Sarte stated, "Walking on beams of light. Almost...poetic!" Ah, but that's exactly what the "manta ray" machines did in the final cut. In the scene depicting the first machine to rise out of the landing pit, General Mann asks Dr. Forrester if it's a flying machine. Forrester politely refutes the assumption. He explains the machine stands upon fields of balanced and opposing force, "...kind of like electro-magnetic legs." We see his point of view through a set of binoculars and there is a flickering of energies emitting from the three glowing "ports" on the ventral surface. This was probably achieved with some post animation as were the weapons' effects. Three spots upon the ground roast and smolder, tracking with the forward glide of the machine. In later shots, the faint sparkle is dropped and scorching ground is used sparingly. I merely played up the effect they wanted to do throughout the movie. I include a static transparency map to create this illusion for Poser 4. I suspect one can apply some animated procedurals using Poser 5 and 6 for far more spooky animated sequences. Sincerely, Bill

Tempt the Hand of Fate and it'll give you the "finger"!