Hey! Alright, so I’ve been messing around with this idea of making a geopolitical map with travel animation in After Effects using GEOlayers 3, and I figured I’d just jot down how I’d do it—like, straight from my head, no fancy robot vibes. I’m imagining someone asking me this over coffee, and I’m just riffing off what I know. Here’s how I’d tackle it, step by step, super chill and human-like.

Figuring Out How to Get GEOlayers 3

So, first things first, you gotta get GEOlayers 3. I’d probably start by Googling it—ends up it’s on this site, aescripts.com. I’d head there, poke around, and see it’s like $250 or something. Kinda steep, but if you’re into maps, it’s worth it. I’d click “Add to Cart,” make an account real quick (username, password, the usual), and pay with whatever—PayPal, card, whatever works. Once that’s done, they email you a download link, or you grab it from your account under “My Downloads.” It’s a zip file, probably named something like “GEOlayers3_vWhatever.zip.”

Now, installing it? On my Mac, I’d unzip it and drag the folder into After Effects’ Plug-ins spot—like, /Applications/Adobe After Effects/Plug-ins. Windows? Probably C:\Program Files\Adobe\After Effects\Plug-ins. If it’s not auto-finding it, there’s usually an installer .exe or .dmg in the zip—just double-click and follow the steps. Open After Effects after, go to Window > Extensions, and boom, GEOlayers 3 should pop up. It’ll ask for a license key—check your email or aescripts account for that, punch it in, and you’re golden. Oh, and it might nudge you to sign up for MapTiler Cloud for better map styles. I’d do it, like $25 a month, cancel anytime—gives you slicker options.

Setting Up the Project in After Effects

Okay, so I’ve got After Effects open. I’d hit File > New Project, then make a comp—Composition > New Composition. I’d go with 1920x1080, 30 fps, maybe 15 seconds long, and call it “Travel Vibes” or something cheesy. Then I’d dig into GEOlayers—Window > Extensions > GEOlayers 3—and this little panel shows up. It’s got buttons and stuff, kinda like a mini map app.

Making the Map

In GEOlayers, there’s this “Create Map Composition” button—looks like a globe or something. I’d click that, match it to my 1920x1080 size, and hit OK. It spits out a new comp with a basic map. Default’s probably some bland world view, so I’d mess with it. There’s a “Styles” dropdown—maybe pick “Streets” for clean lines or “Satellite” if I want it to feel real. If I’ve got MapTiler, I’d tweak colors there, like make roads pop more.

To zoom in, I’d use the search bar in GEOlayers—type “New York” or whatever, hit enter, and it zooms there. There’s a slider to get closer or pull back. Once it looks right, I’d hit “Apply View” to lock it in. Now I’ve got my base map, like New York to LA or wherever I’m animating.

Adding the Travel Animation

Alright, here’s the fun part—making it move. In GEOlayers, I’d go to “Features” and search “New York,” then “Los Angeles.” Pick both, and there’s this “Draw Route” option—might have a car icon or something. Click that, and it draws a line between them, like a road trip path. It shows up as a shape layer in my timeline, named “Route_1” or whatever.

To animate it, I’d select that layer, dig into the shape options—twirl down to Trim Paths. I’d set “End” from 0% to 100%, keyframe it over, say, 6 seconds. Hit F9 to smooth it out, and now the line draws itself from NY to LA. Cool, right?

Next, I’d want a dot moving along it. In GEOlayers, I’d add a marker at New York—there’s an “Add Marker” button. Make it a red circle or something. To make it follow the route, I’d select the marker, hit P for position, and Alt-click the stopwatch. I’d type some expression I vaguely remember—like thisComp.layer("Route_1").content("Trim Paths 1").end/100 * whatever—but honestly, I’d Google “GEOlayers marker follow path” if it’s not clicking. Point is, the dot slides along as the route draws.

For extra flair, I’d add a camera. Layer > New > Camera, keep it simple. Keyframe it to start zoomed on NY, then pan to LA—tweak the numbers till it feels smooth. Maybe add labels too—search “New York” again, hit “Add Label,” same for LA. Fade them in with opacity keyframes.

Polishing It Up

I’d play it back—Spacebar—and see how it flows. If it’s too plain, I’d slap a Glow effect on the route (Effects > Stylize > Glow) or tweak the map style in GEOlayers to hide clutter like rivers. Once it’s dope, I’d render it—Composition > Add to Render Queue, pick H.264, save it somewhere like “Desktop/TravelMap.mp4,” and hit render.