Dave's new tutorial, "Day-Night Earth Globe", you can be forgiven for thinking this is just another "Earth seen from space" tutorial. But you would be overlooking the real aim of this lesson. The actual goal is to introduce you to the power of 3D "Falloff Mapping" and the options it provides when creating objects or geometry.

In this example, Dave uses the falloff map to create a day-night effect which is tied directly to lighting. So wherever the light hits the object, the day Earth material is used and where the object is in shadow, the night Earth material is used. Once you understand this procedure, you will start to see the power this can bring to your materials and mapping, and it can open up a whole new range of possibilities...

He also takes the 3D renders into After Effects and builds a quick scene, using the rendered layers as objects, which can be placed at your own creative discretion. He then uses some layer effects for adding some extra realism... Enjoy