How to achieve a Stop Motion feel in SFM | Mittens

Ever wanted to learn how I achieved that Stop Motion Feel in my various SFM shorts? Well now ya can!
If you make anything using this method, post a link to it in the comments below. I'd love to see what you come up with c:
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Here are some useful links to get started in SFM:
Valve Basic Tutorials - bit.ly/2Vv7I9P
SFM Tips of the Day by Jimer Lins - bit.ly/32HSLmf
Speed's Quick Tips (This video was the one that taught me everything I needed to know in the graph editor, and I stand by it to this day) - bit.ly/32C6QSl
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Music from various games, including: "Spyro: A Hero's Tail" and "Night in the Woods"
"The Mittens Theme" by Jeffrey Brice-
www.jeffbricemusic.com

[@Mittens...]

Ever wanted to learn how I achieved that Stop Motion Feel in my various SFM shorts? Well now ya can! If you make anything using this method, post a link to it here! I'd love to see what you come up with c:

[@dibe91able]

Hello! i'm starting to use sfm and i was just trying to create something like stop motion. I wanted to ask you, do you advise me to do every move every 2 frames? I had come to a conclusion similar to yours, but the biggest problem I find is trying to understand the timing for carrying out the actions

[@Mittens...]

@@dibe91able Definitely move along two frames, it's a good way of keeping everything organised. The timing comes from how far you move the bones. Keeping them close together is how you get a slow movement

[@SwitchySFM]

Alright I was thinking about animating in 4's but I'm confused : (

[@Mittens...]

@@SwitchySFM 4's might be a little too slow, 3's at most

[@SwitchySFM]

@@Mittens... Oh thanks for getting back to me, I'll try it out

[@DasMxD]

That's basically how i animate. Using the stepped keyframes as example and spline them out at the end. :)

[@Gametect]

amazing xd your followers probably think: "oh this guy has to do super complicated animations :0" but it's actually very simple xd

[@iqbalumran9883]

Thanks for the tips Das

[@game_on..]

Hi das

[@adamwahyuramirez]

Thx for the tip bruh, gonna implement this when animating models

[@ninjascout]

Noice

[@MEATGOOD]

I have no clue whats going on, but it sure looks good.

[@cheesecheese852]

keep in mind that your mindset of egg will always stain your public image

[@TylerMcNamer]

I am less than a beginner on Source because I never published anything relating to it, but I have learned so much on this tutorial. Thanks for the lesson!

[@syweb2]

You don't need to publish, you just need practice. Goodness knows I only ever published one passable thing, but I've practiced a lot and gotten the hang of a few things.

[@TylerMcNamer]

@@syweb2 Practice! *YES!* That is good advice; I like to have the first animated short to be something special.

[@MrTriangleWorld]

I wish there was just a default stop motion 3D animation program. Perhaps even in VR 👀

[@notSalveei]

For real though, since I moved from Pivot Animator to SFM, I really really wanted to use some sort of stop motion animation program.

[@fernavliz1]

Thank you so much for this video. I'm a noob doing SFM things for my own amusement. I don't expect to become an animator of any type. I am thinking on doing some stop motions but I'm doing these just because I don't want to animate long scenes of tons of minutes that i am so lazy to do. This will help me a lot :).

[@Mittens...]

honestly short and sweet is the best way to learn. making something really long can result in an easy burnout, it's happened to me a lot

[@Takoji]

They serve food and kicks for keeps at dat restaurant.

[@CraftyHQ]

Thanks for the tutorial! I wanted to animate in a style like this for a series I'm working on and Idk why I never thought of doing it like this, I couldn't pull it off before.

[@softolive]

This also works with smooth movements too! I just learned how to make better SFM animations, and I can't thank you enough!

[@greenlemon9155]

With all the guide i have read or watch about sfm This is the most pleasant to watch, and its efficient, nice one

[@juanfisi]

Funny thing is that this is not exclusive to stop motions, 2d also animate in 2s. But any animation looks better if you mix it with animation in 1s and 3s depending on what visual effect you want. Good tutorila, I learned a lot. Thanks.

[@MrGreen32]

Dude thank you so much, the official tutorials were outdated and I have been grinding SFM for about 2 weeks nonstop now and I just now got better by your tutorial.

