Guide · 5 min
How to animate a trip on a 3D globe
Show long flights and round-the-world trips on a spinning 3D Earth: arcs curve over the planet, the atmosphere glows at the edge, and the globe turns to follow the route.
Updated
In MapAnimate, open the Style panel and set Map shape to 3D globe. Wide shots then show the round Earth, flights curve over the planet, and the overview camera turns the globe to follow trips that go around the world. Close up, the globe turns smoothly back into a flat map, so you can mix world-wide flights with street-level detail.
Step by step
- Open the editor and draw your trip, or open the Round-the-World template.
- In the Style panel, set Map shape to 3D globe.
- Pick a style: Satellite gives a real-Earth look, Midnight a cinematic one.
- Use the Overview camera for a turning globe, or Follow to ride along with the plane.
- Turn on the finale in the Scenes panel for a closing shot of the whole planet.
- Export the MP4.
When to use the globe
The flat web map stretches the far north and south and splits the world at the date line. For flights between continents and trips around the world, the globe shows true shapes and distances, and great-circle arcs look as straight as they really are. For a city walk or a road trip it makes no difference, because close up the globe becomes a flat map.
A globe that turns with the trip
Only half of the planet can face the camera. With the Overview camera, a route that goes most of the way around the world turns the globe as the line draws, so the moving plane stays in view. Parts of the route on the far side of the Earth are hidden behind the horizon, as they would be on a real globe.
Framing
When zoomed out, the globe always fills most of the frame and never shrinks to a dot. With the finale or a long camera flight between scenes, the camera pulls back to the whole planet and the edge of the atmosphere.
Try it
The Round-the-World Flights template opens on the globe. See also animating flight paths.
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