Why, hello there! I originally wrote this FAQ for the Facepunch forums, but things have been somewhat unstable there re: SFM stuff, so I figured I'd keep maintaining it here. If you have any more questions, post in the comments.

What do I need to run SFM?
OS: Windows 7 / Vista (Windows 7 64 bit suggested)
Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher)
Memory: 2GB (4 GB suggested)
Hard Disk Space: At least 15 GB of Space
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 200 series card or better, or AMD Radeon 3000 series or better (NVIDIA GeForce 400 series or AMD Radeon 5000 series preferred)
Monitor: 1366 x 768 (1920 x 1080 suggested)
Audio: DirectX 9.0c compatible
USB headset with mic (suggested)

There's a pixellated white line through my viewport! How do I make it go away?
You don't meet the minimum specs to use SFM. Sorry! This is probably because you use an integrated graphics chip instead of a dedicated GPU. You can work around this by turning your camera's bloom slider all the way to the left, but you're still gonna have a rough time using this tool.

I can't seem to export MP4 files! Only buggy AVI files and Image Sequences! How do I fix this?
Install QuickTime[www.apple.com], then restart your computer.

I see bright glowing rainbow-y specks on handrails and other shiny things!
The cheap way to fix this is to open the console (~ key, as always) and enter in "mat_specular 0".
The slightly lengthier way to fix this is to open the console and enter "buildcubemaps". This will create a copy of the map in your usermod folder with the issue fixed, but will also bug SFM's UI out to the point that you'll have to restart the program.

My videos are way darker than they should be when I export them!
Change your codec to something other than MPEG4 (I recommend H.264). But if you really want the absolute best quality from your video, check out this tutorial by MaxOfS2D[www.facepunch.com] (Currently only on Facepunch, sorry!)

I suddenly seem to be unable to animate one of my animationsets after a minute or so. What gives?
Double click your shot, and you'll see timelines of every animationset in your shot. You can drag the edges like any other shot to extend them.


How do I make phoneme extraction work with HL2 models (and custom models that use HL2-style flexes)?
Right click the animationset and choose "Show in Element Viewer > AnimationSet". Then in the Element Viewer, right click the animationset's name and choose "Creates Phoneme Presets based on HL2 FACS controls". Done!

How do I use stuff from other Source games in SFM?
Create a new folder in your "game" folder and extract the maps, models, materials and particles folders there. Then go to the usermod directory, open gameinfo.txt and add the following line to the appropriate place:
Remember that SFM loads folders in the order specified!

If you want to use Portal 2 maps, right click on the viewport and click "Draw Game Entities > Draw Other Entities". Otherwise you'll end up with huge holes in the map.
Alien Swarm maps may cause crashing if you don't use fogui to lower the draw distance.
CS:GO maps won't work, as they're a newer version of the map format.

How do I use Left 4 Dead 2 stuff? It keeps crashing!
See above. Once you've extracted the files to their own folder, install jimbomcb's compatibility fix.

How do I use Dota2 stuff?
Click here for CyborgMatt's guide[www.cyborgmatt.com]. The maps will not work at all without decompiling and rejigging. You can find sufficiently rejigged versions here[thekinsie.com].

How do I import custom sounds?
Place them in usermod\sound. They'll need to be 16-bit WAV files, and giving them a 44100khz sampling rate will avoid any problems.

How do I create my own IK rigs?
Click here for a guide on Valve's wiki.

The map I want to use is complaining that it's not HDR enabled!
You'll have to recompile the map with HDR enabled in the compile settings. If a source (.vmf) file is not available, and the author is no longer present in the community, you may need to decompile the map, though be aware this is far from a perfect solution and may introduce bugs. Here's how to do it.

I've got big expensive 3D programs, and I want to use them, dammit! How do I author my animations in Maya?
Go to steamapps\common\sourcefilmmaker\game\sdktools\maya and run runmaya.bat to open Maya with Valve's plugins. Export the animation as a .dmx file, and you can import that by right clicking the animationset and selecting Import > Animation.

The plugins will only work with the 32-bit install of Maya, sadly.

How can I learned to animate gooder?
You can learn a lot about the 12 basic principles of animation[en.wikipedia.org] online, but a lot of fantastic teaching is only available in book form. Some books I've seen particularly recommended include The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation[www.amazon.com], Timing for Animation[www.amazon.com], Acting for Animators[www.amazon.com] and The Animator's Survival Kit[www.amazon.com]. If you know of any other good books or educational resources, please let me know!

Incredibly Useful Tutorialers
The Official Valve Tutorials (WATCH THESE if you're new!)
Jimer Lins' Tips Of The Day
Zachariah Scott's Tutorials

Places To Go, People To See
Official SFM Wiki (plus the official FAQ)
Open Source Filmmaker

Hope this helps!