3d question

[Victor Nash]

You could just Auto-Orient towards the camera as they go behind.
But if you really want “thickness”.. just add this expression to the position value of your 3d object (2d) 🙂

position+[0,0,(index-1)*.5]

Then Duplicated around 30times, or whatever. Add a Pespective >Bevel Alpha to them all and Then Precomp, Collapse Transforms

“kis” it
Keep it Simple

[Cal Johnson]

Keep in mind that the best result will be achieved, of course, using a real 3D model that you could composite (like a targa sequence with transparency). This might sound glib, but think of why the 3D earth works so well. If you were really seeing earth from space, you would only be able to see one half of the sphere at a time, with the sun’s shadow defining light and dark (day and night), which After Effects is able to do. So when you create a “3D” Earth, you kind of go, “oh wow, that looks awesome!” because After Effects is able to make it look very realistic in this instance. However, as soon as you want something else like a satellite, the play of depth and shadows are much more complicated, and the eye readily recognizes it as not quite right. As a satellite moves, your new angle of vision should allow you to see parts of it that were hidden before, and some parts should start to disappear from view.

With the earth, regardless as to wether you rotate around it, or stay static as it rotates, your prespective of it would never alter, only the way in which you see shadow on the earth’s surface. This is why After Effects can make a realistic earth, or any “ball” shape, but not complex 3D images like a satellite.