If you sit and do work in After Effects for any amount of time in exchange for money, you would have or inevitably will have to create some sort of map animations.
The whole world on one After Effects layer
After Effects is pretty well tuned for this type of work which is simple enough… although wouldn’t it be great to bring in live map data directly from internet sources and be able to work with that?
GEOlayers for After Effects can do that! It will use TileServer data right in Ae, giving you what looks to be amazing flexibility in creating and animating maps.
Easy Map Animations in After Effects
GEOlayers will allow you to dynamically bring in and work with TileServer map images in After Effects. All you have to do is type in the location that you are looking for, and GEOlayers will bring in the map image all on one layer. You can zoom in, pan around, and the image will be updated live from the TileServer data, giving you the resolution that you need for that particular view.
Add Markers and Extra Layers
The “layers” tab of the GEOlayers tool will allow you to add marker locations that will automatically stick to the map animation that you have created. In fact, using this method you can also set routes, waypoints, text, and even cloud layers. It is even possible to set the layers as 2D or 3D or a mix, to get the look of 3D markers on a 2D map.
Add GeoJSON Vector Resources
GEOlayers also allows you to use GeoJSON resources, offering the ability to have vector based elements in your map animations. GeoJSON is an open standard format for encoding collections of simple geographical features, such as streets, boundaries and boarders. Again the plugin allows you to easily place the elements on the map and have it stick to the animation that is set.
The GEOlayers’ team have been posting some examples of the tool and the results that can be achieved with it. Some example map animations include a wide variety of style, animation and looks.
There are even some examples of using GEOlayer with other third party plugins, particularly TrapCode MIR. With the two tools in place, it seems you can create a three dimensional terrain, using the GEOlayer tile-served images as textures.
Unfortunately, not much is known about GEOlayers’ release or pricing at this point. Hopefully more information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
