I still use C1.1 and run it on a Mac G3. The only problem that seems to happen to me frequently is when I jump to the modeling room. The program boots me out of Carrara and back to the desktop. This seems to happen more frequently the longer I am working on a particualr model. It's a nuisance but if I save before the modeling room it does little damage other than irritating me. I don't understand how you are using the "atmosphere wind" to apply a vertical take off for a rocket. Are you lowering the ground level? I'm not sure that animates. You can have the rocket lift off simply by moving it through the 3-D space along the time line. Have the camera point at the rocket and your done. Two of the particle settings I have used for rocket blasts are big bonfire and smoke, with very little tweaks. Just add a glow to the texture channel and whatever other colors you want and it seems to work great. You will have to coordinate this with your timeline so the fire erupts when you need it to. Just remember to invert the cone of the particle generator or you will fry your rocket. I think Carrara can do all the things you want it to do but there is a bit of a learning curve, especially animation. Good luck. memaci