[@dreamywolfdd]

ive been aiming for something like this for years now and seeing this tutorial of yours enlighten me, been a while since ive touched sfm but imma try to follow your tutorial while trying to make something in sfm after yrs of not using it, thank you so much

[@allensandmi5729]

Thanks man I been wanting to get into sfm but I never knew how to use it

[@FrenchineerGaming]

people that makes tutorials are gods but people that makes good looking tutorials with story telling and high quality editing are on a whole nother level.

[@bluespartangaming7440]

just found this video and you make it very simple to understand and do a wonderful job demonstrating what you teach. thank you so much for this!

[@ramenlover6908]

"If it looks like shit Remember. Keep at it and it'll eventually look amazing"

[@KianoSpud]

Going into a game arts course for uni which I'm looking forward to, I don't know a lot about 3D animation but watching you showcase how you make this form of style in sfm is so satisfying. The way you go through each step motivates me to push on properly with 3D arts in general and taking a step into 3D animation, thank you so much!!

[@Mittens...]

I'm glad it's able to make things easy to understand. I had made the tutorial as one i wish i could have had back when i was new to it, and it feels crazy just how many people have commented saying its exactly what they need. I wish all the best for ya at uni ^^

[@henrybadger785]

Needed this *exact* thing! Thank you so much!

[@mechamecha1]

Thank you alot. I'm mostly a 2D rig animator that recently went to SFM and this tutorial really helped my 3D animations look way better than the normal tweened ones

[@KevinTheFireDemon]

I’ve been doing SFM for 3 weeks now, and I learned it so quickly.

[@kayy42332]

so simple im going to try but this was so nice to watch you spoke slowly you didnt rush and you explained it great

[@ColonelFanzipantzen]

Just wanted to thank you for that inbetween splining technique. It's going to cut off MASSIVE amounts of time spent on impossible adjustments for tiny movements. As well as stitching complicated movements so much more nicely. You're a life saver, or life easer?

[@GratsAnimations]

This is actually pretty good information, thanks a lot dude! ❤

[@taste5728]

Well time to put Franky in different layer of hell for future videos so I can learn how to animate effectively

[@cryingchihuahua487]

Dat Night In The Woods background music though!

[@thisissleepy]

Thanks for this, very new at animating in sfm and animation in general, and you were very good at explaining it step by step

[@kozy703]

You tutorials are so amazing please make more!!!

[@TextiAnimation]

thanks, i used to just do the basic stuff like using stepped and going very little by little with each keyframe and turning off motion blur, but you helped me adding bounces, using references, pressing spline button on the dots then pressing M to add in-betweens, and looking at the dots! edit: sorry for editing it so much times if its true youtubers get a notification when you edit your comment, i just commented before watching the full video and had to edit it.

[@saviogustavi]

Notice how this seems to be a 3-5 second animation (Counting just the finger snapping animation) that prob took him 10-30 minutes or more. Imagine the people making 1 hours sfm movies

[@E7ajamy]

This one will be useful for mixing animating style in gmod as well. dank u m8 c:

[@youbetterdoit971]

I'm starting sfm, and this video helps thank you

[@Syro-kn7mf]

I know this video wasn’t for beginners but I think this is gonna help me SO MUCH. Thanks!

[@dumnbuger]

I love your channel bro

[@PrivariteAnimations]

Thanks for this, ive always wanted to achieve the stop motion feel as i have an attachment to it, i used to do stop motion. Gonna attempt my first go now

[@Reuboid]

You have the absolute best tutorials. Like holy shit this feels like a class at a school or something.

[@CarlWagner1945]

It was very helpful. Thanks!

[@Binx_Official]

having done stop motion with metal based puppets before, this is actually a really cool adaptation into a digital space for me, very well explained :)

[@conss999]

The best tutorial i ever seen

[@m1rrr0]

My brain gained an new level of experience. Thanks dude 👍

[@Polychi1998]

Here's a tip. Make sure the different bones are all moving in 2's. If a single bone moved then it's safe to make another bone move as well, otherwise it'll look like a jittery stop motion mess that you see in early claymation videos. Learned my lesson.

