Source Filmmaker

About

Source Filmmaker is a video capture and editing tool that works in conjunction with the Valve Source 3D game engine. It can be used to create cinematic videos with dynamic lighting, Tyndall effects and motion blur. The tool was initially used by Valve to create the Meet the Team promotional videos for the game Team Fortress 2.

History

According to the Source Filmmaker Machinima^[1] blog, the application was originally leaked during the release of the Team Fortress 2 beta in September of 2007. Valve decided that the tool was not yet ready for public use and subsequently disabled its functionality within the game. Machinima filmmakers continued to use the leaked version of Source Filmmaker to create cinematic videos, with the earliest instance uploaded by YouTuber JoshuaC on September 27th, which showed several different characters played by the same person from a high camera angle in the 2Fort capture the flag map.

Official Release

On June 27th, 2012, Valve announced the release of the closed beta version of Source Filmmaker along with the promotional video "Meet the Pyro". The following day, Valve launched the official Source Filmmaker^[13] website and released a series of tutorial videos on the Source Filmmaker YouTube^[7] channel. On July 10th, the public beta was released on Steam^[9] and subsequently reported by several gaming and news blogs including IGN^[8], Joystiq^[11] and Forbes.^[10]

Reception

On February 20th, 2012, the /r/sfm^[2] subreddit was created where users can share Source Filmmaker videos and tips for using the software. Within four months, the subreddit accumulated over 5,900 subscribers. As of July 17th, 2012, the Source Filmmaker Facebook^[3] page has accumulated over 4,600 likes, the @SourceFilmmaker Twitter^[4] account has received over 2,700 followers and the Source Filmmaker YouTube^[5] channel has over 17,200 subscribers.

The SAXXY Awards

On June 8th, 2011, Valve hosted the first annual Saxxy Awards to recognize the best fan-made animations created in the world of Team Fortress 2 in 20 different categories (shown below). Each winner was given a 100% Australium-plated Saxton Hale statuette item.

On November 16th, 2012, Valve opened up the voting process for the second annual Saxxy awards, though this time, the previous requirement of using Team Fortress 2 as the source material was expanded to any of Valve's properties and the number of competition categories were significantly reduced to five: Best Action, Best Replay, Best Comedy, Best Drama, and Best Overall. In addition to receiving the honor of the Saxton Hale statuette, the winning entry of the Best Overall category was also highlighted at the Spike Video Game Awards in early December.

On November 18th, 2013, Valve started the voting process for the third annual Saxxy awards in the five categories, which will continue until November 24th, followed by the announcement of the winners on November 26th.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References