Freeman's Mind Animated in SFM

[diegoisawesome]

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So I started animating Freeman's Mind Episode 1 in Source Filmmaker, but some stuff kind of caused me to have to stop (namely, problems with the provided Black Mesa maps for SFM). Thoughts on what I have so far?

 

EDIT: Hey guys, I know this project probably seemed dead, but I just rendered a new test! I switched Freeman's model to one that looks a bit less cartoony, and I managed to remove his tie! Also, this model comes with a Mark IV HEV suit so that'll come in handy if I do continue past Episode 1.

 

N118xuSU0v0

Edited August 16, 2015 by Guest (see edit history)

[pacguy19]

Camerawork and stuff is great. I think Gordon himself's a bit stiff and whatever model you're using isn't that great either. I know the Gmod Workshop has that HL2 Survivor Gordon which comes with a labcoat variant. I'd recommend using that instead.

 

Really making anything in SFM is a pain and not worth it so good job sticking with it I guess.

[diegoisawesome]

Yeah, Gordon's stiff because I suck at animating. I don't really know how to make him appear more alive, so I did what I could to make him at least seem like he's breathing and maybe shifting his weight a bit.

 

The model is some Freeman model taken off the workshop with all its bones shrunken down to nothing, then matched up and placed inside the body of a scientist whose head has been shrunken down to nothing as well. The Survivor model looks pretty good and I'd switch over to it, if not for the bad-looking HEV suit and the fact that he still has a tie, which canonically Ross's Freeman isn't wearing.

Really making anything in SFM is a pain and not worth it so good job sticking with it I guess.

After making this thirty-second animation, I wholly concur with this statement.

[HLPrincess]

His mouth is huge!

[danielsangeo]

You know all that yelling he has to do. Can't do that with a small mouth.

[Binky The Rabbit]

I found a small number of videos with the same idea when searching 'Freeman's Mind SFM'. A couple of them have him wearing the HEV helmet. I see why they did that (Lip-syncing must be a hell of a task), but the exaggerated movement (much like a kind of RedVsBlue idea) doesn't compensate.

 

 

TBH I don't think we need to see Freeman's mind in anything other than 1st-person, partially because of the ambiguity of whether he's thinking or speaking.

 

And considering the time it takes to make decent animation (many hours), coupled with the render time (fewer hours), multiplied by the Freeman's Mind runtime (10 hours?) FMSFM isn't really feasible by one person. Gather all the experienced SFM directors and do it as a massive group effort would be more manageable. But even then, continuity issues would plague it.

 

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Doing snippets like the OP is perfectly good fun though, and I'm not saying don't do it.

[Nex]

Hey, here's a way that I've heard works well. You can get a Kinect and convert what it sees to an animation file, place Gordon's model on there, and it should work right. Practical Problems did that and it looked really nice.

[diegoisawesome]

Hey guys, I know this project probably seemed dead, but I just rendered a new test! I switched Freeman's model to one that looks a bit less cartoony, and I managed to remove his tie! Also, this model comes with a Mark IV HEV suit so that'll come in handy if I do continue past Episode 1.

 

N118xuSU0v0

[Otto]

Wow, that actually is pretty impressive.

[BTGBullseye]

Not bad...

[AlanMor]

Your explanation is very original, but.... Is it useful?

[KOSOGAMP]

It's weird seeing a face on the Freeman's Mind Freeman, but I'm really impressed with how well synched the models gestures and mouth movements are to the dialogue. The more realistic secondary Freeman model suits him better.