20 Hours Later with the Source Filmmaker - Interview with Jojje

[Hectic Glenn]

​

Working with the SFM
The source filmmaker (SFM) is a movie-making tool built and used by Valve which was opened to an invitational beta last week. So far we've seen a few comic varients of 'Meet The Heavy' as well as some other good productions. I imagine some of the longer term projects will present some incredible work which we should all look forward to.

The must see video at the end of this article was directed by Jojje, a keen machinima producer who has been making videos for a few years. Although Jojje admits the animations aren't as crisp as he would like, it's incredible to think such a piece can be put together in roughly 20 hours he says. "It was faster than I'd thought", comparing the tool to the old way he made videos.

"What I'd done recently is animate in 3dsmax, export those animations, edit a few compiling scripts to compile them to animation models, face pose in the Source SDK, put it all together in a scene and record in Garry's Mod.

All of that can be done in the Source Filmmaker right off the bat which really streamlines the process and it kinda allows you to prioritize your work more. You might do the body animations all through the movie first, and then move onto the facial animations when the body's all done."

Although the SFM is still in a beta build, it's future looks extremely promising with video producers like Jojje always looking for new ideas and areas where the SFM can be used.

"I was looking around for something to recreate, which is pretty much always what I do. I tend to pick things that I think are cool and kind of re-do them with the cast of TF2 and see how it all ends up. I was looking around Ken Ashcorp's profile listening to his music when I saw a song of his in the sidebar titled 'Just One More Hat' with Gabe's face as a thumbnail. I listened to it and figured - this is what I wanna do."

Even at this early stage it's clear the SFM is going to change how machinimas are made. Bringing new talent to the scene, making it easier to learn and drive up the quality of the productions. Jojje's keen to keep learning, "I'm not sure what I'll do next but I'm definitely not stopping now that I have such a neat tool at my disposal. And I take all criticism I get in an effort to get better, as I look at the film now, I know there are things I'd do differently. I take all of that into the future to make my stuff look better and neater."

What is all the fuss about? Well you can watch Jojje's video, "Just One More Hat" below.

You can check out Jojje's youtube channel here. If you want to get into the SFM beta, you can apply for a free invite at sourcefilmmaker.com. If you've already got access, watch Valve's tutorials before you begin.

 

[Lobster]

That was wonderful.

There have been some great Source machinima films over the years, but it is exciting to imagine the stuff that this tool will make possible. A free standardised studio with an open commercial license, and an already giant community of actors, prop artists and set designers waiting to create.

I wonder how long it will be before we see the first two hour movie created with this.

 

[<RJMC>]

deleted

 

[Hectic Glenn]

I read some people where already making a movie using this isnt it? set in a underwter storyline

That's correct, it's called DEEP. Trailer below.