You are all basically correct ,The actual explosions are footage from my "Reel Explosions" CD that were composited in Adobe after effects usng the "BlackMatte" Plugin. the sound was downloaded FREE from the apple web site the electric arch effect was done using "strata mediapaint" an awesome post effects program that I got FREE from the cover CD of some film effects Magazine with the final editing done in adobe premeire 5.1 I have a huge collection of 3D models that I use in Bryce Lightwave6.5 and Cinema 4dlx6 this model (shown here) has over 100 parts and will be featured prominently in my 3D animated scifi short film where all of my exterior space battle scenes will be done in BRYCE 4 . thank for all the comments Mocap