[@vivinguyenn]

never used sfm but this probably helped me do something

[@TF2ValS]

Nice tutorial! Thx

[@jaxtona]

You make this look so easy! I have alway wanted to make a fully created original Film. Hopefully i can soon start on SFM😁

[@venom6231]

very very helpful becuase i say a couple of people do animation styles like this and this video was very very helpful with step 2s and other tips like that great video

[@LeonardoMartinez-oi6jw]

thank you, you helped me a lot

[@HoldmyApplejuice]

thanks i really nedded this, wasnt too hard to follow, even though I just opened sfm

[@Marian_Downer]

good stuff mark

[@computernoober7823]

This is harder than i expected

[@SolarSayl]

Hardest thing for me with SFM is just finger movement, I just hate doing it, because it takes so long, and I have to put so much effort into a part that's almost unnoticed.

[@Mittens...]

it might feel unnoticed, but it's apparent when it isn't there. It's a lot easier to do if you change the rotation mode to local, and rotate it on the correct axis

[@jonlanty4782]

THANK U Man I love u ❤️

[@cinderacegamer876]

i love stop motion is best and good luck mittens

[@blundercracker]

Finally, now I know how to snap my fingers, Thank you

[@two-to-tango]

thank you SO much

[@Weeklongwind647]

You could also decrease the Frame rate before exporting.

[@Mittens...]

I wouldn't recommend that, it would just come off as looking laggy. There's a certain theory behind stop motion and the way it's animated

[@Weeklongwind647]

@@Mittens... dang replying to comments even after 2 years. Also thanks so much for your help. You truly are a legend!

[@fernandodasilvagomes7905]

Obrigado pelo conteudo, estou aprendo SFM

[@LoveFpsPatza123]

Wow, nice thank you

[@dramaking9559]

SFM Heavy Requirement: Patients

[@yuriusutr7284]

So basically used the 12 principle of animation and learn sfm

[@nickonizer]

This tutorial will help with an idea that I have but one question I have is what is the puppet model I've been looking for one

[@Lazar313]

THANK YOU

[@-blu-]

Yes this video is a yes and the best!

[@ProgressiveTory]

You"re so cool man

[@rem9010]

Been looking for this type of tutorials and Actually this was so useful and helpful thank you And also if u don't mind can you tell me where to find that model u used in the tutorial?

[@HRPrime]

I hate animating with fingers. You make it look manageable.

[@Wbfuhn]

This only works if you have a specific framerate. If you're working with higher framerates you'll need to do some math and calculate how many frames you'll need to skip in comparison to lower framerates. SFM videos offered with SFM (Meet the Heavy, Soldier and Engineer), run at a low 23fps. The highest FPS option available is 72fps. This is ideal if you're wanting more precise and fluid animations, but youtube only has a limit 60fps, so it's best to work with the limit.

[@lincolnlanier8596]

Now i wanna animate something using this but idk what to animate with it

[@WhoisVinnie]

I already know stop motion. Pose, screenshot, pose again, screenshot again, you get the idea.

[@Spheremg4c]

Kinda prefer doing the stop motion thingy, its easy and feels nice

[@datbanan2717]

i have never opened sfm before, but now if im told to make this type of thing at gun point ill get shot over a not as bad looking thing

[@PengunSFM]

fighting the computer is fun

[@strangerroll4031]

If it looks shit had me fucking dying

[@conezdomez9292]

Amazing tutorial! Helped a lot! Though, i was wondering where you got that model? I have a dummy model, but none that have finger rigs

[@n3onf0x]

This might be perfect for making anime styled motion in SFM

[@IDoFNaFLMAO]

This helped

[@gjtrue]

Please do more animation tutorials. 🥳

[@fortysvideoarchive]

im not even a beginning but like hell im gonna let that stop me

[@mrrespected5948]

Nice

[@RedHeavy-]

Could you also use this process for smooth animation? You do all of this but spline it instead or something like that? If so that really help cause my movement in jank rn lol.

[@Mittens...]

in theory yeah but requires a lot more polishing

[@banana4072]

dose it matter how many frames you are at? such as dose the animation have to be at 60 fps?

[@slayerrealm4845]

Me:now i can do expiration date 2

[@mitschcrafter6766]

I love this video. I dont even want to learn. Iam just here because its really funny.

[@guyserrerene]

its also usefull for making robotic movement just dont add the bounce

[@Trextalkalot]

How do we make our animation longer than 1 minute

[@cheeseyman182]

whenever i use the rig biped simple and try to use fingers its so laggy and i have no idea how to fix it

[@Mittens...]

