Animating Illustrator objects in 3d space or faking it... (In AE)

Hey everyone, any help is much appreciated, I may be out of my league here with what I am trying to do but I want to give it a shot.

I plan on using illustrator to draw a "3d" map and will be basing it off of this excellent tutorial I found here:
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?FeatureID=1823

I want to animate the map in 3d space in After Effects. I understand the limitations since Illustrator isn't really a 3d program, but it would be very simple animations:
Flying the AE's camera in and out, simple waves crashing onto the beach, a turning windturbine, etc.

All of it sounds simple but probably involves some very complex animation and other programs besides just AE and Illustrator.

Would it be easier to fake it? (ie assemble flat illustrator layers in AE to create a 3d object) If so, could you offer tips on doing that?

I appreciate any help...
Thanks
-Andy

Unfortunately you won't be able to do much with that in AE, except dolly in and out a little. Since the terrain is curved, the perspective won't look right if you try and do any other camera movements. You could auto-orient, but it will create a parallax effect with the ground. Only if the ground was flat could you do this.

The turning wind turbine would be easy.

Not sure what you would do for the waves crashing. There are really good plugins for water like Red Giant's Psunami... however it only generates water that is out in the ocean or in a lake/pond. It does not simulate waves crashing on a shore as far as I know.

Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com