How to create a rotating sphere in After Effects. Tutorial 1

I had a need to create a rotating globe for my project and since I am not yet familiar with 3D software I researched the internet looking for a right solution for After Effects that would enable me to create a sphere that would rotate in space like it is three-dimentional. I have found the following solution and I think it should be pretty good for any situation when we need to create a rotating sphere with an image or type on it. So here we go.

First, we need to find or create a map. My video is going to be all ink drawn, so I drew an earth's map. If you want something realistic, you can take any of the realistic photographs and import them in illustrator. Your picture/photograph should be the same size the composition is. So, if your composition is wide, consider a wide map.

Then open a new composition and import your illustrator file in After Effects

Then select the layer with your map in AE and go to Effects/Perspective/CC Sphere

After that your layer should turn into a nice cute sphere. Do not turn a continuous rendering mode, as for some reason it overwrites 3D settings and the object gets locked in the middle of the page. Also, I found that it is much better to change scale and and an angle in the effect menu. It also gives you different lighting and shadowing options.

So here is the small trial end result. On the side of the globe, somewhere around Pacific Ocean, you may notice a vertical white line. It means that my hatching is not even and I would need to go and add lines to  my map.

Rotating Earth Demo from Natalia Zinser on Vimeo.