you want to make fan works for pretty much every Valve's source based game, and thanks to the workshop, the community and external resources, SFM can even be used for other popular games with a decent outcome.

Be prepared though, as this is not an easy program to use, and learning to use it to it's full extent will take quite a lot of time. Even more time will be required if you decide to start animating and don't limit yourself to posters.

Thankfully the community has made quite a lot of guides and they can be found everywhere from the Steam SFM hub to YouTube and other obscure sites on the endless world of Interwebz.

SFM is both frustrating and satisfying at the same time. The endless search for inspiration and motivation, the struggle of posing and crashing and the satisfaction of exporting, until it crashes again is truly a must have experience that can only be useful later on in life.

Remember, you won't get good straight away, and previous knowledge in other animating software, Garry's Mod and photography/filmmaking theory is certainly helpful. But eventually you'll be able to make great things with it.

The only downside is that Valve hasn't been updating it for over a year, and manual content updates take time and are painfully complex. Also the software really isn't up to date with the constantly evolving computer tech. But this downside is minimal compared to the potential of SFM, and I'll use it as long as I can.

Get it, experiment with it, and hopefully you'll learn to love it as much as I do!

Honestly, this is hands down the best way to make amazing Posters and Animations, the program is simple and easy to use, and its super easy to get a hang of it.

Source Filmmaker is absolutely amazing for making animation.. From its Source.
Cuz' like.. If you don't have the sauce, you can't make your soggy sausages. Then people will call you fat for it.
I recommend you bake .3.

Excellent piece of Software anyone can teach themselves to work with.
Working as a IT Technician I have always had a fascination with computers and the different types of software's they run this one by far amazed me the most, It has all the elements an Adept or Professional Animator could need, obviously it has limitation as it is mainly created to be used alongside Valves Source engine games however the implementation of the community's work via the Workshop feature allows for some great models/backdrops/particles etc... to instantly be added to the engines directory.
For example on how simplistic it can be to learn, I started by watching the official Valve series on how to use the program which can last from around 1 hour~ and from there I re-watch and start small creating little scenes and poses to get me used to the binds and the software's capabilities looking back at the tutorial modules to help me out in parts I am possibly stuck on and from there once I felt functional and capable of working around the software's basic features I make a scene in my mind and try my best to implement that into the Filmmaker, I was astonished by how much I learned in the short space of around 2 weeks learning and revision to now even going on my own and adding to the design I had in mind to make it even better than I imagined.
Now it is a big piece of Software and you will have to make sure you computer is capable of running the load but in my case that is not a problem so I have had a great time using this piece of software and now it has even become apart of my general day to day use after work or on the weekends just to relax and have some fun.
I can not recommend this software more to anyone who has an interest in Filmmaking or Animation.

It's basically do what you want for your entertainment software. Used it in a school presentation once, got a +B.

I would recommend it for people who have the patience and the willingness to learn on the crashes of SFM.