Finally got this Blender camera rig to ~kinda~ work! Now I just have to move this rig to the file with the actual hominin reconstructions, write and record a script, export several versions of the video with and without the skin and muscle, and edit all that together...by next week, maybe?
Not sure I can attach alt-text to the video itself so I'll paste it here: "A two minute screenrecording of a Blender scene, showing the camera moving counterclockwise in a wide orbit around a smaller half-ring of nine hominin skulls. Aside from these nine skulls there is a small sphere, two Nurbs Circles (which I'll call NC1 & NC2), two Bezier Circles (BC1 & BC2), and a camera. The camera is attached to BC1 like a pod on a Ferris wheel, and BC1 in turn rolls along the edge of NC1, the largest circle in this scene lying flat like a plate on a table. NC2 and BC2 are arranged much like the first set of circles, but scaled down to be about the same size as the ring of hominin skulls. Another difference is that where BC1 is set upright like a wheel, BC2 is set flat like both of the Nurbs circles. It is slightly oblong and raised on one end (like a pizza that fell on a curb) with the small sphere rolling along it. This sphere is what the camera is set to point at, allowing each skull to be in frame for the ideal amount of time and to be seen from more angles"
