I've had good luck (Bryce 3.1 also) by starting with a sphere, then applying the "Fuzzy Blue Sphere" material (third one in the "Complex fx" category). The important thing with this material is that it's set to "fuzzy" in the Materials lab, which softens the edges and helps give the "glow" effect. As stated by someone else, deselect "cast shadows" and "receive shadows" in the Materials lab, and crank up the "Ambience" control, and lower the "Diffusion" control somewhat (or even all the way off). The default "Ambient" blue color is likely too dark for you, so make it a brighter shade of blue. The glow can be softened further by turning up the "transparency" control in the Materials lab. Try turning down the specularity, you may or may not want any of that effect on the glow. As also mentioned previously, the "Ambience Color" under the "Sky&Fog" palette must be set to a bright level. Of course you can manipulate the sphere's shape, or use another shape (or glow color) altogether. Anyway, I've gotten a decent "Star Trek"-like engine glow with this method.... -jakeh