starlightserina asked:
It’s actually not so hard! Here’s what I did, and I think it’s a good path:
First, decide if you want to go with quadrupeds. They’re much harder to work with than bipeds (many humans come with SFM). If you want to use the pony models, they’re right here http://poninnahka.deviantart.com/art/Pony-Overhaul-Females-Release-357693278 There are many ways to install the models into SFM, but the easiest way is to simply drag/drop them into the “usermod” folder in SFM. They automatically populate and most models are OK with you doing that. There’s a video at the link where you download the ponies that walks you through it. The sexier pony models that I’ve been working on will be public when they’re done, and I’ll probably put the download link here (they’re kind of expert-only right now because they’re sort of funky and easy to break.)
Next, I suggest watching tutorial videos. SFM’s about as complicated as a non-linear video editor combined with a video game and photoshop, so it’ll take some time to get a feel for it. Don’t get discouraged when its initial complexity overwhelms you. Everything makes sense, I promise. If you have lots of time, I suggest learning Maya or Blender, as they are much more flexible than SFM. You bump into limits on SFM constantly, but it’s a lot easier to learn than the big animation programs.
My favorite videos for SFM education are as follows: Valve’s official tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG02JftoiLU
Argodaemon’s specific tutorials help a ton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoppWv-mwxc&list=PLmx5NIR6PO5t2vfHIX6GNkpXiFODM_6KJ
Most importantly: watch other people use it on twitch.tv so you can develop a workflow.
That’s it! You should become effective at getting what’s in your imagination on the screen after about 20-30 hours (YMMV) My timer says 222 hours. The folks who are real good (Like Ferexes, for example) are in the thousands of hours.
straypreyart
