2D Animation Battle [Join! - After Effects]

[mlk]

.

http://www.mlkdesign.online.fr/files/kirupa/battle1.jpg


Digital Animation Battle: Animate "Kirupa.com - Shocked Flash Resource"
Battle results - Vote Here: http://www.kirupa.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1634447#post1634447
______________________________

Battle Closed ! Join in on the next one !
Video Format Restrictions: None
Video Format Type: Quicktime, Real Media, Divx, whichever suits you (no obscure codecs though)
Video File Size: 3 megabytes maximum
Software: whichever you prefer, use After Effects, Flash, 3D Apps, integrate it with After Effects or your favorite compositing application.
Other: Display at least 1 frame of your animation when posting the link
______________________________

Details: I think a little while ago we held the 'username' after effects battle, and a few people participated. I propose to do it again, this time using something we're all familiar with: "Kirupa - Shocked Flash Resource". You're free to do whatever you want (change words if you think something fits 'Kirupa.com' more). There is no image size restriction nor time restriction, though you must make sure your final video is under 3 megabytes. A 200x200 10 second video might be nice for example, whatever you feel is best.
If you have any questions/advice/requests, feel free to post.
The due date is far because I know not that many people know AE or compositing that well but it'd be a nice time to try !

If you don't have web space to put your files (the image preview and animation), mail it to me at mlkdesign @t gmail d0t c0m and I while host it temporarily for you.

I will post resources/tuts/example animation for you later on,

Cheers !

Matt :ko:

5 min example: http://www.mlkdesign.online.fr/files/kirupa/kirupamov.mov (500kb) (http://www.mlkdesign.online.fr/files/kirupa/kirupamov.mov)
http://www.mlkdesign.online.fr/files/kirupa/frame.jpg

[grinch]

Oh man! Count me in on this!

But what exactly is the theme?

[REEF·]

Sure,

I'll give it a go.

[mlk]

Oh man! Count me in on this!

But what exactly is the theme?

There is no theme, though if you think of Kirupa.com you can see it is slick, flashy, blueish etc... so animate the logo/words "Kirupa - Shocked flash resource" however you're inspired.

I'll try to do a quick example animation soon. As in now. Argh I got loads of work. Oh well kirupa first.

[REEF·]

1 question, it has to be in after effects for the final movie?

[grinch]

I had the same question as Reef, it says in the title AE, but in the specifications of the battle itself, it says any software?

[ElectricGrandpa]

Yeah I'm quite sure you can use anything... but it needs to be "after effects style"

Well kind of.

-Matt

[DDD]

so is this a header we are designing? whats the dimensions?

[berkoWitZ]

ohhhh Im in! :pleased: can we use sounds? please say yes :(

[mlk]

I updated my first post to put an example (not my entry =))

@ sharif/grinch: Any software, if you want to do flash animation, fine, it's always nice to use AE compositing in the end. note that only bitmap video formats are acceptable (no swf). Put 3d in it if you want, it probably will lack some dynamism...
It means most users will use AE, but I know other apps can be used to do compositing (Flame, Shake Pinnacle studios etc...)

@berkoWitZ: use sounds if you wish, I will if I have enough space, it's not a requirement at all

@ Deedeeedee: any siz you like, but the file must be less than 3 meg. A header video would be quite nice

to all: remember this is a compositing/2d anim battle, even though you might be a god at 3D animation I want to see at least some 2D anim !

[berkoWitZ]

nice example mlk....ok Im going to use only AE, probably a little 3d but not sure =)

[DDD]

I was just curious....I doubt ill be in this one due to the 3d battle, but good luck to all.

[grinch]

I might try this, it'll be fun to test out my knowledge of dyanmics... w00t

[berkoWitZ]

So....whos participating atm??

-mlk
-grinch
-Reef
-me (berk)

[ElectricGrandpa]

probably me.

[REEF·]

I tried half an effect, went to file > export > Quicktime Movie. The file size came up to be 5.55mb. Anyone know how to keep decent quality while keeping file size low?

PS - Can we up the size just a bit? I mean...it is after effects :(.

[DDD]

sorenson squeeze or use .flv format from flash.

[berkoWitZ]

how long is the movie ur making shaf?

[REEF·]

Hmm, not sure yet. I havent touched AE in about a year (don't expect anything) lol. But I'm trying not to boost up the size over 10 MB (which should be the limit or at least 7).

