[Kevin Camp]

you can nudge selected layers along the timeline with option-page up/down (alt-pg up/down), option-shift-pg up/down move the layers 10 frames at a time.

you can nudge selected keyframes with option-right/left arrow, again holding shift too will move them 10 frames at a time.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you can simply select all the keyframes (or a group of them) and then option-drag (or alt-drag) the first or last keyframe and the select keys will ‘redistribute’ accordingly.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

similar to raza’s setup, here’s a way to let ae do the rotation for you.

create a comp, add your map and make it 3d.

use the pen tool to draw the path to travel along on the map (or on any layer). then select the mask path property (so all the points are selected) and choose edit>copy.

create a new null, make it 3d, select the position property and choose edit>paste, then choose layer>transform>auto-orient and select ‘along path’.

now the null should travel along you path, turning as it goes.

add a camera to the comp and parent it to the null, and set the z rotation to 90. then adjsut the null’s anchor point to position the map so the path is in the center of the screen (it would be easiest to be at the stat or end point of the path in the timeline).

now the map should move and turn as expected.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

honestly, i don’t think i’d go 3d…

try creating a comp sized solid and adding fractal noise. in the fractal noise settings, twirl down the transform settings, uncheck the uniform scaling option and then scale up the width until it looks like horizontal streaks.

then add the corner pin effect and pinch the right side down and expand the left side vertically our of the frame.

try setting the blending mode to add or screen and then start fine tuning the settings to get what you want.

the top and bottom edges can be created by adding a couple cc light sweep effects, setting the sweep intensity to 0, increasing the edge intensity and modifying the center and direction to position them where you want them.

adding linear wipe and feather the edge can fade out the left side and be used to transition in as per your example.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

actually and easy way to handle the curvature would be to select that surface layer, double-click the mask too to make a mask the exact size of the layer, then use the pen tool to add a point in the middle of the bottom path.

you can then nudge that point upwards and use the convert vertex pen tool to add bezier handles to make the curve as needed.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

Hi Josey,

The steps outlined will work, but there are some workflow tips that could help.

first, i’d set up all the surface elements (trees, buildings, etc) in a single photoshop file, positioning each element at the bottom edge of the frame. it would be good to get them all the scale that you want them to be in relationship to each other at this point if you can.

then from photoshop, there is a batch script to export layers as separate files (file>scripts>export layers to files). run that to create save off the individual layers. alternatively, you can import the psd as a comp, choosing to the non-cropped option, however i have found that psds with lots of layers (like 50+) can bog ae down, plus if you add layers later, you’ll need to save them as separate files, as ae will not reimport the psd file.

in after effects, i’d start with the sphere, make it close to the size and position you’ll need, and i’d animate cc sphere’s rotation x property to make a full 360 (this is just to make it easier to set up, you can change the animation later).

then bring in your first surface layer and follow the procedure i outlined earlier (with the rot x property animated scrubbing the timeline will help you adjust the anchor point to get it to sit on the surface). since the surface element will be at the bottom edge of the layer, you can probably set the y-anchor point to the height of the layer (say the photoshop file was 300px high, setting the y-anchor point value to 300 should be very close to the perfect value).

as you found out, scaling can be an issue. as you scale, you’ll need to adjust the anchor point of the layer too, or you can try this modified expression for the layer’s anchor point that should account for scaling (it also takes the layer’s height into account, so it should get very close to the surface once applied):

rad = parent.effect(“CC Sphere”)(“Radius”);
s = scale[1]/100;
h = height/2;
value+[0,h+rad/s,0]

once you have the layer on the surface, yous the layers’ x and y rotation to place it around sphere.

now you should be able to duplicate that layer, then, with the duplicate selected, option-drag (or alt-drag) another suface element from the project window, onto that selected layer. that should replace the layer with the new image but keep all the properties intact, so you can now simply adjust the x & z rotation to position it in a new location on the sphere.

if you wanted to account for the curve of the sphere in the surface elements, you’d need to do that in the image files of the elements. in that case, you’d want to start with the size of the sphere, render a still image of that sphere (composition>save frame as) and use that as a guide to cut an arc into the bottom edge of all the surface elements. the elements would also need to be the size needed, since scaling the image would effect that curve radius.

if that seems too tricky, you could feather the bottoms of the images to help hide the that transition between elements and surface a bit either in photoshop, or in after effects using either a mask with a feathered edge, or the linear wipe effect with a feathered edge.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

there is a reasonably simple way to make it work in ae.

start by creating the sphere by adding cc sphere to a layer, preferably a layer that is 2x as wide as it is high to minimize distortion to any texture that you may want on the sphere. also, if you don’t want to see the pinching at the poles as the sphere rotates, set the cc sphere ‘rotation z’ property to 90.

also, make the sphere layer 3d.

now add a layer that you want to sit on the surface of the sphere, make it 3d, parent it to the sphere layer and then twirl down the properties for that layer.

to link that layer to the sphere (since the sphere is not really 3d) we’ll use expressions in addition to parenting.

first we’ll link the layer’s position to the surface of the sphere. select the anchor point property of that layer and choose animation>add expression, and copy/paste this expression into the expression field for the anchor point:

rad = parent.effect(“CC Sphere”)(“Radius”);
value+[0,rad,0]

this will offset the y component of the anchorpoint to be relative to the radius of the sphere, so if the radius changes, so does the layer’s y distance from it’s anchor point. you’ll refine that distance later.

next link the layer’s position to the center of the sphere with this expression (note in cc sphere you can offset the sphere’s postion with the offset property, this links the layer’s position to that property):

pos = parent.effect(“CC Sphere”)(“Offset”);
x = pos[0];
y = pos[1];
[x,y,0]

finally link the layer’s x rotation property to cc sphere’s ‘rotation x’ property with this expression:

value-parent.effect(“CC Sphere”)(“Rotation X”)

now you’ll want to adjust the layer’s y component of the anchor point as needed to make it sit as close to the surface of the sphere as possible. it will take a little trial and error, but you can get pretty close to perfect.

you can also adjust the layer’s x and z rotation to place it in various spots on the sphere.

once you have that set, you can change cc sphere’s rotation x poperty and the layer should rotate around it in a natural way. you can also make adjustments to the radius and position and the layer should act like it is stuck on the sphere.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

there’s an effect called ‘circle’ — effects>generate>circle

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

try this:

add the circle effect, position the ‘center’ in the upper-right corner area and set feather, radius, opacity and color as needed.

add linear wipe, angle = 0 and set completion and feather as needed to give the thickness as needed.

add cc composite, setting composite to behind and uncheck the rgb only option.

if you fiddle with the circle and linear wipe settings, i think you’ll get really close to the edge effect that you are looking for.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

here’s an old(ish) tutorial by colin braley that shows you how to create a repel expression to have a layer (like your cursor) move other layers out of its way as it moves about.

https://www.colinbraley.com/repel_expressions_tutorial.html

it is not as robust as newton, but it may work for this. the expression does not do rotation, so you would need to work that out.

also, since ae sees text layers as as being the size of the comp, you will need to create the text in separate comps that are the size of each word, or create the text in photoshop with each word as a separate layer, then import the psd as a comp choosing ‘cropped’ layers.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW