Adobe’s Bob Donlon has a great step-by-step tutorial on putting together 3D Pan & Scans in After Effects.

This is a great weapon to have in your visual arsenal. Generally clients seem to be getting better at providing reasonable amounts of raw materials and resources for visual gigs, but occasionally you’ll get someone who emails you a couple of JPGs and a PDF logo and expects a half-hour visuals dvd in return. This technique can be a great help, and photoshop’s healing brush can make short work of those background edits.