You need to shorten the timeline

[@spaceplayingeich]

wait whats the setting to where if you move the hand closer, father the arm will move with it

[@keybladegames_real]

But how do you manage speed? What if I just want to make it slow? Like not a normal pace but slow. I dont know how else to explain what im trying to accomplish. But my problem is it's always too fast or unrealistically slow

[@Mittens...]

it's the distances between your poses on the keyframes. if your poses are closer together, they're going to move slowly.

[@ScruffyGamerAnimations]

Could you take a look at my Painis Cupcake vs. Ass Pancakes Round 1 and 2 videos? They use a similar concept, but i didn't do the smoothing it would normally have. I wanted to aim for a old style GMod video, but it'd be HD and still SFM-y

[@Mittens...]

They actually looked really good! You're well on your way. Keep practicing your bounces, they're small but make a massive difference c:

[@ScruffyGamerAnimations]

@@Mittens... Thank you! I normally use bounces in my smooth animations by adding a keyframe at the end, but I don't get how people are able to make their animations look so smooth and clean, and not fake

[@D_Andrew_G]

Jeez i cant even get SFM to open on my computer. I tried so many of the fixes that every reddit thread says, and no hope. How did yall get SFM to work?

[@Chacho_s]

How do you grab multiple bones?

[@decisive_battle3565]

i need help when ever i move a body part (head) in a diffrent frames and try to play back it would just stay as the poes that i did on the last frame ive press (m) and also bookmark

[@Mittens...]

Are you using the graph editor?

[@decisive_battle3565]

@@Mittens... yea

[@decisive_battle3565]

@@Mittens... I don’t know what’s wrong with the one I stared with like nothing won’t animate , so I loaded the same map then animated the same model and it work ,I guess I have to start again

[@decisive_battle3565]

btw cool vid i like your content 👍

[@Mittens...]

@@decisive_battle3565 source moment

[@undeaddan6530]

i cant seem to see the keymode option, i know you said dont depend on it too much but still its strange its disappeared

[@undeaddan6530]

i figured it out, you can rightclick the timeline and click on "new key mode" to find it there

[@Mittens...]

it was most likely not showing up because the window needed to be bigger as well. it would appear if you dragged the left part (where your model list is) in a bit to make it smaller

[@Very_Silly_Individual]

Id consider myself a beginner. And i understand most of what youre saying. Although i dont want to try this without more experience Hell, i havent even made a single quality animation yet. Im still just making posters 😅

[@Mittens...]

It's moreso it not being a tutorial on how to use SFM

[@Very_Silly_Individual]

@@Mittens... ah, I see. I need to move on to making more animations. Because posters, even though they're fun to make, aren't gonna help me to learn the animation mechanics!

[@Mittens...]

@@Very_Silly_Individual It's still good practice for posing! animation rarely looks good if characters aren't posed correctly

[@Very_Silly_Individual]

@@Mittens... very true!

[@platinumcarp]

does anyone know what model he used for the mannequin

[@legosam2067]

Who remembers Ice Cream Mann?

[@Sketchid]

Anyone know the model link or name because i couldn't find it. if someone does thank you so much.

[@user-bs8qj8db3x]

Please provide a link to the character model!!

[@Tw1l1ghtTerr0r]

help when i try to use the stepped keymode it doesnt automaticly use the stepped keyframes D:

[@Mittens...]

That's why i say in the video that it's better to select all the keyframes and use the other button as the automatic one doesn't always work

[@Tw1l1ghtTerr0r]

ah alright@@Mittens...

[@TheUrsaLord]

“Not for beginners” well I’m still doin it

[@Mittens...]

not for beginners as in i'm not gonna be teaching you how to move the camera and stuff xD

[@TheUrsaLord]

@@Mittens... tbf I am a beginner when actually attempting to animate with sfm. I’ve mostly used it for thumbnails up until now.

[@BLZ-bp8qv]

yo when i press my arrow key twice in only goes to 33 how do i make go into 83 like yours how do i double it so when i press the arrow key two times it goes into 0.83 seconds not 0.33

[@Mittens...]

What fps are you using in your project?

[@BLZ-bp8qv]

@@Mittens... 60 fps

[@Mittens...]

@@BLZ-bp8qv that's why, keep it on default. It's genuinely a bad idea to animate in 60 anyway

[@BLZ-bp8qv]

@@Mittens... how about 29 is that good?

[@Mittens...]

@@BLZ-bp8qv you're still going to be needing to move a couple more frames than usual. It's better to animate at 24 fps and then you can render it at a higher one