I'd like to see if I can get a Graphics3D animation of something akin to the opening scene of Star Wars where a battle ship flies in overhead (2:17 into this clip).
This has some similarities to this thread: How can this confetti code be improved to include shadows and gravity?, especially the later (whimsical) answers.
I've tried playing with this as a way to understand ViewPoint, etc:
Manipulate[
Graphics3D[
{
Cuboid[{-1, -1, -.01}, {1, 1, .01}],
Sphere[{0, 0.9, s}, .1]
}, PlotRange -> {{-2, 2}, {-2, 2}, {0, 20}},
ViewPoint -> {0, 0, z}, ViewAngle -> alpha,
ViewVertical -> {0, 1, 0}, ViewCenter -> {0, 0, 0}
],
{{z, 5}, 0, 25},
{{s, 0}, 0, 20},
{alpha, 0, Pi/2}
]
However, this isn't doing what I expected: when the sphere goes towards the viewpoint, it should get larger.