Maybe about 5 to 10 seconds worth.

[berkoWitZ]

in the format just choose quicktime movie and in Format Options put Sorenson Video 3, is the one I use :)

but I agree, 3 mb its okay but perhaps 4 or 5 could be better....4 is okay

[REEF·]

Yea I know how to access SV3, I forgot about the options button on the export window. I chose one simple effect, (without graphics or text), and it returns as 4.5 megabytes.

It's not about which AE effects you choose, I think it's more about the overall look of the composition, such as cameras and lights. Even with 2D images, after effects allows you to produce 3D illusions out of them, and a 3MB limit doesn't cut it really.

Edit: let me add that sound delivers more of a experience (no matter how small the movie is) and one sound clip can boost the file size a lot.

7MB (lol).

[berkoWitZ]

Edit: let me add that sound delivers more of a experience (no matter how small the movie is) and one sound clip can boost the file size a lot.


thats exactly why I want to add a sound ;) the sound is half the experience and the graphics the other half...

but I dont why ur file is so big shaf :puzzled: I have made 7 seconds clips with sounds and most of them are 4 to 5 mb maximum

and BTW, tomorrow Ill start working on mine, is going to be simple probably but nice I hope

[REEF·]

but I dont why ur file is so big shaf :puzzled: I have made 7 seconds clips with sounds and most of them are 4 to 5 mb maximumHmm? I did a 10 second clip with 1 effect and it ended up 5mb. My quality was on maximum during SV3 exporting.

[ElectricGrandpa]

the sound is half the experience and the graphics the other half...

but this is a graphics battle, not a sound battle.

[berkoWitZ]

but this is a graphics battle, not a sound battle.

there is no restriction about sound :) I dont see the problem either, its only to enhance the movie....

but are we going to make this battle or not???

I dont see much interest anymore :-/

[mlk]

errrm. I know i am, and it's not anywhere as time-consuming as the 3D ones, and you have plenty of time left. please dudes, I made a little header for the battle =) !

Comon', everyone needs a little AE training now and then...

[ditt0]

I think i'll give it a try too

[ElectricGrandpa]

there is no restriction about sound I dont see the problem either, its only to enhance the movie....

Nothing wrong with sound, but it shouldn't be half of your entry.

[berkoWitZ]

thats not what I meant with that statement :) I really mean that with sounds its just better! thats it

then I´ll start thinking in mine

[.soulty]

nice idea, in i am..

;)

[jsn.greenbag]

oooh.. im in, if i may.

sometimes u can get smaller files if u first export the animation _uncompressed_ from ae, then import that rendered animation into a blank project (in ae or premiere or similar) and render a compressed version from that file.
i've done it on larger movie projects and got much better results. (20 megs or so instead of 500 for example). dont know if it'll make much difference on short animations lik these but.. worth a try maybe?

[mlk]

oooh.. im in, if i may.

sometimes u can get smaller files if u first export the animation _uncompressed_ from ae, then import that rendered animation into a blank project (in ae or premiere or similar) and render a compressed version from that file.
i've done it on larger movie projects and got much better results. (20 megs or so instead of 500 for example). dont know if it'll make much difference on short animations lik these but.. worth a try maybe?

Yes and it renders more quickly (at least on my machine). Though the uncompressed file often goes up to 10 gigs when your clip is more than a minute long (and fairly big in dimensions)

[Vexir]

I am so in :)

[mlk]

I forgot about this. Now there's a big memo on my computer.

Meh I'll get workin' on it soon.

[Vexir]

Damnit I MIGHT have to bail.. I'm trying one of those really complex things where you have a flowing title effect using a mask and a bunch of comps which then are used as displacements and blurs and etcetc.. and its not working out (of course.. I am an AE newb)

So... don't shoot me if I pull on this one :P

[.soulty]

oh crap, forgot.. just reinstalled windows backing everything up and havent installed AE yet. Will work on it soon enough.... i hope :!:

[mlk]

guys anyway I don't want to rush people into it, we can delay it, though I'd really like to have an AE battle !

[REEF·]

I'm bumping this, a ton of people said they would like to participate, I'm sure you all are just as lazy as I am. I've started on mine recently, coming along decent (I'm the worst AEer ever lol).

I think it's time we get working on it. No time limit really just makes it a "ill work on it next month" sort of thing. This is for AE practice and lots of creativity can come from AE (as I've seen).

