POV: fixing SFM mistakes from 6 years ago 

There's been a lot of useful suggestions and tips, so thanks for all the helpful guidance

Improoving takes effort, and jesus christ it also takes patience with sfm

You transformed what looked like a screenshot of an SFM you’d find on the hub 7 years ago to a photo that tells a story. Nicely done mate!

tip: you can add sequences to selected bones, such as the fingers. so for example, you can select a model's fingers, import an idle animation where they are posed to hold the appropriate weapon, and import them. Saves time on manual posing. Do this before adding the IK rig if you want to adjust them afterwards.

maybe having a bit more of the alien show would've been nicer, it's a bit hard to tell anything is in the dark or hell maybe have some tentacles or fingers or something hanging out into the light

But hoot, the medigun doesn’t have this solid tube, rather it’s a moving tube attached to his backpack.

im at the point i just want to hear hoot talk . could be talking about anything i would watch for hours . best voice 10/10

Showing your development is incredible seeing how what you’ve gone from and gotten to

Let’s all just take a moment to acknowledge this man for shooting himself in the face with a flare gun to find the perfect angle. Legendary.

Everytime someone analyses his own videos and,, roasts,, himself and points out every single mistake I see and notice things, I never thought of noticing and mostly I think it is supposed to be as it is😂 I love your work and hope to see more videos from you

Not going overboard with color-grading shows the level of professionalism an artist has!

Okay, whoa. That airduct poster you made is actually really scary. Well done! You were right, less is more - and the fear of the unknown factor is up to 10 for me. What could be worse than being stuck in an air duct with an empty gun and something unknown coming for you? (Though, personally, I think it'd be even better if there was nothing visible at all. The wonder from the empty shell casings is the best part.)

This guy is excellent at doing the showing instead of the telling.

I like the remakes over the originals for sure, but I wanted to share some of my opinions on it since this is ultimately for improvement and I thought giving feedback could help. For the TF2 poster, I have some nitpicks. First is the Medic posing, it just looks a little inhuman. The main things I can point out are his hand posing and his leg positions. His wrist should be pointed more forwards and his fingers with a vertically diagonal descent, index being the highest and pinky being the lowest but roughly even in height with the thumb. You put it in your own words already; it looks more like he's wanting to give a high five rather than showing distress. As for his legs, one should be planted flat on the ground first of all and secondly his torso should be tilted forwards more to show more emphasis on his direction and concern, unless you don't want too much exaggeration in which case it'd be better to have both of his feet planted but still far enough apart to give a telling pose as to his emotion towards Soldier's life. Also, one last thing is the cable for his medigun isn't connected to his backpack, but I'm unsure of SFM allows you to manipulate models to that extent (or if that just isn't your forte) so I don't blame you. Next is the Pyro which all I have to say really is the rim lighting; honestly it looks kinda artificial if that makes sense. It looks more like there's just a random bar light that hovers just above his arm which seems unnatural. It would maybe be better to have that brigher white light come from below his arm and maybe around the edges of his fuel tank so it'd better hint that the light's reflecting from the snow below him, not from something else in the sky. My last nitpick is maybe the contrast, shadows just seem a little too dull in my opinion so a small boost could help, especially considering that the important lighting like the flair's red light is harder to spot from how bright the overall image looks. For the 2nd poster, I don't have many complaints at all. If I'm being very picky, maybe have the gun at a more natural angle to suggest that he's shot at the alien instead along with adding a subtle smoke trail from the barrel, then maybe just a small amount of extra lighting to make the alien's body just barely more visible but not enough to mitigate your idea of the fear of the unknown. That's about it for all my suggestions. Hopefully some of this helped. Just for clarification this isn't meant to degrade or discredit any of the work put into this as I still admire the effort put into this artwork and all of this is just my own opinion so don't take any of it to heart. If you read all of this and considered anything that was said here, thank you for your time and I hope you strive with the work you wish to make.

actually want to see more of this sfm poster stuff. People already make "speed paints" for this sort of thing but I like hearing you give casual commentary like "ya and then I do this lil thing because the of this reason" versus more complex/technical commentaries

I love it. I understood all the choices you made there and it deadset works.

Better or not? Dude, from a screen shot to an entire story in a still is a HUGE improvement. Takes skill to capture the moment like that.

As an SFM artist that's like mid to high quality, this video actually does help me a lot to understand how to do stuff. Good work remaking your posters, mate.

Dude I love your videos, makes me happy keep up the good work

I think the first air duct poster was much more claustrophobic, the second one was more spacious making it not as scary

It’s videos like this that reminds me just how old that section of R34 is. I still remember certain artists getting hit with legal warnings because Game of Thrones got its models yeeted into doing what GOT is already known for.

