Source Filmmaker Review

The launch of the new Steam Community not only brought me a brand-new interface, but also my attention to the Source Filmmaker. Indeed, this is not something new for those who has been using it since its launch in July. In fact, it is still in beta up till now, which means bugs and crashes can happen. Still, I decided to give it a shot as I still got some vacant area in my hard disk. Most importantly, it is free.

After my 11GB of disk space turned into the Source Filmmaker, I launched the program immediately. The interface is surprisingly tidy. Then, I attempted to load a map called pl_upward. This was where the program froze. Yet, this program is in beta and I expected that to happen. Just when I was about to fire up the task manager, the Source Filmmaker unfroze and the map was loaded! Great!

I could not be bothered to go through the online video tutorials, so I experimented with every button. Eventually, I found the option to add models to the map. There was a myriad of models to select from. Among them, there was a model of a cake. The cake is not a lie.

There was an interesting function called Particle Effect Editor, which could be considered the 'experts-only' part of the software. I do not have much experience (none) in designing particle effects and such, so I stared blankly at the grids.

To conclude with, the Source Filmmaker has a great potential for those who master it well. It is not very difficult to use at all, even for a beginner like me. Finally, I would like to give everyone a friendly advice in using it: leave your work unsaved at your peril!


Note: To download it you must have the Steam program and a Steam account.

Hello world

.386
.model flat, stdcall
option casemap:none

include \masm32\include\kernel32.inc
includelib \masm32\lib\kernel32.lib
include \masm32\include\user32.inc
includelib \masm32\lib\user32.lib
include \masm32\include\windows.inc

.data
foo db "This is my first post.", 0
bar db "Hello World", 0

.code
  proc:
    invoke MessageBox, NULL, addr foo, addr bar, MB_OK
    invoke ExitProcess, NULL
  end proc