Creating characters and importing them into Garry's Mod or Valve's Source Filmmaker used to be a challenging and arduous process. You had to use 3D modeling software to make the character, and then you had to clean it up, rig it in an animation program, add the textures from a pain program and then go through the process of converting it into a proper mdl file for Garry's Mod and SFM, resulting in many hours of lost sleep and late nights that poured into the early morning's dawn. Well, Mixamo has a way to ease the process of making models and getting them implemented into both Garry's Mod and Source Filmmaker.
For those who don't know, Fuse is a character creation tool from Mixamo that allows you to easily make and modify characters, clothing, and props for implementation into other programs or games. The user reviews weren't all that favorable when it first launched due to the limitations of the character customization, but having easy implementation into Workshop-supported software titles makes the whole thing a heck of a lot more appealing than before.
Stefano Corazza, CEO of Mixamo, commented in the press release about the news, stating...
“Gabe Newell noted in a Reddit AMA earlier in 2014 that the biggest improvements [to its engine technology] will be in increasing productivity of content creation. Today’s feature release is the realization of that concept for the creation of game characters,” ... “Our entire pipeline is predicated on the same notion that user-generated content should be easy to create and get into games. We’ve now simplified that process for the tens of thousands of developers and modders using the Source engine and for the over 6 million users of Garry’s Mod. As far we know, we’re the first-ever 3D modeling and animation service to do so.”
Mixamo first came onto the scene with their services that offered affordable rigging and model and animation assets from a cash-shop store. Gamers, designers and creators alike were given an easy way to build new characters and get them animated within a short period of time. The barrier to entry in game development and design is now lower than ever before, and with Fuse having Garry's Mod and SFM compatibility, it now means that gamers can mess around and create their own characters for their favorite Valve properties easier than ever before.
One of the biggest drawbacks some individuals had with Fuse was that it wasn't “easy enough” to use. However, everyone needs to remember that it's a design tool and not a software accessory for enthusiasts.
Nevertheless, the fact that Mixamo has taken the opportunity expand the use of Fuse beyond basic design properties for creative artists and model designers, helps give the software a bit of leg-room to grow both as a professional toolset and as something that modders and gamers can make use of for leisure purposes.
In celebration of the news that you can now directly import creations and animations from Fuse to Garry's Mod and the Source Filmmaker, Mixamo has announced that Fuse is available right now at 75% off. You can grab it for only $25 for a limited time. You can learn more about it by paying a visit to the Steam page or by visiting the official Mixamo website.