Really enjoyed the long form video, Hoot. Keen to see more like it honestly.

Hey, Hoot. Thanks for the insight about how you make all this stuff, it's really nice seeing how you process all these elements till the real deal. Keep it up mate, you're fuckin' awesome.

Love the commentary, capturing an exclusive Hoot in its element must've been tough

Awesome work, always love your posts but getting a side by side compensation for how you improved is stellar 👌 great job.

These are absolutely better, absolutely great, and have now been added to my list of desktop backgrounds. Thank you Hoot, very cool.

I think for the alien part instead of it being completely dark where it doesn't show the alien, I believe showing the shadow of the ever approaching alien around the corner with the empty glock and no bullet casings would look better, although it's still pretty good idea considering you have more experience than me in sfm and I kinda like it. Great Job Hoot!

I just love how much effort went into making the alien look super menacing with his pose only for the lighting to only show like the absolute tip of his face

This was incredibly enjoyable to watch. I loved seeing the process and techniques here even though I'm just about completely clueless when it comes to said techniques. Wouldn't mind seeing more of these videos

Great work on these posters, progression is a great motivator

More videos like this would be great, loving these new and improved posters

I really love the depth of field in the alien scene! Focusing on the empty gun rather than the alien really accentuates the feeling of helpless despair, where if the focus were the other way around I'd feel more like you still had an adrenaline rush pushing you to do your best to survive till the very end

I just started watching you, and your videos are hoot-iful no actually i love them

I think from where you started I think you have improved immensely in my opinion. All of the remakes are really well done in lighting and positioning.

Wow the effect you created with hiding the alien actually worked incredibly. Letting our imagination create the rest of the poster is genius. Keep up the great work hoot :)

As someone who has spent their entire adult life in the Adobe system suites, learning the nuances of user interfaces and the horrors of updates changing said user interfaces...this is just so impressive mate!

Def subscribed, your content and ability to tell a story about remaking photos was fucking outstanding, def underated

The last one is the type of horror i loveee. It doesnt scare me, rather im just so amazed by all the detail and threatening aura

It‘s so incredible! Especially cause it’s real-time footage

I love how they turned out, they are definitely big improvements.

Just having the ability to remake old, forgotten renders and give them the beauty they deserve is enough to make me happy. I once remade a work I made from a different program (MMD) in 2020 and it’s so cool to see it looking better. I’m now planning on remaking the old renders my 12 year-old me made for the shits and giggles. Awesome work, sir. I will now dig through more of your works.

Found this channel a few weeks ago and I love it! Gamer humor at it's best.

Honestly jealous how you’re so good with this outdated mess. Noice work 👍

Those look great! I appreciate the work you do, and hope that everyone else does, too.

tbh i would enjoy a series of u just making stuff like this and explaining how u make it

Holy hell, this stuff looks damn good. Especially the last one, very cool.

I think the blur and the lighting made a lot. Also take into account the speed of how much more you're used to the programm. You can now do a speed up video remaking a post in less time (idk a lot you'll know) Great vid and goood skills

More content like this please, I love your videos

I legit want to see more vids like this. That was an interesting watch!

I really hope you do more of these

I need to save this for general guidance for making posters, cause this has a lot of tips that i could use wonderful stuff

Thought I was subscribed. Been watching your videos for about 3/4 weeks. Subscribed now

please make more, i love this

this video is a prime example of why it's important to always create things, even when you're just starting out with a creative skill or hobby for ex, I always get people asking me how to get started with things like 3D animation/SFM, and they're always very intimidated by the huge body of work that exists for SFM currently - but I think this video in particular is a great demonstration of why it's important to just start creating things from day 1. Having past work to measure against your current skill level is both a great motivator and a wealth of knowledge/insight. More often than not, your best teacher is yourself

Unironically this is really, REALLY useful. I never really "cared" about a lot of stuff you mentioned. Now I should start dwelling into being not fucking stupid. Kudos from a guy who used GMOD for posing since 2016.

I believe the Xenomorph was best visible. I appreciate the "The scariest monster of all is the monster in your mind" idea, but I think that detracts from the sense of panic and urgency that the entire scene was conveying so well. I thought he was posed perfectly around the corner of that air duct. The creepiness factor was up 100 and it was almost anxiety-inducing, but the darkness gave it a more "prowling" feeling that was, while creepy in a different way, not as impactful I think.

honeslty a really fun time to watch and a good vibe

Will never get bored of Hoot's vids, always a laugh

really enjoyed this laid back content

Damn, the second Sevastopol's OST kicked in, so did my Isolation flashbacks. Perfect game, thanks for the memories!

Ngl loving these Non-skit videos a LOT.

