Sorry, I don't think I was very clear.

I was suggesting using SFM to learn how to key frame animate. That way you can use something you're familiar with to understand the basics of this style of animation. You could then use those skills to move in to Maya, Blender, 3DS, 4D Cinema etc... which all have the incredibly powerful tools sets available to do more detailed work.

Have you tried key frame animating in SFM at all? If you want to move on to something more powerful like Blender or Maya it could be worth giving it a go. The Graph Editor in SFM is good for learning character animation basics as I'm fast discovering.

The Thomas Larson tutorials are where I started. I've now signed up to a subscription to Digital Tutors and I'm trying to learn Maya.

Here's Thomas Larson's graph editor playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF85504FA269DC502

I'm still a total beginner and I recently finished off this walk based on the tips given from Thomas , Zach and another youtuber, Will Hurrell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoBFr2uSP_8

It's not much but I'm pretty happy with it considering I've come from a no animating / 3D background at all.

OK, I finally managed to find some time to do this. I got frustrated with this until I learned to animate the arms in FK. Much easier to get a nice swing.


Walk take 2! (This time with the Scout)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoBFr2uSP_8&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for the comments. The bumping up and down I'm OK with as I'm going for a more cartoony style. However I agree that he does sit a little low and it doesn't feel right at all.

I've learnt a lot just from doing this very basic walk and I'm going to start over. There is so many problems with this animation caused from the way I created the poses, it's really messy. I'll start a fresh, this time with the Scout. This walk will have a lot more character to it. Loads of exaggerated body movement in there too.

Watch this space. :)

So I've been spent the last week trying to learn a little character animation and learn how to use SFM.

The result is this simple walk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzyo_lfjJxo

Any constructive criticism is very welcome.

Also, considering how fasionable vintage clothing is these days you could probably get away with one of the skins already available with the HWM model.

I have question around Maya and other Autodesk apps. I know it's possible to sign up as a student to gain access to student copies of the software. If you're not officially studying on a animation course can you still become a student member?

I'm a student of YouTube, dammit!

Don't worry I found a more recent release on Facepuncher which fixes the problem.

Has anyone managed to get the HWM Elizabeth from Grigory Revzin to breathe? Either rigged or FK her neck scarf rises up away from her chest.

I'm very new to SFM and animation of any kind. I've written short stories and film scripts and feel this could be a good way to realise some of those words. I'm based in London, UK, turned 30 last month and I've been a gamer since my dad bought a Sinclair ZX Specturm in the mid 80s. I thought it might be good to join this community and get to know some of you guys. I've got a couple of cheesy ideas for some shorts to help me get to grips with the tech so will get some stuff on to YouTube as soon as I can (don't hold your breath though, this is all new to me!).

I've spent the last 2 weeks absorbing as much as I can from YouTube. A big thank you to Zachariah Scott, Jimmer Lins and Thomas Larson, your videos are excellent, clear and easy to follow. I'm sure there's loads more great stuff out there I can learn from so if you've got tutorials/tips available please let me know and I'll check it out!