[Richard Garabedain]

I suppose the Luma key would be the easiest 1 step method for you. It has key out brighter or darker with a slider for finer controls

[Richard Garabedain]

your mouse wheel does not zoom the camera…it only blows up the screen..

[Richard Garabedain]

if you drag the 2nd compotistion to another part of the screen you can parent the position and/or the properties..just not the actual layer

[Richard Garabedain]

got an older version of Ae on your computer? they might still be there

[Richard Garabedain]

you are overthinking things…create 2 element 3d layers and use the top sphere as a luma matte inverted..also change the sphere to white

[Richard Garabedain]

what is the auto orientation of your camera?

[Richard Garabedain]

well you could create a null and parent them all to that null then animate the scale of the null but then have it so they also scale inversely to that null so that they stay the same size…just a theory though

[Richard Garabedain]

i would google how to prepare illustrator file for after effects

[Richard Garabedain]

you moved them manually out…why did you not manually move them back in?

[Richard Garabedain]

isnt that the same as the hide masks button?