Hi,
I have been working with After Effects for around a year now, And a few of you have been with me every step of the way - something for which I will be eternally gratefull (and there might even be a mention in the credits! who knows??
) and I am now entering a part of the After Effects world, that is in great danger of breaking my head.
I am pretty comfortable now in building some nice effects, quite comfortable with Keyeing, reletively comfortable with compositing (have not had too much production footage to play with as of yet) and very comfortable searching for tutorials (
) . The one thing (among many) that I have not yet touched on properly, and is really getting me down, is 3D camera and movement. At this point, I am more than well aware that After Effects is not something you just "pick up" on the fly - but are there some suggestions where I can pick up some help and tips? I started about three days ago, just to get a nice galaxy fly through - and I am really struggling.
I am not sure why, I dont know if it is just a mind set, but getting the timing (slowly flying, then speeding up and gradually zooming into planets etc) and the "feel" just doesnt seem to come naturally to me! I understand, from the past years reading, that the best results come from mobing the camera, and the best moves come from using NULL Objects as camera controls. I cant seem to get the 3D Z-Space correct though. When setting up the 3D space to move in, how far should each layer be from each other, how should they interact, should they move themselves, as well as the camera?
Now I understand, from the get go, that I am asking for a simple solution to a life-time learned skill, so I am not looking for the "make my camera fly through space button" - What I would love, is a point to some real world help/tutorials, or even books on working in the 3D space with After Effects and Cameras. I have the time to learn, so I would like to invest it, starting now! 
I set a scene up over the last three days or so, involving a camera, a null and a background plate attached to the camera (starfield plate). Where the camera went, the stars followed. It is a nice effect, and after having a few chats wirth Rick Gerard about star flights, it comes out quite nicely. I set up the scene to fly by a few planets, but just could not seem to get the moevement to work. Eventually, I got the planets to move, rather than the camera, through scaling and position keyframes I got it to be reasonable, but definitely not usable. I am going to assume that this sort of 3D work relies heavily on the Graph editor? If thats right, I would appreciate a few pointers towards resources for the Graph Editor. I have touched upon it in the books I have bought so far, but only the surface was scratched (the classroom in a book, and learn by video series).
So, basically, any pointers to the start position on the track to me learning more about 3D camera's, 3D movement and the mathematics behind 3D space would be appreciated!
Thanks again to all,
Pierre