It’s cool finding out how this stuff is made

I loved this video! Pls make more!

Definitely improved! though, if i'm being honest, i kinda feel like the the new TF2 poster is too bright/over exposed. I feel like it would have been cool if the the brightest thing was the light from the flare gun. Using that as a strong key light, the pyro character could have a rim light coming from in front of them, leaving them almost like a silhouette; and possibly with a very very soft fill light behind them. Thats just my thoughts, awesome work with your improvements!

Your worst is better than anything I could ever make even if I had you over my shoulder telling me what to do. Godspeed, gamer.

i kinda want to see this turned into a series

The remake of the vent went through a huge transformation, it tells a lot without saying anything

Your old work is by no means bad or wrong, but you can tell how much you've learned and improved over the years!

Shout out to all of the sfm animators out there that put up to this hell hole of a animation software

I'm always interested to see how these things are made. I did some stuff in GMod but Steam Movie Maker is so much better even for still shots. Great work :)

Amazing updates on the posters!

When you were playing with the alien lighting, I too would have loved just a little more light under/behind the alien. Just so on first glance I don’t assume it’s just an empty air shaft. Give enough to not be ignored, then yeah sure, let imagination do the rest. But obvious phenomenal overall. Loving it Hoot!

You have the coolest voice in existence. You can say literally anything and it sounds cool

The first one, defintely more of an action shot rather than just... unfocused chaos. That second one though... holyshit that's some nice spooky shit there.

Damn I would like to see these more, stunning artwork must say

Hoot doesn’t even realize this, but he makes everyone’s day better.

Every single remade poster you created, 10x better than the first

i have no idea whats going on tbh but im here for it

I'd actually love to see more of this. For example, remake your first SFM animation, if you can still find it somewhere.

I love this kind of video you made! Don’t get me wrong your sketches are brilliant! But this was very entertaining too. Funny commentary and a lot of expertise coming from you. Keep up the good work!😁

3:16 medic practicing a german tradition of respect to authority (real)

I NEED to give you my money, you are really talented

this was super entertaining i love this style

Very nice to see you go back, do this little trip down memory lane of where you started and show what mistakes you made then and how to fix them with what you know now. Both are definitely improvements over the original, especially since they involve a lot more storytelling. Especially that alien in the vent scene could have been a lot of things before, but now it is clearly a desperate (and lost) fight for survival. Personally (and I am in no way a professional, so this is just my unprofessional take and opinion) I think the lighting could be a bit darker on both scenes. In the alien vent scene the models right hand looks a bit low quality and that gets highlighted by the light on the knuckles and generally the back of the hand. In the TF2 scene, I think there are just a few too many lights, but no single lights I can pinpoint as the issue here, just the overall brightness and reflections seem a bit much to me. Still very good work and looking forward to see more from you.

Congrats on improving man!

This kinda reminds of the Gmod posters I did years ago. Some were fooling around while others told a story. Mine are a bit rocky, yes, but I take pride in the fact that some came out good (not as good as SFM posters but good where one can look at it and feel the emotion in the photos)

My new wallpaper looks sick! Thanks Hoot!

That was really amazing. I personally find it absolutely mind-blowing to see animations and how realistic you can make like the camera movement or lightning. I am a programmer so my natural habitat is my beloved code-editor and I cant figure out, how you can work that fast/efficient with an animation software (of course SFM is a bad example, poor lazypurple). I tried to figure out, how to use software like Blender, SFM or the even fu*kin hammer Editor and my results where, lets say kinda shit. In hammer I made a flat map with a little house, where I fucked up the lightning. I would love to see more of these "Making-Off"-kind of videos. I really enjoy watching your progress with little commentary. And your Animations are always so weird and that's what I love about them.

Nice vidoe bruv, loved the second shot, it has bite.

the composition of these are good to the point i'm sad it's done in sfm, i'd like to see these illustrated

I love how even he called 2 scorch shots cancer.

God I just discovered your channel and I genuinely love watching your videos. Your animations are amazing and fun to watch with the stories and the on-point voice acting 👌 Do you do all the voice acting by yourself?? Commentary was entertaining as hell and watching the process with vids like this is so cool, looking forward to watching all the other videos you've done!

Nice video, I wanna see more content like this

Shows how much I know that I thought that the initial poster looked good

The alien in the second one was such a cutie

Can you do more of this kinda thing every now and then, the art is great and giving me inspiration for sure!

The second one is amazing. Of course 1st is also a fabulous upgrade but the second one really got my jaw dropping.

This was super fun to watch :D

I really like how you make the pic all dark to make your brain work to imagine what's coming, and it looks very N A S T Y

i cant finish hoot's video because i'll die on his hilairiousness