I'll keep bumping this if people don't work on theirs, otherwise, I'll be forced to remove my shirt and cry.

[Vexir]

I'm bumping this, a ton of people said they would like to participate, I'm sure you all are just as lazy as I am. I've started on mine recently, coming along decent (I'm the worst AEer ever lol).

I think it's time we get working on it. No time limit really just makes it a "ill work on it next month" sort of thing. This is for AE practice and lots of creativity can come from AE (as I've seen).

I'll keep bumping this if people don't work on theirs, otherwise, I'll be forced to remove my shirt and cry.

I tell you I'm a lot worse than you.

[mlk]

I'm gonna start working on mine, I've got ideas comong along now. If this battle doesn't really hit the crowd, we'll do other ones, don't worry !

[REEF·]

how about we start a new thread, with only 2D animation allowed, except the point is to build a really creative composition and just have some kirupa.com text in there, this way the emphasis is put on the creativity of the project instead of just the text. this means there can be a setting, a time or some abstract background going on.

....anyone get what I mean? just a AE movie (max 7mb, since it's more than text), with some cool stuff happening and possibly a kirupa.com text at the end. I think we might get much more ideas/participants this way?

[zionlocke]

I'm surprised that no one has gotten around to an after effects animation. I have the time tomorrow night, and I will post it here this week. I still have a few questions to clarify exactly what we need to do for this challenge.

So, I just need to use kirupa.com and slogan in the video as the title the video leads up to? And, do we need to use the classic color scheme? Is all animation supposed to be 2d?

[REEF·]

Yeah, no color scheme, but mostly 2D.

[REEF·]

See, the only problem with mine, is that its 103 megabytes. After compressing (ultra low quality), I get it down to 900kb. A bit higher goes to 1.03 kb, and the only one I'll accept with is compressed with decent quality is 9.56mb.

I'm trying to compress with SS4.0 here, I'll let you guys know how it comes out :thumb2:.

[zionlocke]

OOF, I didn't notice the 3 megabyte limit. That'll hit me hard tonight then. I guess I'm not using sound to allow for more video. I'll have something to put up tonight, at least a keyframe and hopefully the whole thing.

You could try DiVX Reef. I can get 2 hours of vid with that codec down to around CD size. It usually encodes fast out of after effects.

[REEF·]

I'm not fluent with DiVX zion, care to explain what it does? My movie is about 20 seconds long (it's actually nothing, it doesnt have anything special about it), at 500 frames (playing at 25 FPS*20 secs giving 500) and 103 MB. It's only this big possibly because of the images on there (also nothing special, very small actually).

Using sorenson squeeze 4.0, I actually got the file size down to 2.98MB, just perfect for the battle while at decent quality.

I'll show you guys mine if and only after a few people show theres (I'd hate to be the only one submitting).

-Reef

[mlk]

I'll submit... See you can post a hi-qui clip (like 9 megs or more), but I really want a small-sized clip for the unfortunate ones who do not have broadband... Post both !

[REEF·]

I'm done with mine. Some one better post (other than MLK), I don't wanna feel alone posting mine :P.

MLK, 3MB is fine, whatever I worked with it lol theres no going back.

[zionlocke]

I'm not pleased with how mine has progressed tonight. I started making a joke animation, but it really doesn't display all that I'm capable of nor does it push my skills to the limit. I guess I'll think about it at work and throw some sketches together for tomorrow night. I really should make a masking experiment with AE since I'm only a little familiar with that aspect of the program. I'll shoot for 3MB too. Sorry to not have something like I said, and it is hard to prove that I will have something tomorrow night since I'm new here.

[ar]

Wow, I really can't wait until at least one of you submit.






!GB! - PEACE -

[Vexir]

I'm pulling out I don't have any time to work on learning AE, I was just beginning to start out with it, no time at all, sorry.

[REEF·]

aww :(

[mlk]

Well, here's mine, I'm not extremly happy with it (it's really hot where I live and computers lag extra much because they heat up quickly, so it's a pain to render stuff)...

Anyway, I learned how to use the Vegas plugin/filter so this wasn't useless !

File location: http://mlkdesign.online.fr/dump/kAnim.mov - link fixed ! it might take time to load =)
Size: 2.8 mb
Codec: Quicktime Sorenson 3

Other: less than 400x300, no sound, 12 seconds long

Screenshots:

http://mlkdesign.online.fr/dump/kComp1(0-00-02-25).jpg

http://mlkdesign.online.fr/dump/kComp1(0-00-11-21).jpg

Show your work !

mlk

[REEF·]

:!:

okay everything I ever did is demolished. nice going mlk :upset:.

