As a person that has used this software for years now, SFM has the best balance when it comes to accessibilty. The simple interface and familiar FPS styled control scheme make it easy for beginners to learn, and the more advanced tools like the motion editore, graph editor, particle editor, element viewer, and command console, give Source and animation veterans something nice to use. It's one of those "simple to learn, hard to master" kind of scenarios. Even after putting a few years into this program, I'm still learning new techniques with lighting, animation, camera control, and just small things that SFM provides that I just never knew about, which is pretty impressive considering that this is a free to install software.

My only real problem is the lack of support from Valve. Considering that this is still in beta, I still want to see Valve add SOMETHING to this software. The inclusion of a Source 2 build of SFM in the Dota 2 dev tools, along with the yearly Saxxy awards, shows that they still support SFM and the people that use it to make incredible animations (that and the fact that it's the software THEY use to make their cinematic promotional material). The last big update they ever gave us was a couple years back with the ability to scale models and bones, and that's it. Why not give us new tools? Maybe a way to have multiple maps in a single animation session without needing to mess with the element viewer, maybe some integration with the Hammer map editor to allow for in-software map creation. At the very least, better support for the Source 2 version of SFM would be nice. Even with the current "support" that Steam workshop provides (when you aren't being swarmed with FNaF spam), it still would be nice for Valve to give us something new to use.

It is still a good software regardless of that, and is something I can especially recommend for beginners.

As a person that has used this software for years now, SFM has the best balance when it comes to accessibilty. The simple interface and familiar FPS styled control scheme make it easy for beginners to learn, and the more advanced tools like the motion editore, graph editor, particle editor, element viewer, and command console, give Source and animation veterans something nice to use. It's one of those "simple to learn, hard to master" kind of scenarios. Even after putting a few years into this program, I'm still learning new techniques with lighting, animation, camera control, and just small things that SFM provides that I just never knew about, which is pretty impressive considering that this is a free to install software. My only real problem is the lack of support from Valve. Considering that this is still in beta, I still want to see Valve add SOMETHING to this software. The inclusion of a Source 2 build of SFM in the Dota 2 dev tools, along with the yearly Saxxy awards, shows that they still support SFM and the people that use it to make incredible animations (that and the fact that it's the software THEY use to make their cinematic promotional material). The last big update they ever gave us was a couple years back with the ability to scale models and bones, and that's it. Why not give us new tools? Maybe a way to have multiple maps in a single animation session without needing to mess with the element viewer, maybe some integration with the Hammer map editor to allow for in-software map creation. At the very least, better support for the Source 2 version of SFM would be nice. Even with the current "support" that Steam workshop provides (when you aren't being swarmed with FNaF spam), it still would be nice for Valve to give us something new to use. It is still a good software regardless of that, and is something I can especially recommend for beginners.