I'm all for learning new tricks for skys. I struggled for two days trying to make decent clouds that didn't have artifacts in them or look squished up against the inside of the sphere with lighting on them that worked for my scene and still am not terribly happy with it. I've gotten closer to my ideal than ever before, but it's still not quite right. This idea is great! This looks like part of an explosion or something...sort of "aliens out of the clouds" in Independence Day. I'm curious about one thing. When you say a "procedural gel" what do you mean? I know how to use the gel function for caustics or something like that, but what defines the term "procedural?" Susan p.s. Eeek!!! I'm reverting to being a newbie! :o)