[b.rich]

mlk ur link doesn't work for me... i'll try back later.

[REEF·]

I didn't know we were doing text effects....damn..

[mlk]

mlk ur link doesn't work for me... i'll try back later.

It worked, then didn't, then did. I've got a free host so whaddya expect. Try saving to desktop, else I'll post another version tomoro.

Guys please post even if you don't like what you did, I don't really give a crap about polling, I just want to see more people using AE !

I'll post a little vegas how-to sometimes later =)

[b.rich]

ok works now.... very nice job mlk. I like it. :)

[.soulty]

nice work mlk :) .. ill see if i can get something soon.. right now i doubt it. :(

[zionlocke]

Nice mlk. Good blur, 3d rotation, and text trace effect. The shapes in the background were scary. :bu:

I hung out at a friends house last night. AGH! I hate promising things I don't do. So I won't say anything about tonight. We shall see. I don't have anything going on, and this means that I'm going to be at home all night.

[Vexir]

I still really don't know whetehr I'm going to do something or not, beacuse those stupid AE text preset effects wont work right! :(

[REEF·]

can someone clear this up for me? are we seriously doing just text effects? I thought it could be anything related to 2D animation, as well as a kirupa text at the end, no?

[ditt0]

It's not just text effects, you can include anything in the ae animation , even 3d if you like as long as the text with kirupa.com is included too.

[REEF·]

ah thanks, that's quite what I've done (except no 3D, isn't it a 2D battle only?).

how about yourself ditto? working on yours :thumb2:?

[ditt0]

Yeah, I think I'll post tonight something, although I'm not really about the way it went..but since I'm doing this mostly for fun, i guess it's ok:)

[jsn.greenbag]

uhm hi.. yeah, i wrote i'd participate so.. i made a little something. all ae, no sound.
im just gonna render it and then i'll upload.
btw, anyone know of/has a good place to upload??

[ditt0]

Nice work mlk:)
Pink session for me this summer, I guess..
http://www.smart.info.tm/ditt0/ae/preview.jpg
Quicktime
http://www.smart.info.tm/ditt0/ae/kirupa.mov
and swf
http://www.smart.info.tm/ditt0/ae/kirupa.html

[REEF·]

I've had much fun with this project, took some time to fix a few bugs. Hopefully, this won't be the laughing stock of the battle. But, it's all in good fun right :thumb2:. Hope you enjoy the decent load and soothing tunes.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4390/preview6pc.png

Click to view. (http://lolexproductions.com/battle/snowynight.htm)
-Reef

[ditt0]

sweet work ~REEF~:)

[pratik]

great work guys

[mlkedave]

@mlk: Great work, really like the vegas effect.
@ditt0: Very cool stuff, never seen that kinda transition from a plugin.
@reef: Crazy stuff, really like the 2d enviroment you created. Great job.

Man I must say I am really impressed with this battle. All of you guys kicked some ***.

Mike

[mlk]

Excellent work from ditto and reef
@sharif: your comp looks really 3D ish, did you use a filter for the snow ? or was it particle playground ? love the music btw

@ditto, nice transitions, did you use vegas for the 'write-on' effect ? were the bubbles made with AE ?

edit: erm ya, i clicked on 'process' on reef's page... that'll teach me to look first =)

[.soulty]

:!: wow sharif and ditt0 , those are excellent, ditt0 nice effect (sorta more of what the brief ask * cough cough * ) lol.

sharif thats totally impressive dude.. well done. :beam:

[jsn.greenbag]

hey people! heres my masterpiece .. :p

http://home.graffiti.net/ct16:graffiti.net/battleimage.png
linklink (http://home.graffiti.net/ct16:graffiti.net/kirupaAeBattle.htm)

haha oh man, this is just.. bleh.
oh well... still learning.

