I'm looking to learn how to create them for animations. Complete movies that will be 2-3 minutes long and then put together for a short fmv. So if anyone at all knows of a tutorial on creating them It would help, screenies anything. I have poser 4, 3d studio max 5, Uvmapper, Paintshop Pro, and bryce 5.

Depending on what you're wanting, there are "Movie Special Effects" packages in the Market Place. Animated things like Fire, smoke, magic-like things.

I'm looking to actually just create my own kind of magic. I'd rather learn how to do it, then buy.

Check the particle effects in Max. Also check 3rd party plugins.

go to www.oddditty.biz and download the free ODF Magic effects (I think they are on page 2 of the list now), and the go to www.runtimeDNA and download the BE Creatives magic effects pack (also free, and the precourser to the ODF one). Look at how they are contructed.

There are 2 prongs to this question. First is technical, and looking at how others set up the animations will help you time yours. Second is stylistic: how much imagination do YOU have? FX can be realistic: electrical arcs, lightning bolts, flames, drizzling clouds, fireworks, chemical reactions in beakers. FX can be supernatural: gates into other dimensions, wrinkles in the fabric of space/time, crawling sentient slime, transporters, dematerializers, transmogrifiers, glowing sigils, acid balls, and the entire 4 volumes of the D&D encyclopedia of magical spells and another 4 volumes of artifacts. Decide what you want to build, let's say a water-stealing wand which dehydrates whatever it touches, then you have a final image in mind: person turned to sand (or salt), eroding into a pile, and blowing away in the wind. Break it into steps, storyboard it, and THEN build the effects. Carolly