Today, I will show you how to create a rotating planet in Adobe After Effects.
First, you need to find a flat map from a planet you want to use, with your favorite search engine.
For this example, I will use a flat map from planet earth.
After you downloaded the image to your computer, you need to import it into your project, so double click in the project window, and select the image and click on Import.
Now you need to drag the image into the composition, so click on the image, and while holding down the mouse button, drag it into the composition.
Make sure the image is still active, and open your effects and presets window.
Search for Sphere, and choose, CC Sphere. Just click and drag the effect onto the image layer and you have created your planet.
Now you want to add a rotation to the planet, so click on the rotation flyout menu in the effects control window, and turn on the timer for the Y rotation.
Drag your time slider to the end of the composition, and change the number of rotations to 1.
You can change the radius, to make the planet bigger or smaller.
If you feel adventurous, you can even change the light, and shading, but that is up to you.
After you are done with modifying the composition, open the preview panel, and click on Play to see the end result.
We hope you like this short tutorial