[ditt0]

Thanks mlkedave , mlk and soulty:)
mlk: no vegas there. I applied a stroke over the outlines, doubled the layer and changed the stroke animation on the double a bit. Yes, the bubbles are done in AE too, nothing too fancy, it's a FE plugin that i adapted to suit the composition, but I just thought it would look fun:) Then used particular with the emiiter specified from the bubbles layer.
Nice work jsn.greenbag :)
soulty: maybe this is the right opportunity to get some tuts from the guys for kirupa;)

[REEF·]

MLK: hmm, I wanted to show how a 3D perspective can be created from 2D images. But there's absolutely no 3D involved in there, just a lot of photoshop and playing with lights and cameras to set a point of view. For the snow, I actually tried with particle playground, it came out decent, but I had tParticular, which generates automatic snow and afterwards I had to change the camera view to also make the snow look flat.

It's all an illusion really. The final part was to set a mood adding the music. If anyone would like to see the process or might have missed it, you can view it here (http://lolexproductions.com/process/process.htm).

Thanks for the comments.

[REEF·]

....and sure, I'll be glad to write up a tutorial if it's okay with the mods. Any requests?

[.soulty]

well pm your ideas on the tutorials and i will pass them on to kirupa and we will see, would be great if a few of you are willing to write some up :)

[REEF·]

ah, how about one on easing motion in after effects? that's a quick one, that a lot of people possibly do not know about. instead of choppy animation, why not liquid movements :thumb2:?

[Vexir]

Wow, I loved all of them, but jsn really gets my vote :)

Yay sharif you used my santa idea :pleased:

Sigh, I wish I could do such things with AE :( Problem is there are no Kirupa.com's for AE. Sighhh.

[.soulty]

reef and any one else PM the ideas and we will talk it over.

[[JAMIE]]

it's awful compared to the rest of them, but it passed a bit of time! mainly done in flash as AE was being horrible and not working properly (bad workman blames his tools!!!). exported as swf for all the poor bandwidth people who will be voting for it.

(http://home.ripway.com/2005-7/368413/kirupa.swf) HERE IT IS (http://home.ripway.com/2005-7/368413/kirupa.swf)

[REEF·]

that link isn't working....

[Vexir]

reef and any one else PM the ideas and we will talk it over.

I'd like to see some Ayato tutorials that don't require plugins to be redone on this site, just because the translation on that site is terrible and hard to understand/follow.

[REEF·]

I'd like to see some Ayato tutorials that don't require plugins to be redone on this site, just because the translation on that site is terrible and hard to understand/follow.that's why his site is called "after effects tips" not "let me translate letter-by-letter for you"....

:thumb2:

[Vexir]

Hehe :P Ahhh I want those plugins so badly (like Trapcode and Final Effects) but I don't have the cash right now.. I need clients. Boo!

[mlk]

']it's awful compared to the rest of them, but it passed a bit of time! mainly done in flash as AE was being horrible and not working properly (bad workman blames his tools!!!). exported as swf for all the poor bandwidth people who will be voting for it.

Even though it's not graphically superb I really like your idea =) and you've participated, and probably learned about AE, so that's a plus !

[berkoWitZ]

oh **** I forgot about this battle! :stunned: why nobody told me? ;P :P

very cool movies everyone :thumb: I´ll see if I can come with up with something this week, too much work :(

[REEF·]

Last day to submit today, pleaseeeeeee submit.

[berkoWitZ]

what?!?!? today :O!!! ****! wait! ahhhh!

[REEF·]

If you need time I'm sure MLK will extend the date, this battle doesn't really have a time limit since a lot of us are new to AE - just work on it berk, I've seen your godly effects.

Impress us.

:)

[mlk]

Extension given, you've got an extra 14 days (i'm going on holidays for a week soon so you won't hear for me till then =))

- kick some cyber a$ses !

[zionlocke]

Whew! I was so worried yesterday when I heard we had to submit today. 14 more days? You rock mlk! I can meet that deadline.

I'm not sure how good mine will be because I'm still drawing stuff for it. I will say that I'm attempting a lot of new stuff in AE that I've never attempted before.

Thank you guys for showing your awesome work. I'm humbled by the quality stuff here in comparison to my own. I'm so glad I came across this forum when making a flash site. It's the most useful and friendly forum community I've ever joined.

[ElectricGrandpa]

whootskis.

I think I'll submit something... hopefully. Give me ideas everyone! Ideas!

-Matt

[berkoWitZ]

If you need time I'm sure MLK will extend the date, this battle doesn't really have a time limit since a lot of us are new to AE - just work on it berk, I've seen your godly effects.

haha thanks :hugegrin: but Im losing the "magic" lately because I never pratice, urs was great I love it and btw nice tut on easing ;)

oh and thanks mlk for the extra time :) I´ll see what I can do too

[REEF·]

thanks :thumb2:

for anyone who's having problems with choppy animation and would like smoother results, the tutorial is up on front page now.

[b.rich]

nice job on those last enties. :D reef, ditto awesome work.


nice tutorial as well reef.

[.soulty]

yep major props to reef on the tutorial. nice work mate :thumb:

I'm currently working full time so i wont be entering.

[REEF·]

thx brich and soulty.

- really sad to see you couldn't submit soulty, I can't recall the last time I've seen your work :(. if you do find time, mlk will extend the date (cause he's such a nice guy).

[ramie]

is this battle still open?

[REEF·]

yes, no deadlines yet, we've extended the date to aug. 15 - get some wips in if you can :thumb2:.

[ramie]

:) great, I'll get something together over the weekend when I having a few beers, this should be fun.

[sebus]

since I just bought after effects to add to my toolset for my freelance work ( I also have a copy I bought months ago at work), I will give this my best shot. I have only opened AE6 about 10 times so i'm a real newbie but i'm going to try my best :) plus i'll learn a few things.

[ramie]

I should get finished and posted tonight, anyway here is a screen dump of the w.i.p..... this idea is an animated TV style logo/avatar, the fancy kind that production companies use, also used electric theme as it is shocked :0

Ray

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3324/screen3ck.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[REEF·]

looks excellent, we have a after effects pro here :thumb2:.

[ramie]

Ok, here's my entry,

http://www.ramieb.com/kirupa_video/kirupa.mov

http://www.ramieb.com/kirupa_video/kirupa.wmv

Size: 2.8meg (mov) 2.1meg (windows)
Length: 14secs

http://www.ramieb.com/kirupa_video/kirupa_640x480.mov << came in at 3.12 meg, this is the size its meant to be.

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/6454/image9yk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Tried to create a MTV style VJ intro, I ran out of time, as I gave my self the weekend to complete it, there are a few errors but its only a bit of fun.

Used the particular plugin for my particle field at the start the rest is timeline and camera effects in AE, with lots of recompositing and layer blending techniques to mix it up.

I had a ball making this, enjoy......

Ray :)

edit: fixed the errors at the end and recompressed as it was doing my head in rushing it like that, finally got it in at 2.8 meg with an extra second of film :) that really is it finished now.......

[ditt0]

Great job ramie! I love it

[.soulty]

nice work dude :thumb: lovin it!

[ramie]

thanks ditto and soulty, it was rushed at the end but im happy with how it turned out, if I didnt put a lid on it tonight id have been messing about all week at it and got nothing else done, I know myself too well...... :D

[Vexir]

That is crazy cool :beam:

[sebus]

I have AE 6.0 Standard and i'm wondering if Premiere Elements is good enough so I can import the AE video into Premiere and add sound/music in there ? I have Ulead Video studio but the music sounds horrible once I create the file.

[sebus]

boohh only runs on XP I have 2K... Reef - what did you use to add music to the AE project ? and also where did you get that cool xmas type tune ?

[.soulty]

you can add music in after effect.

[sebus]

huh ? where ? i tried an mp3 and it won't import, plus there is no options for audio anywhere in AE 6.0 standard.

[mlk]

mp3s are rendered really bad (at least in 5.5 pro)

drag and drop an audio file in the timeline and you can add effects (probably like flanger, slow down tempo etc...)

[.soulty]

you said a mp3 wont import? i doubt that, i use to import mp3's in 5.5.

the audio should render fine in 6.0 if you tweak the audio compression rate when you go to compression setting before you render. and what options are you looking for audio? After effects is obviously not a audio editing tool but it does have some filters (eg. Bass & Treble Reverb Stereo Mixer Backwards).

aiff's are popular with AE as well as wav and i think even .ra (real audio) works.

[sebus]

do you just go to import and import the mp3 ? that won't work... I don't need to edit the audio in any way, i have audacity free for that, just want to add audio and have it sound like it sounds when I just play the mp3 alone - which sounds like crap when I export out of video studio... i'll try and see if I can get the mp3 imported or convert it to wav/aiff
thanks !

[.soulty]

yeah you should be able to just import the mp3's into AE, especially in version 6. To make the audio file sound like you normally have it sound all you have to do is up the compression settings in your preference for real time preview and in your quality settings before you render out to a movie file.